i am only 16 years old and was wondering if any body has any chess peice carving patterns??thanks

casey

[pinefeathers]

:Casey,
Glad to see some young'uns wanting to carve. For patterns, select a theme then go from there. Kids coloring books are a good source.
carving,
Jack

Casey, I've been looking around for some patterns for chess pieces myself. One idea is to look at your local library and search for carving in the card(or computer) catalog. They often have ideas in those books. usually not much but you can compile the ideas into your own. If your looking to do something more original than a traditional chess set, you best bet is to draw a pattern yourself(which is what I will inevitablly do myself).

Good luck,
Joe

[Captain_Bandaid]

This same question came up a few months ago and I suggested that a carver could choose any theme and design the set themselves. Well, a real chess player made an astute observation: Pieces that do not look like traditional pieces make it harder to recognize the piece for what it represents. This is a distraction during play. If you intend to play with the pieces, make them look like the traditional shapes. If you are carving to make a showpiece, make them look like what ever interests you: Civil War, Fantasy, Sports, etc.
CB

[peter]

there are patterns for 'a set of whittled chessmen' in Ben Hunt's Whittling Book, written by W. Ben Hunt and published by the bruce publishing company in the '40's. the book is long out of print but you may be able to get it at a library or find it for sale used on ebay.
peter

In the Jan.-Feb 2002 edition of Chip Chats on page 26 and 27
there is an article on making an easy chess set with rough patterns to go by.
I don't know if you can access this article on thier website at this time, but if you search for chip chats you will probably find something usefull, chip chats is a kind of holey grail for woodcarvers and it would help you learn from how-to articles and pattern ideas.
happy carving

p.s. save some money (and blood) buy a carving glove.My last slip (slash) cost $650.00.

[Captain_Bandaid]

:P Hey, Grumpy! We must be 'Blood Brothers'! Why do you think I chose my nickname? Double Ditto on the carving glove and finger protectors. My frustration with the carving gloves is that 1) they don't grip the wood well and can cause an accident if the workpiece slips and 2) they do very little to stop a puncture wound. If any manufacturers read this board, there is room for improvement on carving gloves. I have heard of folks that glue a patch of suede leather on the palm and fingers, and maybe I will try this idea.

Hey Captain Bandaid, I know you're right about slippage and punctures but the slashes and gashes are what hurt the worse and are the most expensive in medical and lost work terms. Although I have found that kevlar doesn't totally stop slashes either (at least this is true after you learn how to sharpen GOOD tools) it still reduces them down to where a band-aid will usually cover them,if you have a good assortment of them.

[Captain_Bandaid]

:'( Grumpy, I recently purchased a set of 4 10-14mm pfeil palm tools. Curious if the wider tools would cut as well as the narrower ones, I quickly grabbed a scrap and cut across the grain. That tool took a 1/2' wide x 1/8' deep cut across the grain and went 1/4' into my UNPROTECTED finger! DUH! Well, I let it bleed a while, washed it out, put on some anti-bacterial ointment and it healed just fine. The scar is always there to remind me, though. That's why my wife calls me Captain Bandaid! I like the ones with Bullwinkle on them.

Well, we're getting off topic here, sounds like good tools.Why was the finger 'unprotected' ?
Maybe we should discuss this on my topic in the BEGINNERS area under protective gloves.
As for the chess piece patterns I had another idea, why don't you buy a cheap set af plastic chess men and use them for a pattern? They would be of traditional design, but you will still have carved them. (after all pride in our abilities is what it's all about,right?)