Hi guys! Conrad Craft Here!
In this episode I am finishing up the last of the wood turning of the chess pieces for this giant chess set. (music begins to play...)
TO EVERYTHING....turn... turn... THERE IS A SEASON....turn... turn...
Its hard to believe how much footage I have of all these chess pieces being turned...not to mention all the pics I have of the process. Pretty sure I have officially spent more time sifting through and editing down these videos than I did making this entire set. lol. I hope you guys are enjoying seeing the whole "how to make a chess set" process. I have definitely had fun working on the wood lathe, and carving each and every detail from the complex knight down to simple pawn.

In this video I turn The Kings for this giant chess set. Once again, the woods used for the chess pieces and the chess board in this set are Maple and African Mahogany. the King design is a one piece construction with the finial cross on the kings crown being turned and carved in place instead of being added on later as is usual with most tournament chess sets and Staunton designs. I think, as far as the difficulty of the woodworking goes, the king is is a little easier than the other pieces except for the pawns. The queen has more carving on the crown. The bishops and rooks have very precise cuts which must be made for their decoration. And the knights........well, in chess the knights are truly their own animal and carving the knights is its own challenge and completely different from the rest of the process... so it is nice to be finishing up this chess set on a fairly easy piece. I AM SO READY TO PLAY CHESS WITH THIS SET!!!!!

I will be uploading at least 3 more videos in this series before its all over... so stay tuned my awesome friends!
videos left to upload:
1. completing the board
2. Turning checker pieces
3. Putting the finish on the chess set

I hope you enjoy this video. I'll see you in the workshop!
BEST REGARDS!
Conrad Craft