What chessboard are you looking for?

I run an Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/coloradowoodworker) where I sell a lot of wood chessboards and I have a question for you chess lovers out there, what type of wood chessboard are you looking for?

I want to see what people in the chess community have been looking for in a wood chessboard but maybe they aren't finding online or the only ones they can find are out of their price range.  I am looking for possible suggestions and ideas to try to expand my business and to help chess players play on their ideal board.  I only use solid lumber, no veneers, and I am looking into building tables, so feel free to pitch me some ideas for those as well. 

And check out Colorado Wood Worker on Etsy to see if I have a board you might already be interested in!

I have done notations before but I didn't like how I built the border.  I will rebuild that board and add a better border.  Thank you for your feedback!

Hi Brad, Boards that sit onto of a wooden structure always fascinated me and look classy.  I am only including thus url as a reference. I am not connected with Chess House but thought their pictures showed it best on how to construct these boards.  http://www.chesshouse.com/Summerville_New_England_Chessboards_s/365.htm

I also should disclose in all honesty that I bought a board off of Brad's shop on etsy and was very delighted with it.   I paid what anyone else would pay.  

I also like the board you have been building that goes together with magnets. In fact Brad if you show that board on here I think you will wind up getting a half dozen orders before you know it.  This is in no way spamming, I think any craftsman who wants to sell direct to the consumer should be able to brag about their wares. This piece together magnetic board is fantastic and good looking since you can build it in almost any wood. 

Thanks for including the url!  I have been looking into building boards on structures like that but I didn't know what would be the best way to attach the playing surface.  Building it so the chessboard is floating like that is a great idea.  I would say I will have boards similar to that advertised in the next month now!

And here is a link to those magnets boards: https://www.etsy.com/listing/467384927/tower-series-maple-and-sapele-chessboard?ref=shop_home_active_6

I am currently working on a maple and walnut option for these boards.

For me personally, I disregard immediately any chess board that doesn't have a border.  Aesthetically, I need a border to separate the gaming area from everything else.  From there, I look for quality, beauty, and practicality.  I'm open to just about anything from there, especially if it has a slightly unique twist (interesting decoration on the external border or outer edge, attractive wood grain or coloring).

An example of something that ticks all those boxes for me:

Oh, I ignore any board with squares less than 2.25", also.  I have a couple of boards with 2" squares and they feel ridiculously cramped with standard size pieces, and I hate playing with tiny pieces.

Thats is a really good point.  I love the that design of that board.  I haven't seen any like that before.

I really like elm and curly maple, birds eye maple as well, with nice patterns. Mahogany and other dark woods are good as well. I like when I can see the beautiful grains, and patterns of the woods used.

So wood selection is crucial. Price is a big factor as well, also whether the board is going to be used in tournament, or not. If tournament, it needs the notations on it. A folding, light wood, board is also advisable as well. Make the  hinges recessed/hidden, and always with best fixtures as possible.

Make a quality, decent priced product, and you will probably have numerous customers, and will not be able to keep up with demand.

Good luck.

Hi Brad, here is one that I really like... the wood, the construction, the colors... all great. What's not appealing is the price. Beautiful board, in my opinion, and if I could afford it, this is what I would buy....

https://thechessstore.com/mission-craft-african-padauk-blood-rosewood-maple-solid-wood-chess-board-2-25-squares/

cageyOne, I could definetly build you a board similar to this for much less if you are interested.  If you are interested, you can send me a message on Etsy or a message on here and we could work out the details.

Thank you Brad, I'm definitely interested. I'll message you on etsy

Got to love that magnetic board for portability and durability.  Hard to tell from pictures, when the board is put together do the seams show where it comers together with the magnets?

The seams show a little but it isn't too bad.  I need to took a close up of it on my advertised photos to show how little of a seam there is. 

kramopolis, I have built a board similar to that before.  My issue is a have to reduce the thickness to be more like yours and I need to find better hinges.

Maybe you can "school" us here on different colors and hardwoods that might be custom made. I have been on the wood database a lot looking up the shrinkage % of the wood. Have no idea how important those numbers are, they state, Radial,Tangential, Volumetric, and have a T/R ratio. 

Looking at the most whitest color hardwood and a great walnut for contrast.  I guess the darkest walnut.  maybe you can throw some ideas around, Thanks, Mike

I don't pay much attention to those numbers when it comes to chessboards.  Regardless the wood type, your always going to have shrinkage and expansion with the season.  That is why I have gotten way from building boards with grains going different directions on the border.  But as long as all the grain is going the same direction, you get even expansion and really don't have any issues.

As far as different woods though, the lightest you could probably go is holly and the darkest (blackest) would be African blackwood.  Both are extremely expensive, if I were to make chessboard out of those two woods at 20" by 20" with no border it would cost me $260 in material alone!  It would make a beautiful board but very pricey. 

Very first chessboard I made for someone on my site was out of African blackwood which made me extremely nervous!

For the dark squares was looking for a really sharp looking walnut.  Nothing black as I like black pieces and they might get lost on the black squares.  But yes I like something as white as possible or close to Holly if it is a lot less. Any such thing as a white maple?  Took this from the wood database as I will also post the url so I do not get into trouble. Unlike most other hardwoods, the sapwood of Hard Maple lumber is most commonly used rather than its heartwood. Sapwood color ranges from nearly white, to an off-white cream color, sometimes with a reddish or golden hue.   http://www.wood-database.com/hard-maple/

That is a great resource to see what hardwoods exist.   A Black Walnut which is dark brown may look good too and it readily available (at least what i read on the wood database).  

Most of the maple I get is sapwood and I try to avoid getting any heartwood.  It really does take away from the white maple color.  I use the wood-database a lot as a reference for different woods.  I have used black walnut before but I believe that it would be tough for me to get right now because my hardwood store currently isn't carrying it.

I have never used Koa before but I looks like a beautiful piece of lumber!

I built a board similar to the link Mike posted but a thinner border and different materials.

Let me know what you guys think.  The playing surface is 16x16 inches and isn't attached yet.  I have a bigger board at 18x18 board that I could attach but then the border will only be 1/2 inch bigger than the playing surface.  I didn't know if that woulde enough to be a good size border.

Can you show a picture of the 2 1/4" sq. board sitting on top just to compare?