It's pricey, but look into tungsten powder. About $50usd for 1.0lb(0.5kg)
Best material do add weight to chess pieces
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Sep 23, 2022
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#3
Something I’ve considered but never tried is mixing lead shot with some sort of silicone glue or even just wood filler.
@Schachmonkey I used Daisy steel BBs as well. Used them to add considerable heft to a Halsam plastic chess set. Then filled the rest with wood filler and refelted. A joy to play with now with a good "thunk" on a chess board.
Sep 24, 2022
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#7
Be careful if you decide to use hot lead. It is the traditional approach but investigate the safety aspects of this before you try it.
Sep 24, 2022
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#8
^^^THIS!^^^
Playing around with any molten metal in a non-industrial setting is begging for disaster.
Sep 24, 2022
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#9
If you’ve never worked with molten lead, I suggest going the steel shot/bb approach. Safety first! Edited: steel vs. steak, darn spellcheck.
Depleted Uranium!
Density of lead : 11340 kg/m^3
Density of Uranium; 18900 kg/m^3
Uranium is 1.6 times denser than lead. So for two identical blocks, the Uranium will be 1.6 times heavier.
IntoxicatedOldGeezer wrote:
Depleted Uranium!
Density of lead : 11340 kg/m^3
Density of Uranium; 18900 kg/m^3
Uranium is 1.6 times denser than lead. So for two identical blocks, the Uranium will be 1.6 times heavier.
Good idea if the depleted Uranium was available to the general public. It makes great 30mm cannon rounds to use to destroy tanks though. So people understand where this stuff comes from, it is mostly U238 and is what is left of the uranium after most of the U235 is taken out to enrich other uranium for nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons.
This is just what we need here more humor laced with real facts.
Oct 1, 2022
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#12
IntoxicatedOldGeezer wrote:
Depleted Uranium!
Density of lead : 11340 kg/m^3
Density of Uranium; 18900 kg/m^3
Uranium is 1.6 times denser than lead. So for two identical blocks, the Uranium will be 1.6 times heavier.
Serious question: Are there any examples of a chess set weighted with depleted uranium?
Years ago, I saw a jar labelled "uranium chloride" and I assumed it wasn't actually that, as it wasn't in a lab rated for radioactive materials. But I picked up the jar and it became immediately apparent that it did indeed contain uranium because it felt like a solid block of metal even though it was a pourable powder. I imagine it would make for an awesome feeling chess piece if the solid metal was in the bottom of the pieces.
lead shot. Drown it in epoxy.
Oct 1, 2022
0
#14
ryanhellyer wrote:
IntoxicatedOldGeezer wrote:
Depleted Uranium!
Density of lead : 11340 kg/m^3
Density of Uranium; 18900 kg/m^3
Uranium is 1.6 times denser than lead. So for two identical blocks, the Uranium will be 1.6 times heavier.
Serious question: Are there any examples of a chess set weighted with depleted uranium?
Years ago, I saw a jar labelled "uranium chloride" and I assumed it wasn't actually that, as it wasn't in a lab rated for radioactive materials. But I picked up the jar and it became immediately apparent that it did indeed contain uranium because it felt like a solid block of metal even though it was a pourable powder. I imagine it would make for an awesome feeling chess piece if the solid metal was in the bottom of the pieces.
I'm pretty sure they suggested depleted uranium as a joke. It's literally radioactive. Tungsten is the way to go here.
Why tungsten over lead? Not as dense and very expensive.
Drowning lead shot in epoxy is probably the most environmentally-friendly was to use lead, because it will be encapsulated in the resin anyway.
Or, indeed, go with uranium. They'll glow in the dark, so you can play at night while the Mrs is sleeping.
Oct 1, 2022
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#16
KineticPawn wrote:
I'm pretty sure they suggested depleted uranium as a joke. It's literally radioactive. Tungsten is the way to go here.
Depleted uranium isn't radioactive - that's the whole idea behind the "depleted" part...
Oct 1, 2022
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#17
KineticPawn wrote:
ryanhellyer wrote:
IntoxicatedOldGeezer wrote:
Depleted Uranium!
Density of lead : 11340 kg/m^3
Density of Uranium; 18900 kg/m^3
Uranium is 1.6 times denser than lead. So for two identical blocks, the Uranium will be 1.6 times heavier.
Serious question: Are there any examples of a chess set weighted with depleted uranium?
Years ago, I saw a jar labelled "uranium chloride" and I assumed it wasn't actually that, as it wasn't in a lab rated for radioactive materials. But I picked up the jar and it became immediately apparent that it did indeed contain uranium because it felt like a solid block of metal even though it was a pourable powder. I imagine it would make for an awesome feeling chess piece if the solid metal was in the bottom of the pieces.
I'm pretty sure they suggested depleted uranium as a joke. It's literally radioactive. Tungsten is the way to go here.
Everything we make chess pieces out of is radioactive to some extent, yet we still make chess pieces from them. Whether the response was a joke or not, does not change my question.
Oct 2, 2022
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#18
GrandPatzerDave wrote:
KineticPawn wrote:
I'm pretty sure they suggested depleted uranium as a joke. It's literally radioactive. Tungsten is the way to go here.
Depleted uranium isn't radioactive - that's the whole idea behind the "depleted" part...
Depleted uranium, like all uranium, is radioactive.
The depleted part refers to the fact that the highly radioactive stuff has been removed, rather than the fact that it isn't radioactive. It is a popular thing to make weapons from because you get a lot of depleted uranium as a byproduct from making nuclear weapons, so it is readily available.
Non-radioactive uranium is called lead. (Specifically lead-206)
Oct 2, 2022
0
#19
binomine wrote:
GrandPatzerDave wrote:
KineticPawn wrote:
I'm pretty sure they suggested depleted uranium as a joke. It's literally radioactive. Tungsten is the way to go here.
Depleted uranium isn't radioactive - that's the whole idea behind the "depleted" part...
Depleted uranium, like all uranium, is radioactive.
The depleted part refers to the fact that the highly radioactive stuff has been removed, rather than the fact that it isn't radioactive. It is a popular thing to make weapons from because you get a lot of depleted uranium as a byproduct from making nuclear weapons, so it is readily available.
Non-radioactive uranium is called lead. (Specifically lead-206)
Thanks, I just knew I should have been more precise. 
Guys, have you ever added weight to a chess set on your own? I was thinking about doing it to a chess set I bought, but I don't know what to use. It would be useful if one could buy little disks made of some heavy metal. Any advice?