How are wood chess sets made?
Making a chess set is a lot more work than most people realize. Chess sets are handmade, with most of the work done on small lathes . The chess set starts out as a raw log which is then cut into various sizes need for the different chess pieces. Except the knight, a piece of raw wood is turned on a lathe one at a time, to the final shape using several cutting tools to create the different profiles of the chess piece. Knights are hand carved by master carvers using a variety of tools. The base of the chess piece is then hollowed out with a drill for the cavity needed for the weight. Molten lead is then poured into the base of the chess piece. Pieces are then sanded and polished to removed all tooling marks and achieve a perfectly smooth finish. The final polishing is done on a cotton buffing wheel where lacquer is applied to create the luster. Finally, the padding, whether green billiard cloth or black leather, is glued to the bottom.
