Reproduction and Real Jaques of London Chess Set

Konig Tools Soft Wax should be available to anyone interested.They have a website and the sticks are about $3.15 each....Maybe a bit more if you buy only one color of each....Seems like a great option instead of stressing over the inevitable cracking issue.

As to Stauntonmaster....My perspective is he's allowed to post his opinions and though he has indirectly knocked me and others,I read his posts as amusement.One thing for sure....he's persistent and has a thick skin! ARGH!!!=

Liberon Black Bison was what was recommended to me by my sister (she is BIG into rehabbing stuff she picks up at yard sales and turns them into works of art -- her "Computer Desk" could come right out of a million dollar home, yet she paid I think she said $50  for it, as it was in really BAD shape, and the rest was her own hard work. It is really that beautiful). Is it available in the UK?? Good Question!!! Comes in several different "colors", I went with Neutral.

"natural wax"?  "texture of the wood"?  Those terms don't mean anything, natural is too vague and damaging the texture is incomprehensible.  Wax does not stop cracking.  Alcohol does not make wax shiny.  Waxes contain solvents to make them spreadable, otherwise the wax clumps and does not spread evenly but alcohol is not a commonly used solvent if it is used at all.  Waxes formulated to be particularly shiny often contain carnauba (a naturally occurring wax) or some other wax, natural or synthetic.  Waxing every two years is just another weird and random statement.  

Wow, I thought that there was really no more that this guy could write that was completely wrong.  And here he comes making even more completely wrong statements.

Stauntonmaster, you should really quit trying to bark at people trying to increase profits for a very few seller you want to make more money for.  You must be a secret agent for some of these companies.

I wonder if Sauntonmaster was confusing a high quality PASTE wax, with one of those SPRAY on waxes such as Pledge which contain silicon oil in them, and which should not ever be used on fine wood surfaces (or so I have been told).

Black Bison as recommended to me by my sister is carnauba wax. The BIG thing I was told is something called "Wax Build Up", which was I why I was told to use it very, very sparingly. A little seems to go a very long way. I wax once  year, but polish the set twice a year. If old wax is not coming off on my cotton T-shirt shirt then it is time to reapply. 

As to Stauntonmaster, I think he is smoking the funny weed, as most of what he says is not simply WRONG but of dubious worth.

The best wax for objets d'art in not a natural wax like caranuba but Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish.  It was formulated for use by The British Museum, which is a sound recommendation.  You can read more about it here.

There are YouTube videos of knife and gun owners using it to preserve fine collector pieces, and I use it on the lacquered portion of the butts of my custom pool cues.  Not to go to far afield, you may ask why not use this wax on the shafts?  Because you want the hardest wax you can get when smoothness counts for more than preservation.  In that case the best waxes are either bowling alley wax or boat wax applied and buffed out using a lathe, which in not too convenient for chess pieces.  Reuben Fine aside, it's the best thing you ever felt slide through your fingers ... on the pool table.

AzBobcat,

Its hard to know what if anything he is thinking. He may be thinking of a spray, but its not going to prevent cracking either.  The problem with a silicone wax would not be the silicone itself, just that you wouldn't be able to put anything else over it.  Silicone is basically unfriendly to everything else and messes up any coatings put over or near it. To refinish or repair you'd have to strip the wax completely (really really thoroughly).  

Greg

I use shoe polish.

As the expert collectors gathered here, i take the opportunity to ask the question without opening another thread.

Quote from Lasker's  strategy book

"Many sets of chessmen have one Rook and one Knight stamped with a

special sign, to show they are King's side pieces."

Since i've newer seen a set like that mentioned  does anyone have any photos to share ?

I go with Fighting Bob on the Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish.. A little goes a long way and a small jar should last a very long time. 

Ditto on the Renaissance wax. Also great for wooden chess boards and wooden storage boxes.

so unusual to see   :-)

thank you

Ditto the ditto.  It cleans and preserves surfaces and you need very little.  Lou introduced me to this fine wax as I used to use clear Minwax paste finishing wax.

Not trying to figure out Stauntonmaster's mind, but perhaps he was referring to discoloration due to waxes, but to others this is patina and desirable.  I wonder about his motives. 

Personally I find this stamp mark quite ugly...

https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/7f0x7s/not_today_ocean/

These markings are a survival from long descriptive notation of the 19th century when, for example, you have two knights on the third rank that can move to the same square on the fifth rank.  You'd see KKt-K5 or QKt-K5 rather than N(Q3)-K5 or N(B3)-K5 in the 20th century.  Nowadays you'd write Nde5 or Nfe5.  The same goes for any two knights or two rooks that can move to the same square.  The markings now serve no useful purpose and are mere tradition or, if you will, decoration.

Good information, @fightingbob. That's an excellent description and reason for the King side markings. I had never known why they were there and now it makes perfect sense. Thanks!

yes. +1. A great piece of info. about markings. thank you all who contributed.