Chess Set/table

[dkuehn]

I recently started working with leather as a hobby. I have made a couple of drink coasters out of tooling leather and decided to have a go at making a chess set. Here are some pictures of the result. I certainly learned a little while making this and hope to continue to improve my skills on future projects.

[billybopp]

That's a really cool idea! Well done.

Bill

[Eddie1968]

Hey that is really nice!!

[Realm13]

Looks great! Been meaning to try something like this.

[DoubleC]

Awesome job. Cheryl

[veedub3]

Very nice work! Love it!

Karina

[Rohn]

Very cool. That is a great idea, something that goes on my to do list.

[Scorpion Wood]

Wow that is really superb. Did you have patterns for the pieces or did you come up with the design?

[dkuehn]

  On 8/25/2014 at 1:27 PM, Scorpion Wood said:

Wow that is really superb. Did you have patterns for the pieces or did you come up with the design?

I made them up as I was going.

I looked at some of the links at the bottom of this page. Man, there is some beautiful work being done on chess sets. I'd love to get even half the skills some of you folks have. There is some amazing talent here.

[dkuehn]

It also has an inside section to hold the chess pieces.

There is a dowel under the table to push up on to lift the chess board out.

[papaw]

Love it Very Nice job

[Sabine1]

What thickness of leather did you use for the board? Did you just glue it to wood?

[dkuehn]

  On 8/25/2014 at 3:36 PM, Sabine1 said:

What thickness of leather did you use for the board? Did you just glue it to wood?

The leather is 9/10 and I did glue it to a piece of plywood.

[rawcustom]

This is one of the coolest leather projects I have seen. I love taking leather beyond garments and holsters. Simply beautiful.

[mlapaglia]

Very well done. As both a leather worker and a chess player it looks great. I have one suggestion. Next time, dye the inside of the black pieces. It will remove the only defect I saw in the entire set. The contrast between the inside light color and the black drew my eyes to that point first. The slight dye overrun on the edges detracts from the greatness of the rest of the work. Just my 2 cents.

Michael

[cgleathercraft]

Awesome work! Never would have thought to do something like this. Added to my ever growing to-do list!

[dkuehn]

  On 8/25/2014 at 7:36 PM, mlapaglia said:

Very well done. As both a leather worker and a chess player it looks great. I have one suggestion. Next time, dye the inside of the black pieces. It will remove the only defect I saw in the entire set. The contrast between the inside light color and the black drew my eyes to that point first. The slight dye overrun on the edges detracts from the greatness of the rest of the work. Just my 2 cents.

Michael

Nothing stopping me from doing that now, there is no finish on the insides. I'll do it sometime in the near future and make with some pics. Thanks for the suggestion.

Also, thanks to everyone for their comments. I appreciate it.

[dkuehn]

Here is the updated pic with the insides of the black pieces dyed. Looks a lot better. Thanks, mlapaglia, for the suggestion.

[Scorpion Wood]

Mucho better.. It is defintely the small details that make the difference.

[Rohn]

Very nice improvement on a great project!!!

[mlapaglia]

Looks perfect now. Job well done.

[lionfly]

How beautiful. What an elegant project.

[needles]

superb... I bet you've got a market for those...... a couple of them sold would fund your next few projects......

[MonicaJacobson]

Ha, what a great idea! Very cool.

[Double Daddy]

I'da never thunk to make a chess set out of leather....Great job, dkuehn!...especially incorporating it into the table with storage. Very inspirational...I got some rustic pallet oak that just been laying around, waiting for me figure out what to do with it...Hmmm?