Roll-up leather chess board

I am just getting back into playing chess after a long hiatus (15 years).  I remember many years ago I drove in Greenwich Village in NYC and went to a chess club and purchased a roll-up leather or some type of material like it. The board was very large and I also purchased large plastic pieces to go along with it. Even though I juts upgraded to a premium member, I remember how much I enjoyed playing out the great games of the masters on a phyiscal board versus a computer screen. I also remember my game improving quickly buy playing out these games and trying to understand the logic behind every move which was explained in the book I was reading at the time. Anyway, the reason for this post is I am unable to drive at the moment and was wondering if anyone could recommend a website that is reliable and sells these roll-up borads and plastic pieces.  Thanks for taking the time to respond.  Blessings.  BobbyD NYC

Hey Chess GG....that is exactly what I used to have. It was vinyl but I was drawing a blank so I said leather.  Which chess clock did you purchase?  That is exactly what I am looking to get. Roll-up set, large pieces and clock.  $40 is reasonable.  And if I remember correctly, the last Vinyl board I had was green and white.   Thanks for the info.  I will check out the links you sent me tomorrow morning.  Have a great evening or I should say morning because it's 11:59 PM.

I got this roll up leather chess board from ACE 7-8 years ago, it is printed in green on soft cowhide. It was only about $25-$30 back then.

Then ACE quit selling them they were only available for a short while. But I noticed a few months ago they started selling some similar ones printed in black on the suede side instead of the smooth side. I just checked their site for you and it is out of stock but you could call or email them about a possible date that they may be back in stock if you're interested.

http://amchesseq.com/1000.html

I have not found much either. This seems promising.

http://www.conquestleather.com

Somehow when they choose a picture of their product that doesn't lie flat, I get a little concerned...

A rollup leather chess board is so easy to make (anyone with the most basic of screen printing equipment/knowledge could make them) that I'm surprised they are hard to find. Maybe there just isn't much demand for them. You only need to make one screen, and making the graphic for the screen literally only takes a few minutes.

You'd have to use high quality soft leather, otherwise it won't lay flat, and that would be relatively expensive. 20" x 20" = 400 square inches, which is about 2¾ square feet. You could buy suitable leather for probably $5 a square foot if buying hides. Of course, you'd have to account for waste when buying hides, because hides aren't shaped like squares, so if you figure 3 square feet per board, that's $15 for the leather alone. Once you have the screen made, there isn't a lot of labor involved to make the boards (more labor to cut the hides into 20" x 20" squares than to actually print them), but there is the cost of ink and such, and of course you'd want to make a profit. So you would have to sell them for probably $30 each, at least, to make it worthwhile, and there probably aren't a lot of people willing to spend $30 for a rollup board, even if it is real leather rather than vinyl.

I look forward to seeing the ones you make.  If the price is right I'll buy one!

Here is another site selling leather boards,

http://finechess.com/

I have seen one listed on etsy as well. Might be still listed.

Absolutely gorgeous boards.  They must be very expensive since it's all custom made to order work.  No prices though and I'm afraid to email them since the answer might inspire me to begin a life of crime in order to pay for one. 

The main obstacle for me would be making the film positive. The biggest film positive I can make here at home is 13" x 19", and you'd need a 20" x 20" film positive to screen print a tournament-size chessboard (18" x 18" checker pattern with a 1" border for the algebraic notation). I've worked with a local screen printer before on an arcade sideart reproduction project, whose company makes vinyl signs, so he can likely make a 20" x 20" film positive. If I had the film positive I could do the rest easily enough; I just don't know if it would be worth investing in the leather, ink, and a large screen, because I don't know if there's much of a demand for such a thing.

The graphics file for generating the film positive is easy to make (unlike recreating vintage arcade artwork, which is what I usually do). This took a few minutes in Illustrator:

I'd like one without notation and with green squares.

Once the screen is made, they can easily be made with or without algebraic notation, and in any color. To make one without notation, you simply tape off the numbers and letters on the screen which blocks the ink from getting through the screen in those parts, and voila, no notation. For different colors you just use a different color ink. If I decide to make some of these, forest green will be the first color I'd do. I'd probably use undyed vegetable tanned leather, which is a natural leather color (sort of beige colored, like so - http://www.sbearstradingpost.com/9048OakLeafDblShoulderVegtan.JPG):

I just talked with the local screen printer I mentioned above, and they can make me a film positive for $50. A suitably large screen would cost about $30. Add in the cost of ink and a suitable quantity of leather to make several boards, and it would probably be a little under $200 to get started. At this time I'm still undecided.

I have a leather board. I like its colors, but it does not lay flat. I bought it from Chess House at a chess tournament seven years ago for $40.

Just the board... or peices, included in that price, too!?

I wouldn't even consider making any unless I could find a type of leather which lays flat. The first thing I'd do is ask a major leather supplier for a suggestion. My guess is that the softer the leather is, the more likely it is to always lay flat. That might have the disadvantage of not being able to stay firmly in a rolled up state, which is also a disadvantage of the silicone boards from what I've heard.

The pieces were $160 a few years earlier. The same pieces are $200 now.

Infection, I mean, inflation.

Lol, I used to work there!  It's out of buisness now but those boards were such poor sellers.  I'm sure the old owner has a few left I'm sure he would love to get rid of.  

I like that board, except that I find the letters and numbers too large.