The Making of Noj Chess Sets

Gregor, of Noj, told me he was going to make the Minceta Dubrovnik sets starting this week.  I ordered one in the Brown stain.

I emailed him saying if he would send me pictures of the work in progress, I would post them here.

He replied that he would do that.  Here he had prepared the wood for 5 sets and here is the picture of that.  Of course he sent me this picture at 6:00 am his time.  So this was done yesterday, for him.

It looks as if there will be 3 Walnut sets and 2 that are stained.

I will post pictures as I get them.

That's fast! No 6 month wait? 😊 I love looking at these.

@deafdrummer, you ordered a Noj Dubrovnik Minceta already? If yes, what color did you choose?

I'm in for a brown stained version! Woo!

K.

That's great that Gregor is sending you photos.

Is this website the only website you post photos?

I heard there is a facebook group that seems to be active as well with wood set collecting.

I just received more pictures from Gregor.  Of course these pictures are of he and his brother making the first run of this Minceta set.

He said that if all goes as planned they will be starting the finish work on the 25th.

There are quite a few pictures that he sent.  Here they all are:

I bought my Noj Dubrovnik (now with a "II"), in Walnut, back in May of 2010.  

Remember, the shop consists of Gregor and his brother doing all the turning and carving work.  Their retired father then comes in to do the finish work for them.  This finish work includes staining the dark pieces when called for, and lacquering, sanding and otherwise completing the finish process.  These guys have been making these sets for quite awhile.  They obviously know what they are doing.

Back when I was getting my Red Dubrovnik II set, I asked Gregor how long it took to make a set.  He responded that it was about 26 hours of work for each set.

@Eyechess, if I recall correctly, this will be your 4th Noj Dubrovnik set, correct?

Besides the Dubrovniks, do you own any other Noj or BCE sets?

Let's see...

I own 3 Dubrovnik II sets; Walnut, Red and Brown.  So yes, this will be Noj Dubrovnik number 4 for me.

I own a BCE set, in Walnut with Stainless Steel Bases.

And I own a GM Pavasovic set, in Walnut.

So, this will be my 6th Noj set, yikes!

@Eyechess, for your Dubrovnik II sets, did you choose the small size or 4"?

The Noj President does not appeal to you?

Really cool pictures!  

I got this email today, too! Most excellent to see the sets come together!

I proudly own the fourth production Tal set they made  . 

The more I look at the Tal set the more I like it! Congrats!

Thanks for sharing the process, Eyechess. The craftsmanship is excellent and those rooks! Fantastic!

Thanks for posting these photos. Very interesting to follow the process.

I think the President set is beautiful and I have my eye on it; if/when I order again from Noj in the future, it is definitely going to be a President

My Dubrovnik sets are all the smaller size.

rmacmillan had posted a review of the GM Pavasovic set with pictures awhile ago.  His pictures of it intrigued me.  I bought it and am very pleased with it.

The President set is nice.  Some of the pieces resemble the GM Pavasovic set, but not completely.  I can see why people might like this set.  For me the GM Pavasovic set fills that niche.

Let’s face it.  You really can’t go wrong with any Noj made set.

Interesting to see the process, even though I've taken wood turning classes and know a few things that go on behind the scenes. I must say, even though I've owned my Noj dubrovnik IIs for a while now, it still amazes me how smooth they are cut. Like glass. That's not just the finish, which is top notch, but primarily the turning process. I think they must use crazy sharp tools.