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Planning to turn a chess set - Chuck question

M

Michael Dean

Joined
Aug 30, 2023
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Location
Alpharetta, GA
I'm thinking of turning a Staunton pattern chess set.

I'm a newbie with limited experience but once successfully turned a replacement pawn in rosewood for a nice commercial set I have that lost one in a house fire many years ago. At the time I was a finish engineer for Dremel and was given a prototype of the then-new 700 series micro lathe. Mine is in a matte black bake enamel that we decided was an unnecessary cost-adder. The product went to market in an as-molded, unpainted shiny black.

I remember my two difficulties were finding a chunk of rosewood which matched the existing set (Carlton's Rare Woods and Veneers, circa 1980), and in holding the work during the process. Oh, and the provided tools were not good - cheap steel, and handles are too short (about 2"). The lathe did work, and still does, but it's a single speed and not that easy to use.

I also have now a recently refurbished Rockwell 46-111 (was my granddad's) which only has a spur drive and a dead center. It's MT2 on both ends, so I can upgrade without issue.

So - a live center and a chuck or two, and a good set of miniature tools seems like a jumping off point. I'm thinking the Axminster SK100 or SK114 chuck kits, and either the Axminster Multi-head live center or one of their steb centers. Alternatively, the Record SC2 is attractive as it would give me a lot of clearance to do the close-in work. That said, it would be pretty useless after making a set or sets. I'm not a pen maker. I've looked at the Taylor and Axminster miniature tools and know I don't know enough to make a choice about the tools.

I'm lucky enough to have a good-sized block of rosewood which I know my grandfather acquired in the early 70's, and a piece of maple of the same vintage. I know to be really careful with rosewood dust, btw.

So the questions are - is working close to the jaws pretty easy on the SK110/114? Are the multiple heads on the live center worth having? Who makes good mini tools?
 
My niece, a total newbie, wanted to learn to turn and make a chess set at the same time. The learning curve with spindle gouges proved to be steeper than she was inclined to master and I also quickly got frustrated. My solution was to buy a bunch of HSS blanks 1/4" to 1" wide by 1/4" thick and grind 8 or 10 negative rake scrapers in various profiles. I turned some short handles from scrap lying around and the results are very good at minimal cost. On small blanks, negative rake scrapers work well, they just need frequent trips to the grinder, and the learning curve is very short and the results are good. We have not gotten to the knight yet and am unsure how we will cope with that. I bought a 45 degree dental hand piece,, but haven't tried it out yet.
 
I'm not an expert by any means but I do have three of the sk114's and the multi head live center you mention.
I would say the multi center would work for you but you might want to look at a smaller chuck like the sk80. I could be wrong but the 114 is a pretty big chunk of metal to be spinning depending on the horsepower of your lathe. I never have looked at the weight of the 80 though so maybe they aren't far off. I don't know.

As far as using an 80 again if you upgraded to a larger lathe I considered getting an 80 to use for reverse chucking when positioning for placement on a vacuum chuck.

You can work close to the jaws on a 114 especially if you get the O'Donnel jaws which the website says also fits the sk80.
 
I’ve never turned a chess set, so I can’t offer anything appreciable as far as that goes. However, I will say that you don’t really need a chuck for these pieces. Turning between centers would be fine. If you did get a chuck, I would second Sam’s recommendation of a smaller chuck (sk100 is probably fine), as well as the O’Donnell jaws.

I would also not bother with miniature tools. They chatter a bunch, are more challenging to sharpen, and are not really that useful in general. You can do everything you need with full size tools. At the the smallest, you might benefit from a 1/4” spindle gouge. This would be a good excuse to get a bunch of skew practice. You can make the whole set with a 3/4” skew.
 
If you are adding weights and a felt bottoms, using a small screw chuck is a quick reliable Mount that lets you finish the tops of many of the pieces easily.
I would use a 3/4 spindle roughing gouge, 3/8 spindle gouge, 1/2” skew for the turning.

Connect with a local AAW. They often have workshops and classes.
Also get some practice in on other turnings before you try making 16 look alike pawns.
Turn a few dozen spin tops at a minimum. The last 20 will take 5 minutes each.
 
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Thanks! The replies here have helped. I'll give the miniature tools a miss, and think I'll go with the SK100 as it should prove more useful on other larger projects. From what I read, it's a good match for my lathe, where the 114 is a shade big. I'm an avid chess player, so if the set works out to be a fun thing to make, I may well make more than one. Even if it's a one-and-done project, it should teach me a lot. Like don't bite off more than you can chew. :)
 
You can learn the use of waste blocks for turning these small bits of wood to get the desired clearance from the chuck.
You might find this channel interesting if you haven’t seen her before. Cindy Drozda turns many small pieces and her box and finial techniques could help your chess pieces.
 
Not I. Thanks for the link.

Interesting, but I think I'll pass on the duplicator. As a newbie, I'd gain a lot of experience and move down the learning curve by doing it with skew and gouge. If I have to do so however, it is an option.

I've been a serious chess nut all my life. I now play chess at the club level (too old for tournaments) three afternoons a week, and I have a number of decent commercial sets already. One of these sets would make a good basis to duplicate, perhaps with details done differently, or with better woods used. Wouldn't feel like a set I hand-turned however.
 
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