Chess / Checker / Backgammon / Ace-Deuce / (Acey-deucy if you search the Internet) sets

I appreciate contests – particularly ones I can win, most of my projects are for people who have a need or as gifts – often both. The recent “Giving” contest was cool. However, this project has been in work since before Halloween and was finished today, Tuesday, December 06, 2016. Two will be delivered Friday, December 9, 2016, as complete. One will go to the Armed Services YMCA at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, one will go the VA Medical Center San Diego. I will take the third one in during my next operation at VA MC SD scheduled for early 2017 and leave it behind when I leave.

These are chess / checker / backgammon / ace-deuce / (Acey-deucy if you search the Internet) sets. I talked to the VA Medical Center San Diego and U.S. Navy Medical Center San Diego and neither was “friendly” to kind of large rigid, wooden boards with drawers underneath them to hold the pieces. So, how about a reversal bag with a chess / checker layout on one side and a backgammon / ace-deuce layout on the other? Not a problem there.

Two of the bags are 18” x 24” while the other is about 20” square. All are sewn patchwork type squares and triangles. For the chess / checker boards that means sewing 32 red squares on blue denim. For the backgammon / ace-deuce boards that means sewing 12 light triangles and 12 dark triangles. Then the zippers are sewn in followed by sewing the panels into sealable bags. I intentionally used contrasting thread for color (and because it was what I had in the sewing kit). All patches are sewn on with zig-zag stitches for “texture” and to seal down the edges.

Sitting on the carpeted floor the bag boards did not lay real flat but they do on the table.

The chessmen are turned out of reused / recycled / repurposed wood utilizing the lathe capability of my Shopsmiths. Once I started I realized I could not do many – thank you auto accident – and the solution was the lathe duplicator which provides a table for the cutting tool to rest on so I do not have to support it. Accents such as the “gash” on the rooks and bishops were done on the bandsaw. The knights were free-hand cut on the band saw. All the dark chessmen have red accents or dots on the tops while all light chessmen have blue dots. The kings are accented with gold while the queens are accented with silver in their crowns. With the use of several calipers the result is no two men are exactly the same while the pawns are closest to being the same. There is an extra pawn and an extra piece – a “dunderhead” which is basically a base and staff which can be titled any piece for each color with each set since we know there will be pieces lost.

There are 16 checkers / backgammon / ace-deuce pieces of each color. Twelve of each color are needed for checkers and fifteen of each color are needed for backgammon / ace-deuce so I have provided one extra because we know there will be losses. Each black one has a red “S” while each red one has a blue “S” to provide visual distinction on the board. The red and black checker pieces are Rust-Oleum Painter's® Touch Ultra Cover Multi-Purpose Gloss Brush-On Paint which is soap and water clean-up. The chessmen are finished with Brand X Polyshade and Polyurethane.

A local teachers’ store has large, 3/4” cube dice, and I will pick those up on my trip to the ophthalmologist on Friday, December 9, 2016. Maybe I will try making some out of leftover wood.

Thanks,

Rex