Where are the Ameriacn made chess sets?

I don't like to make boards, there are many people out there who are much better than I am at it, but i make a pretty decent table...2.5" squares w/ storage drawer and plenty of room for captured pieces and a place to set a drink while you're playing a game.  Solid Walnut and Maple.  About 32-34" wide by 29-31" across to your opponent, and about 28" tall all dimensions can be adjusted at no extra cost.

and my very latest design...

dark pieces made with Lignum Vitae.

YOU MADE THAT?!?! THAT IS SO COOL!!!! Congrats man, those are beautiful!

Very beautiful :)

The glass chess table I'm making doesn't hold a candle to this. Nice work.

Your sets are quite amazing, and it's great to see true American made chess men.

But there are a few different 1849 sets being made in India right now, and going by that photo only I will have to say they are considerably more accurate to the original Jaques sets. 

From Amritsar:

From The Chess Piece (don't know the exact manufacturer):

I'm not American, so I don't particularly care about this whole "Made In America" discussion, but I am somewhat turned off by claims about "you won't find a better Jaques 1849 reproduction set" accompanied by pictures that aren't even close to any of the original 1849 Jaques sets... Don't get me wrong, I  am very supportive of small manufacturers (eg I'm very supportive of what NOJ is doing in Slovenia), but any claims about superior product (such as knights carved from one piece - a standard feature of French Chavet sets) should at least be supported by clear visual evidence. 

Thanks for this thread. Lovely chess table especially the one which you call your latest design.

A dream combination for me would be handcrafted american board with premium Indian chess pieces.Another joint first would be the Drubovnik from Slovenia.

I,myself would love an Andrew Summerville board, but this would mean saving up for a long time. Problem is

if I do get to a point, where I can buy, I would be confused whether I should buy it or go for DGT e-chess board instead. This might be a challenge in future for many of these luxury chess board makers.

Similarly, havent seen a chess table, which integrates a chess board/pieces with computer next to it. There must be demand for it.

Thanks for posting pictures of your designs.

Anywhere but here?

I hear you deafdrummer.   I think it's all by political design too.   It's the reason Andy Summerville and I teamed up for awhile.   Add to your thoughts that people in America don't want to learn 'old' skill sets as well.  I tried for two years to find help, with no success.  Your space would require some creative organization for sure given your parameters, table-top lathe, table-top band saw, table-top sander, set of chisels.

I don't have any issues with the quality of Indian or Chinese chess sets, my issue is when they pass them off as handmade where clearly they are mass produced on 3 axis lathes.  They are not handmade!  Even the 10 year old kids mass employed in these places wouldn't/couldn't make those sets for $20.   I know of no one besides Andy Summerville and myself that produces handmade chess products for a living.   It's about handmade quality, or lack thereof I should say.   That's it.    There are lots of good looking mass-produced work out there...just go look at anything made by Jacques or HOS or anything sold by almost all American chess retailers...it's just NOT handmade no matter what these 'so-called' experts claim. 

Best of good fortune in all your games!

Cheers Everybody.

It looks like you have turning and carving talent, now you just need to get the dimensions/proportions correct. Try this as a reference:

http://i.imgur.com/912ZIk8.png

Be sure to view it fullsize and/or print it out. That's a picture of an early 4.4" king Jaques of London set. I resized the image so that it is approximately lifesize (which means if you print it out as is, on paper it will be about life size). I also overlayed a grid. The black lines are for 1", the blue lines are for 1/2", and the yellow lines are for 1/16". That should allow you to get very close, at least on all the pieces except for the knights, which are a lot more complex (you need to copy the dimensions of the knights and have some artistic talent to make them look right).

I really like the looks of dark pieces you have pictured.

Do you have a web site where we can look and even order?

The picture shows a historical Jaques of London set. Just google it. Many vendors produce replica sets nowadays, and afaik Jaques of London itself also still sells similar sets.

If you are around Houston area, I am interested.

You can also have a look at Alan Dewey's website where he is conducting Chess set making classes.

http://www.chessspy.com/pages/classes.htm

I believe they were made in the U.S. ...

This group makes them out in California. $300+ chess set.  Its all custom made chess sets that they make. http://www.custommade.com/lake-side-chess-set/by/q2/

You can get a better chess set than that for a lot less money IMO.

I am impressed by the pieces pictured in post #25 from the chesspiece . Does anyone here own that set ?  I see they are asking $350. currently for these pieces ... can I do better at this price ? 

Seems a bit awkward to use.

The Reykjavik Chess Set is quite pretty also. Made by the HoS