Marble Chess Board And Pieces (Pic Heavy)

[Joesuplicki]

So I found out I am going to be moving so I started packing up my stuff and before I packed up my chess board I decided to take some pictures and post them for all to see.

I made this a few years back when I worked in construction. We were working on this one home and the home owners ordered 20" x 20" Italian pitted marble tiles for their entrance way, but she didn't like that they were so big and wanted them to be 9" x 9" tiles. So my boss bought a different saw to make it easier to cut the tiles. So I spent most of the day cutting all these tiles down to size (with about a 1" left over scrap) then we started spacing out the tiles and found out that the saw wasn't square so all the tiles had 2 sides that were about an 1/8th" off so I had to square the saw and re-cut all the tiles again. I was shaving off about 1/2". So I had 1" scraps and 1/2" scraps.

Well while I spent the entire day cutting and re-cutting tiles I decided they would make a good chess board. So I would cut a few tiles, carve a piece, rinse and repeat. Then at the end of the day I grabbed the nail gun, glue, and stain and put everything together. Since I was using the pitted marble I wanted to give everything a very rugged and rustic look, so all the pieces are crude and the board looks a little beat up. I really like it and hope you do too.



Here is it all put away.



The storage drawer



Close up



"Black" Side



"White" Side



Kings



Queens



Bishops



Knights



Rocks



 

[beckashell]

wow! I've always wanted to make me own chess set. this is... WOW!

[Wulf]

This would be really great even without the story, but of course it makes it so much better! You're right that the slight crudeness of the set is what makes it appealing. A nice thing to have, and even better that you made it yourself, on company time!

Wulf

[SonjaBoo]

This is really incredible -- I love the rustic look of it as well.  Great reuse of materials!

[twylag]

oh my ... that is the best-est chess set ever ...
I so want.

[plumbucket]

I saw a set like that once....

I like yours better!

[lindsycarranza]

This is awesome!!! This Rocks!

[mlheran]

This... is SO FLIPPIN' AWESOME!!!
Great reuse of "scraps" with an incredible result! The rustic stone has such a great visual heft, it's perfect! I envy your skills (and resources).

[pinokeeo]

Ok, I don't even know what to say.  I am so blown away by this.  It's just amazing.  That's all.

[Ex_Gratia]

that's really awesome, great job! It looks like it weighs a ton though.