That is money well-spent. Just gorgeous. Are we going to be seeing a post about a custom carrying case for this setup in the future? That would really be the icing on the cake.
Review: Custom 4” Maple/Walnut Magnetic Travel Chessboard
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A custom carrying case? But of course! That is currently being crafted as we speak… 
@VBerriz INCREDIBLE WORK. What a fantastic one-of-a-kind project. I've been waiting patiently to see this completed review posting ever since you mentioned this project to me. I love how you sourced out the best materials and skilled work from different individuals to make this set. Even the UK baize was top quality. No generic felt from Amazon here! There was some trial and error, but you persevered until the set was 100% to your liking. So cool. This is why I like hanging out here.
Precisely drilling 64 aligned holes into a finished, custom, solid wood board with a 3 inch playing area about the size of a credit card must've been nerve-wracking for you and Tim!
If I may trouble you for another pic to show the scale — photograph the set next to a 3.75" King and Knight. 
@Pawnerai - looks like black has some reinforcements. Hardly a fair fight now, is it?
That is so cool!!!!!
A couple notes:
- As each square has an individual magnet, piece movement is actually quite easy - they “snap” to the grid. This is a huge improvement from the original board, which requires a bit more dexterity
- Total board size is 3”, which means each square is .375 inches, or 3/8” (9.5mm to our metric friends). The craftsmanship to align this is mind blowing.
- I have a custom felt case from chessplayerstore.com , and am having a woodworker create a walnut “cover” so the board can travel whilst storing any position.
Lastly… I’m not done. There’s an even smaller (!) pegged set being created for me, using a 2.5” board size Indian set as the inspiration. Stay tuned…
Aug 12, 2022
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#8
Wonderful stuff! Incredible attention to detail and high quality as a result! Well done.
It’s a pity we don’t live close by - your set would be a fun comparison to the Phillipines set I just received- your entire board would fit within one single square on my board! 😊
It’s a pity we don’t live close by - your set would be a fun comparison to the Phillipines set I just received- your entire board would fit within one single square on my board! 😊
A while back, I started traveling quite a bit for work and realized that my current sets wouldn’t really work for the cramped environs of a suitcase, so I purchased a 4” mini magnetic set from ChessHouse. This isn’t really a review on that set, but it is my absolute favorite of the tiny magnetic sets, it has excellent adhesion and you can play chess upside down, if desired!
The only issues I had with that set is that the board isn’t really wood on top, more like a sticker on top of a sheet of metal. That is done in order to increase the hold of the pieces, but my eye, which favors beautiful walnut/maple chessboards (strong recommendation for the JLP line at ChessHouse!), I was not satisfied.
I pondered different methods of creating something better, and located a talented individual on Etsy who made chess/checkerboard pattern boxes, and I reached out to the owner, John at McQueen Woodcrafts, who made me an incredible mini walnut and maple Drueke-style board that was 4in/10cm square.
It was exactly what I wanted, but now I had to find the right pieces, as I prefer ebonized/black pieces on a walnut and maple board, and the ones in the ChessHouse set are a dark wood color. I have spent entirely too much money on sets over the years, and House of Chess (not to be confused with ChessHouse!) ebonized some pieces in the same size for me.
With pieces and board in hand, I pondered boring out the board and utilizing a piece of metal underneath, but the difficulty involved, and my negative experiences with natural wood boards made in India using this construction (they tend to have very poor magnetic adhesion) turned me away from this thought. I considered the idea of rare earth magnets, but the cost of 64 magnets seemed quite steep… until I reassessed how much had already been spent on this project. I ordered the magnets from K&J Magnetics, and now faced the crux of the project: drilling and finishing.
Again, an incredibly talented individual on Etsy came through, Tim at Apex Custom Woodworks. Tim used his CNC skills to make me a perfect (or near perfect, which was more than ideal!) layout of holes at the ideal depth for magnets, and finished the board in a beautiful matte/satin finish (shown before finishing). Quite honestly, Tim made this project come together, and the care he took in drilling the holes was phenomenal. Remember, this is a handmade board with squares that are 1/4 inch or so (the playing area is 3in/7.5cm), so not at all easy to program. He also finished the board in a beautiful, soft finish that brought out the tones of the wood, I couldn’t be happier with the outcome!
Once home, I inserted the magnets with some glue, added some 100% wool felt shipped from the UK at Baize and Wool, then gazed in amazement at my new acquisition.
It looks and feels like a much larger set, and occupies a place of honor on my desk. Was it worth it? I could easily have purchased a JLP Drueke 21” board for what
this cost, and had money left over for a decent set of pieces… but it was worth it to me!
@Pawnerai special request photo…