Effects of aging on wood pieces

I have two old wooden sets, decent boxwood quality but not premium, that I pulled out of storage the other day. They are about ten and twenty years old. The white pieces are much more orangish-tan than I recall.

Is this normal aging or is my memory playing tricks on me?

Thanks for the reply.

Is this the fate of all light wood pieces?

@ipcress12 - I am not sure this will work (with phone photos potentially not showing enough clarity) and further I have no way of objectively stating that what I am about to show is the case - other than my own memory.

I purchased this set about one year ago and I am loving the way the the wood is changing. Yet, it is happening to different pieces at different speeds …. But the boxwood pieces are definitely getting darker and in some cases the grain is becoming more attractive! 
Below is a queen, king, two pawns - one now darker, a knight with a belly getting darker, and a bishop … the bishop hasn’t changed much but it will be interesting  to see the same piece in a year or two… I have a feeling the fine grain which is hard to notice now may become more apparent. Or maybe I am going mad. The latter is definitely possible. 

Anyway, my light pieces are ageing as I rotate them through displaying, playing and storing. Any they get better with age.

 

Very interesting, @Powerdigit. The grain *does* look awfully appealing. What would you estimate your mix of in/out storage to be?

@Powderdigit

Thanks for the work! Lovely photos and pieces... (What you can do with a cell phone these days!)

Not to be a killjoy, but if the wood keeps changing, maybe there will be a time when it is less attractive?

From what I'm reading, my sets really are changing, the light pieces are becoming darker and more orangish. I wonder how much more dark and orange they will get and will I still love them tomorrow.

I have a $400 HOS Fischer-Spassky I snapped up for $150 four years ago. The white pieces still have a creamy French Vanilla look. Will they turn orange like my older sets?

Hey blots,

Thanks for your question.

There’s no science to it - on a whim, I rotate sets from storage to various parts of my home - that will take a chess board on display. My gut feel is 6-8 weeks out, then into a box my uncle made me (or a leather satchel) for a couple of months (no light). It is entirely feasible that some pieces are ageing differently because sometimes I’ll just put a few random pieces on top of my chess box for display as well!!

All pieces, no matter where they are displayed, do not receive direct sunlight - just indirect in relatively bright areas.

Fortunately, I live in a climate with relatively low humidity too… I know it’s not the topic of this thread, but I can’t help but think pieces would be more likely to crack when subjected to changing temps and humidity…. But I say that with know scientific knowledge just my gut - it is why I keep my pieces away from direct sunlight.

@ipcress12 - not a kill joy at all, a good question. In truth, I don’t know - I simply don’t have enough experience with collecting to make an informed comment - my gut feel is - no - I won’t stop liking the pieces - they just be different but their colour, whatever that may be, will be part of the story. 

My sense is that you are feeling the ‘shock’ of change because you haven’t seen the progression. A bit like meeting a mate from school at a reunion after not seeing them for 20 years.😊 You might be surprised that he’s lost a bit of hair but in the end, he’s still the funny bloke that you remember and you a enjoy a beer together. 
And hey, I reserve the right to change my mind when sets age in a way I don’t like.!🥴😉

Because I can - here’s a couple around the house at present - the round one cost me AUD $15 recently- and even it get its turn to shine!

Seems my pooch may want some dinner  too - he poked his head up into one of the photos. 

 

 

Love these slice of life photos, @Powderdigit!

All wood ages and can darken as time goes by.It's a normal thing.

The best way to maintain wood,is to keep a relative humidity of between 40-60%.....A bit above or below is fine.....Drastic changes in humidity is not too good,particularly if the humidity level goes way down to say,below 25%.This can be improved by either a small room humidifier,or Humidipacks placed in the storage box(these do dry out,so be aware of when they go dry and either replace them,or replenish them).

In very humid conditions,one can get a dehumidifier,but I'm not a fan of those units.They're a bit of a hassle to maintain and are pricey......Yuck!

The easiest way to keep wood healthy is be smart and aware of your conditions.

Short periods of high-ish or low-ish humidity won't do damage,but long term effects should be avoided.....

Direct sunlight,for relatively long periods is a big no-no!

Then,there are some instances where someone has had a set of chess pieces(in my experience.....acoustic guitars....same thing) and never took precautions.....Nothing happened......Go figure.

Still,being a bit vigil,if you cherish your sets and boards,or any wood product,is good common sense.....Btw,a good storage box is good and helps quite a bit,but humidity,or lack thereof, gets into everything over time.

Good luck

 

Re: Humidity...

Perhaps some of my surprise with aging chess piecees is due to moving to New Mexico with its lower humidity and more extreme termperatures.

Yes. Slight darkening is normal with time (years). There was a forum posting here about a member who contacted Noj for some replacement Dubrovnik pieces. As expected, the white maple pieces did not match. The new pieces were off by about 1 lighter shade. Noj said this was normal with aging and suggested to leave the new lighter color pieces out 24/7 for them to accelerate aging and catch up to the other pieces. 

On a separate example, I had a new unfinished unstained custom oak stairs banister installed. The unfinished wood was very light. I asked the installer if I should stain it so the wood isn't so stark. He said to just finish it with a few coats of poly and let it age naturally. In time, it will darken a few shades. Sure enough, it darkened naturally over a few years to nice light golden color. 

A very interesting thread! Certainly piqued my curiosity. The effects of time, UV, and all that handling presents (oils, food stuff, finger moisture, humidity etc.) will certainly occur. One of the reasons i love the medium of wood is precisely because it changes, drys, absorbs, shrinks, swells, and evolves over time. A woodworker simply needs to work with the attributes of wood rather than against. I live in a very humid climate averaging between 70 to 90% daily. 100% isn’t uncommon. We rarely have a day below 40-45%. We keep the humidity level at 45-55% inside our home with the help of the heat pump system. Temperature is kept between 68-70 degrees. 

The discussion of humidity and temperature begins with the wood itself. When was it harvested? Was it given proper time to age or “season”? 

So, i grabbed my moisture meter from the wood shop to run a few tests. Hey it’s a rainy Sunday, what else can i do? I wondered if the set i purchased this year from SC was in fact given the proper time to age prior to turning. Of course, I’ll never know what occurred before I received and took possession of the set, but i can check it now. 

I used an inductive meter to test my boards and pieces. I compared the results with known woods I’ve stored to verify that the meter still functioned correctly. 

I tested maple, black walnut, purpleheart, oak, Sitka spruce, mahogany and others. The meter checked out, batteries full strength. Ready now for chess board and piece testing. 

I found the range of my chess boards to be 8-10% moisture content. I found the chess pieces themselves to have a range of 6-11% moisture content. Once again, to verify accuracy i checked my acoustic instruments and found a range of 8-9% moisture content. 

The chess boards and shop wood were found to be relatively consistent as were my instruments. The chess pieces varied slightly more with the 6-11% results. I attribute the wider range to the unevenness of the objects and the inability (perhaps?) of my meter to accurately account for the shape of the pieces themselves. 

Overall, with this thread and my curiosity, I’m confident of the correct moisture content of the woods used by SC in the creation of my set. Now, it’s up to me to maintain them. In all honesty, i look forward to the metamorphosis of color the pieces will undergo over time. 

I hope this of value and of course if my information and techniques are found to be in error, well… we never had this discussion. You didn’t hear or see anything….

@MCH818:

That Drueke is one beautiful board. I bought one for my grandfather, who taught me to play chess, the year before he died. 

I don't think he ever played on it.

My grandmother gave it to me after his death. I left it stored at a friend's with most of my other possessions and everything got stolen. Sorry to say.

You can consider  also thermal shock.

 

 

If you don't want to get too nuts about humidity issues,just buy a few Boveda packets and place them in your chess box/coffer.They come in different humidity effectiveness levels and are cheap!

The only thing you have to do is check them once in a while,because they do dry out and lose effectiveness.....They can be replenished by putting them in a small bowl(no water) and then putting that bowl into a Tupperware type container,which has water,with the lid closed.

After a few days the Boveda packets are good to go again.

Best to all

I only replenished them once,because they were pretty cheap,so easy to just put in a fresh packet....but.....I switched to a portable room humidifier in winter.In summer my A/C takes care of things......I no longer use the packets.

I left them in for about 2 days,when I replenished them.....The replenishing does not last too long though.Better of just putting in a new packet once in a while.

Btw,A good music store(or Amazon) carries 2 way humidifier portable(small) systems,that fit into a mandolin/violin case.....That may be an alternative.....Supposedly keeps the item in healthy humidity.....Not as cheap as the Bovedas.

Hope this helps.

 

Btw,that Drueke board is super looking!

Magictwanger---- I have 4  coffers.   If the packet is touching   some of rhe chesspieces, will it  cause any damage to the wood? Should I wrap the pieces with plastic wrap, if they  are in         contact   with  the packet ?    

The new/fresh packets should not be a problem if they contact the pieces,imo.

But,just place them on the side if the coffer,as I did.

Good luck.

Hello guys this has been very informative. I have one question tho. My Boxwood chess pieces are starting to age and get that yellow-and-orange look to them which I am not a fan of. What do you guys recommend if it is at all possible to get rid of that orange look?