Any tips on cutting chess pieces?

[UncleApple]

Perhaps I'm overly ambitious, but I recently started scrolling chess pieces.  I've finished 4 pieces so far with mixed results (some flawed more than others).  I'm cutting 1-1/2 inch Aspen for one side and Walnut for the other.  I'm using FDSR #5 thinking that it will make some of the turns easier, but may bump up to a #7 to see what happens. Any suggestions other than time & patience?  Thanks

[Scrolling Steve]

When I cut 1 1/2  anything I have found that i am better of using the FDUR #7.

[hawkeye10]

Especially when cutting thick wood I use these Pegas blades. They make a real difference. Shop for the best price.

 

http://www.dndsawbladesonline.com/page/79818204

[ike]

Cutting that size material I use a #7 on what ever is your choice of blades. Do you have a vice to hold them in , Steve Good has one. some people just use tape to hold them i didn't have much luck that way.

IKE

Edited February 3, 2017 by ike

[bandaideman]

I have done a few sets over the years. I usually get the 1 1/2 inch would and place patterns on cover with tape then cut to length straight on the bottom. Then I took 2 pieces of 1x1 wood and cut about 6-8 inches Drilled holes through both ends placing bolt through to put the pieces in and tighten the bolts holding them and making maneuvering easier. The next step is a #7 blade of some sort. Then there is nothing you can do about it but go slow to cut and slow on turns. It does take patience but if you push it then the pieces will have flaws. I use a mop sander on the pieces and finish. Wood selection sounds good

[wombatie]

I can't give you advice on cutting chess pieces but I will suggest that you sand them really well and in between finishing coats.  I went to a wood show once and some one was selling scrolled chess pieces and they were as rough as guts, I don't think he ever sold them.

 

Marg

[Tommy Johnson]

I've found that the Polar blades work the best for anything cut using thick wood. I like the #7 blades the best. I also wrap the wood with packing tape to help lub the blade.Good luck with the Chess pieces

[Paladin]

I too prefer the FD Polar blades for compound cutting thicker woods.  For aspen I would think a #5 should be plenty.

One thing I have started doing and you might want to try - whenever I am doing compound cuts, if there is a flat cut across the piece (like the bottom of a chess piece) I don't cut that on the first cut.  Just treat the first cut like an inside cut and drill an entry hole to start.  Maybe starting just below the bottom of the piece on one side, and finish the cut just past the bottom on the other side - don't make the bottom cut.  This means the first cut is not completely cut out of the blank and has no chance of moving around while doing the second side cut.  Again, drill an entry hole for the second side cut and do it the same way.  Then, go back the the outside of the blank and just cut across the bottom, releasing the piece from the blank.  Even when wrapping in tape and other methods, towards the end of the second cut, there is always a little room for the piece to move around if the first cut was completed and making the second cut a little inconsistent.  Hope this makes sense, it is hard to explain, but it has helped me in my compound cutting is the past.

 

Steve

[UncleApple]

Cutting that size material I use a #7 on what ever is your choice of blades. Do you have a vice to hold them in , Steve Good has one. some people just use tape to hold them i didn't have much luck that way.

IKE

I have a wooden vice but haven't tried it yet.  I usually just use packing tape to hold the sections together...

[UncleApple]

Great advice from everyone & much appreciated.  Thanks!

[Bill WIlson]

I think one of the most critical elements of compound cutting is that the stock for the blanks has to be perfectly square and parallel.  Anything less will cause the pieces to look lopsided when they come out.  Also, correct pattern placement is important.  The fold line of the pattern has to line up exactly with the corner of the blank.  Any misalignment will transfer directly to the finished piece.

 

As for the vice, I think what is being referred to is a simple homemade clamp, made specifically for compound cutting.  It consists of 2 strips of wood, longer than the blank, with a bolt/screw and wingnut/knob on each end.  You can use this to keep the pieces together as you are cutting.  It also gives you a little more to hold onto while cutting and helps you control the cut.  I think Steve Good shows how to make one on his website.

[UncleApple]

I think one of the most critical elements of compound cutting is that the stock for the blanks has to be perfectly square and parallel.  Anything less will cause the pieces to look lopsided when they come out.  Also, correct pattern placement is important.  The fold line of the pattern has to line up exactly with the corner of the blank.  Any misalignment will transfer directly to the finished piece.

 

As for the vice, I think what is being referred to is a simple homemade clamp, made specifically for compound cutting.  It consists of 2 strips of wood, longer than the blank, with a bolt/screw and wingnut/knob on each end.  You can use this to keep the pieces together as you are cutting.  It also gives you a little more to hold onto while cutting and helps you control the cut.  I think Steve Good shows how to make one on his website.

Thanks Bill.  I believe I saw the "vice" in a video of his once but had forgotten about it.

[Scrappile]

I can't give you advice on cutting chess pieces but I will suggest that you sand them really well and in between finishing coats.  I went to a wood show once and some one was selling scrolled chess pieces and they were as rough as guts, I don't think he ever sold them.

 

Marg

"rough as guts"??  Never heard that before, I'm thinking "guts" are slimy!   :lol:

[amazingkevin]

Perhaps I'm overly ambitious, but I recently started scrolling chess pieces.  I've finished 4 pieces so far with mixed results (some flawed more than others).  I'm cutting 1-1/2 inch Aspen for one side and Walnut for the other.  I'm using FDSR #5 thinking that it will make some of the turns easier, but may bump up to a #7 to see what happens. Any suggestions other than time & patience?  Thanks

i would have enjoyed seeing your endeavors at cutting these with photo's.Lets see how it's coming along.

[wombatie]

"rough as guts"??  Never heard that before, I'm thinking "guts" are slimy!   :lol:

Sorry about that.  :lol: :lol:   Lets just say it need a LOT MORE sanding. 

 

Marg

[CharleyL]

Saw setup is very important for this. Be certain that the blade is exactly 90 deg to the table, not just about 90 deg. The easiest way to do this is to cut into a piece of square scrap part way, then pull it back off the blade, keeping the bottom down against the table. Now, slide it around to the back side of the blade so the saw cut that you made is facing toward you, and see if the blade fits easily into the saw cut. 

 

On a scroll saw with blade grips similar to a DeWalt 788 (Delta, Porter Cable, Jet) make certain that the blade clamps are holding the blade exactly one end above the other and adjust them by turning the set screw in and out a little bit at a time and then clamping the blade again and again until you can run the saw and not see any side to side movement as it moves up and down. You also want the blade adjusted to be pretty close to the center of the table hole.

 

You also need the blade to be perfectly square with the table in the front to back direction. The DeWalt 788's seem to have an error in their design that puts the lower blade clamp just slightly forward of the upper blade clamp. DeWalt hasn't provided an adjustment for this, but carefully elongating the holes in the end of the lower blade arm (yellow part) will allow you to mount the lower blade mechanism just a little further back. For me, the movement was about 1/16", but it was sufficient. The blade will move slightly forward and back during it's motion and this is normal, but the blade itself needs to be exactly 90 deg front to back with the table as well as being 90 deg side to side with the table.

 

All of this improves your flat cutting quality some, but it makes a huge difference when you are cutting thick pieces and even more improvement when doing compound cutting (3D) like chess pieces.

 

When compound cutting I've found it best to make a clamp from two identical pieces of 3/4 cabinet birch plywood about 3" longer than the object blank that you will be cutting. Clamp or double stick these two pieces together and then drill two clearance holes for 10-32 screws through both at the same time, one near each end. Then use some 10-32 stainless steel all thread ,washers, hex nuts, and wing nuts to assemble these two pieces into a clamp. I place a nut on both sides of  one piece of plywood with one piece of all thread through it and tighten the nuts near one end of the all thread. Then I do the same at the hole at the other end of this piece of plywood. The second piece of plywood then just slides onto the long ends of the all thread (may need to enlarge the holes in this piece of wood, but only 1 drill size larger). To the ends of the all thread sticking through this second piece of plywood I then add a washer and a wing nut.

 

The result is an adjustable width clamp to hold opposite sides of your chess piece together as you cut the first side of your chess piece, and then hold all of the loose pieces together after you turn your work 90 degrees and reclamp it to make the second side cuts. When I apply this clamp to my work it's necessary to tighten the wing nuts about as tight as I can make them. Then, as I complete each cut the length of the block, I again tighten the wing nuts, because just removing the thin blade thickness of material will tend to loosen the clamp.  

 

Each time that I install this clamp, I make certain that both the clamp and the work bottom side both rest flat against the saw's table top with no rocking due to a miss alignment.  Both the work and the clamp must sit flat against the saw table during the cutting. Any rocking will produce errors in the cuts and the meeting points of the cuts in two adjacent sides of your work will not line up. You also have to keep the blade very tight. On the DeWalt 788, this means a setting of 4-4.5 on the blade tension adjustment. You won't need a zero clearance hole in the table, since the clamp holds all of the pieces together and in perfect alignment during the cutting. You can't hold them together accurately enough using just your fingers to keep the pieces together. Of course, it's absolutely necessary to follow the pattern lines very closely too. If you can't follow the pattern lines exactly, your chess piece or other compound cutting will not turn out well. 

 

Well, it looks like I've given away all of my secrets to successful compound (3D) cutting. If you do everything that I've just posted, your chess pieces should turn out perfect.

 

I want to see pictures. Good luck,

 

Charley

[UncleApple]

Saw setup is very important for this. Be certain that the blade is exactly 90 deg to the table, not just about 90 deg. The easiest way to do this is to cut into a piece of square scrap part way, then pull it back off the blade, keeping the bottom down against the table. Now, slide it around to the back side of the blade so the saw cut that you made is facing toward you, and see if the blade fits easily into the saw cut. 

 

On a scroll saw with blade grips similar to a DeWalt 788 (Delta, Porter Cable, Jet) make certain that the blade clamps are holding the blade exactly one end above the other and adjust them by turning the set screw in and out a little bit at a time and then clamping the blade again and again until you can run the saw and not see any side to side movement as it moves up and down. You also want the blade adjusted to be pretty close to the center of the table hole.

 

You also need the blade to be perfectly square with the table in the front to back direction. The DeWalt 788's seem to have an error in their design that puts the lower blade clamp just slightly forward of the upper blade clamp. DeWalt hasn't provided an adjustment for this, but carefully elongating the holes in the end of the lower blade arm (yellow part) will allow you to mount the lower blade mechanism just a little further back. For me, the movement was about 1/16", but it was sufficient. The blade will move slightly forward and back during it's motion and this is normal, but the blade itself needs to be exactly 90 deg front to back with the table as well as being 90 deg side to side with the table.

 

All of this improves your flat cutting quality some, but it makes a huge difference when you are cutting thick pieces and even more improvement when doing compound cutting (3D) like chess pieces.

 

When compound cutting I've found it best to make a clamp from two identical pieces of 3/4 cabinet birch plywood about 3" longer than the object blank that you will be cutting. Clamp or double stick these two pieces together and then drill two clearance holes for 10-32 screws through both at the same time, one near each end. Then use some 10-32 stainless steel all thread ,washers, hex nuts, and wing nuts to assemble these two pieces into a clamp. I place a nut on both sides of  one piece of plywood with one piece of all thread through it and tighten the nuts near one end of the all thread. Then I do the same at the hole at the other end of this piece of plywood. The second piece of plywood then just slides onto the long ends of the all thread (may need to enlarge the holes in this piece of wood, but only 1 drill size larger). To the ends of the all thread sticking through this second piece of plywood I then add a washer and a wing nut.

 

The result is an adjustable width clamp to hold opposite sides of your chess piece together as you cut the first side of your chess piece, and then hold all of the loose pieces together after you turn your work 90 degrees and reclamp it to make the second side cuts. When I apply this clamp to my work it's necessary to tighten the wing nuts about as tight as I can make them. Then, as I complete each cut the length of the block, I again tighten the wing nuts, because just removing the thin blade thickness of material will tend to loosen the clamp.  

 

Each time that I install this clamp, I make certain that both the clamp and the work bottom side both rest flat against the saw's table top with no rocking due to a miss alignment.  Both the work and the clamp must sit flat against the saw table during the cutting. Any rocking will produce errors in the cuts and the meeting points of the cuts in two adjacent sides of your work will not line up. You also have to keep the blade very tight. On the DeWalt 788, this means a setting of 4-4.5 on the blade tension adjustment. You won't need a zero clearance hole in the table, since the clamp holds all of the pieces together and in perfect alignment during the cutting. You can't hold them together accurately enough using just your fingers to keep the pieces together. Of course, it's absolutely necessary to follow the pattern lines very closely too. If you can't follow the pattern lines exactly, your chess piece or other compound cutting will not turn out well. 

 

Well, it looks like I've given away all of my secrets to successful compound (3D) cutting. If you do everything that I've just posted, your chess pieces should turn out perfect.

 

I want to see pictures. Good luck,

 

Charley

Great information! Thanks!

[Denny Knappen]

You have been given really good advise.  I can only tell what I do.  I prefer FD Polar #7 blades for compound cutting.  I don't use the clamping system.  I use packing tape.  Be sure and wrap extra tight after the first cut.

[UncleApple]

On 2/5/2017 at 2:56 PM, CharleyL said:

Saw setup is very important for this. Be certain that the blade is exactly 90 deg to the table, not just about 90 deg. The easiest way to do this is to cut into a piece of square scrap part way, then pull it back off the blade, keeping the bottom down against the table. Now, slide it around to the back side of the blade so the saw cut that you made is facing toward you, and see if the blade fits easily into the saw cut. 

 

On a scroll saw with blade grips similar to a DeWalt 788 (Delta, Porter Cable, Jet) make certain that the blade clamps are holding the blade exactly one end above the other and adjust them by turning the set screw in and out a little bit at a time and then clamping the blade again and again until you can run the saw and not see any side to side movement as it moves up and down. You also want the blade adjusted to be pretty close to the center of the table hole.

 

You also need the blade to be perfectly square with the table in the front to back direction. The DeWalt 788's seem to have an error in their design that puts the lower blade clamp just slightly forward of the upper blade clamp. DeWalt hasn't provided an adjustment for this, but carefully elongating the holes in the end of the lower blade arm (yellow part) will allow you to mount the lower blade mechanism just a little further back. For me, the movement was about 1/16", but it was sufficient. The blade will move slightly forward and back during it's motion and this is normal, but the blade itself needs to be exactly 90 deg front to back with the table as well as being 90 deg side to side with the table.

 

All of this improves your flat cutting quality some, but it makes a huge difference when you are cutting thick pieces and even more improvement when doing compound cutting (3D) like chess pieces.

 

When compound cutting I've found it best to make a clamp from two identical pieces of 3/4 cabinet birch plywood about 3" longer than the object blank that you will be cutting. Clamp or double stick these two pieces together and then drill two clearance holes for 10-32 screws through both at the same time, one near each end. Then use some 10-32 stainless steel all thread ,washers, hex nuts, and wing nuts to assemble these two pieces into a clamp. I place a nut on both sides of  one piece of plywood with one piece of all thread through it and tighten the nuts near one end of the all thread. Then I do the same at the hole at the other end of this piece of plywood. The second piece of plywood then just slides onto the long ends of the all thread (may need to enlarge the holes in this piece of wood, but only 1 drill size larger). To the ends of the all thread sticking through this second piece of plywood I then add a washer and a wing nut.

 

The result is an adjustable width clamp to hold opposite sides of your chess piece together as you cut the first side of your chess piece, and then hold all of the loose pieces together after you turn your work 90 degrees and reclamp it to make the second side cuts. When I apply this clamp to my work it's necessary to tighten the wing nuts about as tight as I can make them. Then, as I complete each cut the length of the block, I again tighten the wing nuts, because just removing the thin blade thickness of material will tend to loosen the clamp.  

 

Each time that I install this clamp, I make certain that both the clamp and the work bottom side both rest flat against the saw's table top with no rocking due to a miss alignment.  Both the work and the clamp must sit flat against the saw table during the cutting. Any rocking will produce errors in the cuts and the meeting points of the cuts in two adjacent sides of your work will not line up. You also have to keep the blade very tight. On the DeWalt 788, this means a setting of 4-4.5 on the blade tension adjustment. You won't need a zero clearance hole in the table, since the clamp holds all of the pieces together and in perfect alignment during the cutting. You can't hold them together accurately enough using just your fingers to keep the pieces together. Of course, it's absolutely necessary to follow the pattern lines very closely too. If you can't follow the pattern lines exactly, your chess piece or other compound cutting will not turn out well. 

 

Well, it looks like I've given away all of my secrets to successful compound (3D) cutting. If you do everything that I've just posted, your chess pieces should turn out perfect.

 

I want to see pictures. Good luck,

 

Charley

Finished this set a few months ago & realized I never posted any photos.  For my first set, it had its series of flaws...mainly due to failing to follow the advice given from the get go...but the recipient was very pleased regardless.  I've attached a few photos & hope you enjoy.  I'm now starting a second set and testing various woods.  I really like how sycamore cuts, so I'll likely use it in place of Aspen for the white-side, but I'm not sure what I will use for the black-side yet.  I'm trying cherry, but it seems to eat up a LOT of blades per piece.  For instance, the on a sycamore pawn piece I used about 4 blades...the cherry, on the same pattern, about 8-10 blades.  Have you cut 1-1/2 cherry before?  Does this sound about right or too excessive?  Thanks!!

[Scrappile]

Don't see flaws!  Very nice.  Did you have a pattern for the pieces and that board?  Really like how that board folds up.  I have been thinking about attempting the one that was in the last magazine, but I not sure.  Gator did a beautiful one a few year ago.  What ever happen to Gator?  He hasn't been around. 

[UncleApple]

5 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

Don't see flaws!  Very nice.  Did you have a pattern for the pieces and that board?  Really like how that board folds up.  I have been thinking about attempting the one that was in the last magazine, but I not sure.  Gator did a beautiful one a few year ago.  What ever happen to Gator?  He hasn't been around. 

Why thanks...I assure you they exist   I have a book titled "Making Wooden Chess Sets" written by Jim Kape which contains patterns for 12 different chess sets and 3 patterns for the boards/cases.  In this case, my wife designed the board & case herself.  Somehow she's able to do it all in her head...not me...must have pattern!

[Scrappile]

Exactly the same with me.  I can do the work most times, but I have to have a pattern..  Maybe I have no imagination.  Tell you wife that is a get design.