Inside the workshop: how a chess set is made

Every chess set we make at Crafteve begins not at a workbench but at a timber yard in Nagina. We start with the wood selection — and this is where the work truly starts.

Choosing the wood

We work primarily with Sheesham (Indian Rosewood), Acacia, and Maple. For our chess sets, Sheesham is the most common choice. It is dense, stable, and responds beautifully to hand tools. The grain is unpredictable in the best possible way — each board has a slightly different pattern, which means no two Crafteve chess sets are ever identical.

The logs arrive at our workshop and sit for a minimum of three months to air-dry. Moisture content is checked with a meter before any shaping begins. Rushing this step ruins everything — wet wood warps and cracks after finishing.

Cutting and squaring

Once the wood is ready, planks are cut to size on a table saw and then squared by hand. The board halves — one Sheesham, one Maple or Acacia — are jointed to create perfectly flat mating surfaces. A bad joint means a board that rocks on the table. We inspect every joint against a steel straight-edge before glue-up.

The board

The iconic alternating-square pattern is created by gluing strips of contrasting wood together, then slicing them crosswise and re-gluing in alternating orientations. This is an old technique — cabinet-makers have used it for centuries. Our artisans do this by hand. After glue-up, the board is scraped flat and sanded through progressively finer grits: 80, 120, 180, 240, then 320.

The pieces

Chess pieces are turned on a lathe. We use a foot-operated treadle lathe for smaller pieces and a motorised lathe for the kings and queens. Each piece is rough-turned, then brought to final shape with hand-held chisels. The work demands close attention — a King that is 0.5mm taller than its mate looks wrong immediately.

After turning, the pieces are hand-sanded and checked for weight. Heavier pieces feel more authoritative on the board. We add a small felt pad to the base of each piece to protect both the piece and the board.

Finishing

We finish all our pieces with food-safe mineral oil. Three coats, applied by hand and buffed between coats with fine steel wool. The oil darkens the wood slightly and deepens the grain. It also makes the set completely safe for households with children.

We do not use lacquer, varnish, or polyurethane. These finishes look fine initially but chip and yellow over time. Mineral oil, by contrast, gets better with use. It soaks into the wood and conditions it. A well-oiled Crafteve chess set will outlast its owner.

Quality check and dispatch

Before a set leaves the workshop, it is inspected piece by piece. Pieces are weighed. The board is checked for flatness. The hinges on the folding sets are tested twenty times. A set that does not pass is reworked — not discounted, not sold as a second.

The finished set is wrapped in cloth, placed in the box, and dispatched. From log to dispatch: approximately six working days for a standard set, twelve to fourteen for engraved or custom orders.