Turning A chess Set

All right. I am going to start turning a chess set in the next month or so and am looking for a bit of input on pieces. What are your favorite Staunton sets, or even feel free to mix and match pieces from sets, or change the proportions from a set if you like it otherwise. I'm just brainstorming for the project at the moment so any input helps.

Hi Jjackson. This sounds like a fantastic project. I'm currently taking turning lessons from a Dutch master to learn the basics myself. Pick a design you can make but which would also look ok. Carving knights I think is time consuming and tricky business.

I would suggest a design like the Tal set from Noj actually, since the turning seems fairly smooth sailing and the knights doable with a saw and basic tools.

maik1988 thanks for the input. I am still a bit of a novice Turner and am more confident in my abilities to carve knights than do the rest of the set so that's not quite the issue. but I'll take a look at the Tal sets. good luck with your turning endeavors!

You make it sound so easy ? Noj chess sets are in the turning !

@lighthouse: lol, I didn't mean to downplay Noj s expertise. However looking at those pieces should make it clear why they are a good first choice for turning a set instead of say a Jaques design. Even the simpler iterations of Jaques sets have 2 thicker collars for the king and queen and one very thin feathering cut collar, which is simply more difficult technically than the collars in the Tal set. Same for the pawns, relatively thick collars. The Tal set also features fairly rudimentary bases, since they are nearly completely bead-shaped, unlike some Jaques set or the Dubrovnik style pieces which feature some flourishes on the top half of the bases as they go into the stems of the pieces. In fact, rolling beads is a turners bread and butter, and the simpler the bead, the better the chance of having a good go at doing that design.

It certainly is a handsome set. I don't think if I went that route I'd do the opposite color tops on the bishops, queen and king. and might think about making the bishops more a little less rounded, though it somewhat compliments the rounded base.

I turned this guy last night to get a feel for it. I screwed up the base because I didn't want to go upstairs to level off the bottom on my piece of boxwood. He's just a copy of my plastic sets bishop with the exception of a narrower base ( because I goofed ) and the absence of a neck between his collar and mitre.

@ JJackson: Did you apply a scraping cut or shearing (bevel-riding) cut to turn that piece? Shearing cuts tend to produce a smoother finish I think but they're trickier to get right. Also, if you don't mind me asking, what is the size of this bishop and the size of the tools you used?

I used a shearing cut. The bishop stands at 2 5/8". I did the bulk of the work with a 1/2" skew and 1/2" round nose chisel. I also abused my parting tool a bit to help with the collars.