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Chess and Checkers Board[8/4 Wide · 2ft · 5-Pack]
One pack. One build. All 5 boards used. • Makes 1 board and 2 piece boxes
Shop Black Walnut 8/4 Wide · 2ft Pack Shop All Speciesselect 2' Lengths / 6-8"
How it goes together
Black Walnut
Hard Maple
Cherry
White Oak
Red Oak
Ash
Hickory
Ambrosia Maple
Sapele*
Padauk*
Purpleheart*
*Exotic — not available for shipment to US customers.
A thick, heavy chess and checkers board that stays put on the table, with two matching lidded boxes for the pieces. Three wide boards edge-glue into a 16½" square top. You mark out an 8 × 8 grid of 2" squares and darken every other one with dye or a wood-burning tool. Boards 4 and 5 become the two piece boxes, one for each player. A great gift for a family that plays.
Quick Build — for experienced woodworkers
| Part | Qty | From | S2S size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Board top pieces | 3 | Boards 1–3 | 16½" × 5½" × 1¾" |
| Box bases (two wells each) | 2 | Boards 4–5 | 10" × 5½" × 1¾" |
| Box lids (hollowed underneath) | 2 | Boards 4–5 | 10" × 5½" × 1¾" |
| Wells in each base | 2 | Drilled and chiselled | 4¼" × 4½" × 1¼" deep |
Top: boards 1–3 cut at 16½" and edge-glued (long grain) → 16½" × 16½" × 1¾", about 16" across after jointing.
Grid: 8 × 8 squares at 2" inside a ¼" border. Lines knife-scored, alternate squares dyed or wood-burned.
Piece boxes: 10" base and 10" lid from each of boards 4 and 5. Two 4¼" × 4½" wells 1¼" deep in the base, one 9" × 4½" hollow 1" deep in the lid. Two ⅜" dowel pins locate the lid.
Finished size: Board 16½" × 16½" × 1¾" (about 16" across the grain after jointing), about 12 lb in walnut. Boxes 10" × 5½" × 3½" closed, with about 2¼" of space inside.
Before You Start
Shopping List
- 1 lumber pack — 8/4 Wide · 2ft (6–8" wide, S2S)
- Wood glue (Titebond II or III)
- Dark water-based wood dye or stain (ebony or dark walnut), or a wood-burning tool with a shading tip
- Painter's tape (sharp-edge type)
- 4 × ⅜" × 1" dowel pins (lid locators)
- 4 felt pads
- Sandpaper 120 / 180 / 220
- Finish: hardwax oil
- A chess set with a king about 3"–3½" tall, and 24 checkers
Tools
- Saw for crosscuts (mitre saw or circular saw with a speed square)
- S2S only: jointer, straight-line rip jig or hand plane
- 4 bar clamps, 24" or longer
- Cauls (straight scrap strips)
- Router sled, hand plane or wide drum sander
- Drill press with a 1" Forstner bit and depth stop
- ⅜" bit (dowel pins)
- Sharp ½" or ¾" chisel
- Utility knife and steel rule
- Router with ⅛" roundover bit (or sand the edges)
- Tape measure, combination square, pencil
- Random-orbit sander or sanding block
Why S2S only? The 6–8" wide 8/4 boards come S2S: both faces planed, edges rough. Plan on losing about ¼" per edge when you straighten them.
Our sizing assumptions: ⅛" per saw cut · 6–8" wide 8/4 S2S boards trimmed ½" each end and ¼" off each rough edge (5½" clean at the narrowest), planned at 1¾" thick · sizes drawn for the narrowest board in the pack. Wider boards give you a bigger offcut or a wider part — never a shortage.
Step-by-Step
S2S Lumber Pack (6–8" wide)
Surfaced 2 sides — straighten edges first
- 1 Prep the boards. Trim ½" off each end to remove any end checks. Joint one edge straight, then rip the other edge parallel (¼" off each rough edge is our planning allowance).
- 2 Cut the parts. Square one end of each board. Crosscut boards 1–3 at 16½" for the top. Crosscut boards 4 and 5 into two 10" pieces each: one base and one lid per box. Keep each base and lid from the same board so the grain matches.
- 3 Glue up the top. Lay the three top pieces side by side, best faces up, growth rings alternating. Joint the mating edges, then edge-glue them — long grain to long grain. Clamp with cauls at the ends so the seams stay flush. The top comes out about 16½" wide, closer to 16" after jointing.
- 4 Flatten and square. Scrape the dried glue. Flatten with a router sled, a hand plane or a wide drum sander (many cabinet shops will run it through for you). Then trim the ends so the board is square — 16½" if the width allows, otherwise trim it to match the width.
- 5 Lay out the grid. Mark a ¼" border on all four sides, then an 8 × 8 grid of 2" squares inside it with a sharp pencil and a square. If your top is a little under 16½", shrink the border, not the squares. Score every grid line about 1/32" deep with a knife and a steel rule.
- 6 Darken alternate squares. Mask the light squares with painter's tape, pressing the edges down hard. Brush on a dark water-based dye or stain, two thin coats. The knife lines stop it bleeding along the grain. Or skip the tape and burn the squares with a wood-burning tool and a flat shading tip. Leave the top-right corner square light ("light on the right").
- 7 Make the box wells. On each base, mark two wells 4¼" long × 4½" wide, leaving ½" walls and a ½" divider. Drill out the waste with a 1" Forstner bit in the drill press, depth stop at 1¼", holes overlapping. Pare the walls and corners clean with a chisel.
- 8 Hollow the lids. On the underside of each lid, mark one hollow the size of both wells together, 9" × 4½", and drill and chisel it out 1" deep the same way. Glue two ⅜" × 1" dowel pins into the top of each base, one in each end wall, standing ¼" proud. Drill matching ⅜" holes in the lid so it drops on and can't slide.
- 9 Round, sand and finish. Round over every outside edge of the board and the boxes. Sand the boxes and the board's edges and underside 120 → 180 → 220, but only hand-sand the top lightly with 220 so the squares stay crisp. Once the dye is dry (24 hours), wipe on 2–3 coats of hardwax oil over everything. Stick felt pads under the board's corners.
Why score the grid lines? Dye wicks along the grain and leaves fuzzy squares. A shallow knife cut at every line breaks the fibres, so the colour stops dead at the line.
Why one species? The pack is one species, so you make the dark squares rather than glue them in. Dye or burning is quick, and the grain still shows through every square.
Why a thick board? At 1¾" thick the board is heavy and stays flat. It won't slide when someone bumps the table, and it looks great left out between games.
Make It Yours
- Two-species board: buy a second pack in a contrasting wood (maple and walnut). Rip both into 2" strips, glue them up alternating, crosscut 2" slices, flip every other slice and glue again for a true inlaid board.
- Magnets for the lid: swap the dowel pins for four small rare-earth magnets set flush in the corners, so the lid snaps on.
- Engraved letters: burn or engrave a–h and 1–8 in the border.
Safety and Care
- Wear eye and hearing protection. Use a push stick for every rip under 4" wide.
- Clamp the box blanks to the drill-press table when drilling the wells. A 1" Forstner bit grabs.
- Chisel away from your hands, with the box clamped to the bench.
- Dye and stain rags can stain skin and clothes — wear gloves. Lay oily rags flat outside to dry before you throw them out.
- Wear a dust mask when cutting and sanding, especially exotics (padauk, purpleheart, sapele).
Frequently Asked Questions
The 6–8" wide 8/4 pack comes S2S (faces planed, edges rough). Straighten the edges with a jointer, a table saw and a straight-line jig, a track saw, or a hand plane.
Light woods give the most contrast: hard maple, ash, white oak or hickory with ebony dye. In walnut or cherry the dark squares are subtle — burning them gives more contrast than dye.
Yes, lying down. Each box holds one player's 16 pieces from a set with a king up to about 3½" tall — pawns in one well, the rest in the other, with the lid hollow giving extra height. Checkers stack 12 to a well.
A king about 3"–3½" tall with a base about 1¼" across. Standard checkers (about 1¼") fit well too.
Planned offcuts: about 6⅜" off the end of boards 1–3 and about 2⅞" off boards 4 and 5, plus the waste drilled out of the wells (our yield counts the full blanks). The 6⅜" pieces make great coasters or a dice tray. All 5 boards go into the set.
A 4ft wide pack makes two boards and four boxes: crosscut every board in half first, then follow this plan twice. Or use the extra length for a matching coffee-table game tray.
