[no2pencil]

Does anyone have a hobby to hand carve chess pieces? Do you have a family member that does?

Years ago I bought a chess board at a garage sale. The man said he bought it when he fought in Vietnam. The board is much larger than any I've ever seen, & I have never found pieces for the board. I would really like to have some hand carved (with imperfections) pieces for the board.

I've only found one guy that does this, but he's a true artist & refuses to do anything at request. He makes elaborate dragons & castles & so on.

[modi123_1]

Have you tried etsy?

http://www.etsy.com/...ndmade?includes[0]=tags&q=chess+sets

[no2pencil]

Oh neat! I've not seen these before.

wow!

[modi123_1]

Yeah etsy's my go-to site for odd hand made things..

[lordofduct]

My dad had an old hand carved chess set made of grey and pink granite when I was a kid. The chess pieces looked like little Polynesian warriors. It was so cool... I think one of his ex-wives stole it, she had a knack for coming by when he wasn't home and just taking stuff.

She stole his toilet seat once...

[ishkabible]

I have too many chess sets; my favorite one is just the standard vinyl roll up board with lead double weighted plastic pieces; after I realized that I stopped buying the damn things.

my nicest is a half quartz, half onyx, set that my grand parents bought years ago and then gave to me; that thing is WAY to heavy.

I have 2 hand made wooden sets; 1 large one from France and another very small one from a local shop.

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 19 February 2012 - 01:38 PM

[no2pencil]

ishkabible, on 19 February 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

that thing is WAY to heavy.

So heavy is a place & the board is the way there?

ishkabible, on 19 February 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

and another very small one from a local shop.

Does the local shop have website or a phone number?

[ishkabible]

too not to, right...will fix next time.

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Does the local shop have website or a phone number?

yes, but they're not a chess specialty shop; they're more of an oddities shop that happened to have a hand made chess set.

you might contact the house of staunton; they have some REALLY nice stuff but they'll also rip you off FYI

edit:
'house of staunton' not 'house of chess'.

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 19 February 2012 - 01:49 PM

[GunnerInc]

WOW, those are nice on that site. Years ago, I had to spend a weekend in Kenya, bought a beautiful chess board on a beach - handmade out of soapstone. It was a big board, but they wouldn't let me bring it on the LHD where I was staying. What a shame.

[Shane Hudson]

I would really like a handmade stone chess board/pieces but they are so expensive, and I rarely have anyone to play against anyway!

[ishkabible]

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WOW, those are nice on that site.

Ya, they're kinda the de facto top of the line until you go custom(which for equivalent sets is actually cheaper). I've always wanted one but they are just so over priced it's disgusting.

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I would really like a handmade stone chess board/pieces but they are so expensive, and I rarely have anyone to play against anyway!

Have you looked at used sets yet?

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 19 February 2012 - 02:06 PM

[Shane Hudson]

ishkabible, on 19 February 2012 - 09:05 PM, said:

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I would really like a handmade stone chess board/pieces but they are so expensive, and I rarely have anyone to play against anyway!

Have you looked at used sets yet?

Nah I have not looked into getting one properly.. I think I will do when I buy my first house though! For now the computer or a cheap board will do

Edit: Actually no2pencil I do have a family member that used to carve chess pieces.. want me to ask if he still does?

This post has been edited by Shane Hudson: 19 February 2012 - 02:13 PM

[baavgai]

ishkabible, on 19 February 2012 - 04:33 PM, said:

my favorite one is just the standard vinyl roll up board with lead double weighted plastic pieces; after I realized that I stopped buying the damn things.

LOL, I can see that. The cheapo, nice to play with but don't care if a piece becomes a cat toy, are relaxing. You worry about the nice ones.

My dad had a stylized stone set I actually learned on. The kind where the pieces are differentiated mostly by height. I played with it a lot, but it did get chipped over time. Also wasn't the most fun to use, honestly.

There is something inexplicably enticing about a well made chess set. But I usually manage to talk myself out of acquiring them.

[ishkabible]

Ya, and the bishops break pretty frequently on stone sets. I could never bring my self to play on them

I've only played with my onyx/qurtz set once and that was with my grandfather the day before he gave it to me.

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The kind where the pieces are differentiated mostly by height.

I never liked the abstract ones; I bought a smaller metal set once where each piece was some abstract shape formed from cubes(I never decided which was the king and which was the queen). I ended up selling it to someone who didn't even play chess

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 19 February 2012 - 04:41 PM

[BenignDesign]

This is my chess set:



I didn't realize people actually went searching for hand-carved pieces. Then again, I didn't realize people do a lot of things (example: I didn't know until I was nearly 30 that valet parking actually existed outside of movies).

I was born and raised in East Bumfuck.

This is why we don't have nice things.