This is how you can make a chessboard with a beautiful plywood pattern. Here I will go through step by step how I made this chessboard.
Imagine having your own full-size chessboard that you have made yourself, then imagine that it has a special pattern. You will definitely get a lot of questions about this chessboard. I have made a video of how I made this chessboard here. Under this video, you can find more info about how I made this chessboard.
How to make a plywood pattern on the chessboard
Basically, this is a fairly simple pattern to make, but when you look at the chessboard, it looks more complicated. This is because you get several interesting elements in the pattern. One is that all the white pieces have diagonal lines that go one way, while the black ones go the opposite way.
The second and third patterns you will discover when you look down on four squares then you will see one of two patterns. The first is where all the lines meet in an cross and the second is where there are many squares inside each other. You can see these patterns in the pictures below here.
Which plywood should I choose?
To start with, select the plywood you want to use. I recommend you choose plywood with many layers, this will give you a more interesting pattern. I use a 10 layer 18mm / 3/4 inch Baltic birch plywood for this chessboard. But plywood with fewer and thicker layers can give you a more distinctive pattern, so both are possible to use.
You do not need to buy expensive plywood that has a nice surface. This is not important as it is the edge of the plywood that will be visible in this project. But it is good if it does not have too many twigs in the veneer layers. A few are fine as you can remove the parts where the twigs appear. Look at the edge of the plywood boards to see if there can be many twigs or other damage in the inner layers of the plywood before choosing the board to buy.
How to make the pattern on the chessboard?
What you need to start with is cutting the plywood into strips. The length of the strips does not have much to say, the longer you make them the fewer strips you need. But the width of the strips you need to think a little more about. For my board, I made them 4cm / 1.5 inches so that I could saw them in half to get more pieces out of the same gluing process.
Which width you choose on the strips also depends on which saws you have available. I used my table saw, but if you have a band saw, you can also use this. If I had chosen to have the strips 10 cm to be able to cut them in 5, it would not work as the blade on my table saw is not so big that it could cut 10 cm. But if you have a band saw that can cut over 10 cm then you can try larger strips.
You will then glue the strips together with the edge up. How many strips you put next to each other depends a bit on how big your camps are. I chose to add enough that I could get two squares next to each other in the block. Which in my case were 8 strips of 18mm / 3/4 inch plywood.
How to cut correctly?
To get the same pattern I have on my chessboard, you have to cut 45 degrees. This is something you should also consider when gluing the strips together. As you see in the picture above I glued the strips together overlapping. This gives an approximately 45-degree angle at the end of the glued strips. This means that when I start cutting, there is less wastage.
You are now going to cut the block with strips at 45 degrees. Now you decide how big the squares should be on your chessboard. I chose to have them in “Full size” which is 5 cm / 2 inches. But you can make them bigger or smaller if you want. Maybe you have some chess pieces you want to use? Then you need to think about which size best fits these pieces.
How to make chess squares?
The next step is to create the actual chess squares. The first thing you start with is to make the blanks square because after you cut them from the strip block, you get 45 degrees at each end. I did this using my table saw sled. Try to make as nice triangles as possible because then you can use these later by gluing them together in a pattern. I try to use everything I can of my scrap wood.
If you make it the same size as me, you need a minimum of 16 blocks. But I recommend you make more. Because some can break when you saw them or you find some with ugly cracks. The ones you get left over you will always find something to use them for. How about some chess patterned coasters?
After you have done this, it is ready to split the block in two. I do this on my table saw, but it is also possible to do this on a band saw. After you split them it is ready to make the chess squares. I also do this on my table saw sled. You should check that the width of the block is what you think it is. Luckily I did this as they were 1mm smaller than I had planned. This was not a big error, but it was important that I discovered this before I started cutting the chess squares out of the block. I put a stop block on my table saw sled in the right size and cut up all the squares.
See how I made my table saw sled here.
How do I make the pattern on the chessboard?
I made a glue board to be able to glue the squares together. But it is also nice to use when I have to lay out the pattern of the chessboard. I start by selecting the first eight squares and laying them out so that they form a chevron pattern. When you start on the second row, it is important to make sure that you do the pattern correctly.
But if you remember what we mentioned earlier about the pattern, all the white squares will have lines with a diagonal that goes towards the opposite corner, while the black ones go in the opposite direction. So then they should be opposite of how the squares are in row 1.
Preparation before gluing the chessboard
Before I glued the squares together to become a chessboard, there were two things I did. The first was to grind the pieces together into a flat board. I also did this on the glue board by making a frame around the pieces so that they stayed together while I sanded them.
The second thing I did turn out to be an unnecessary step, as I had to do this again. I stained the dark squares, but after I had glued the board together I had to sand the board again as the board was not as smooth as I wanted. So I had to stain this again after I had sanded the chessboard after the gluing.
How to glue the squares together into a chessboard?
An gluing board is important to have when gluing the squares of a chessboard together. You make this easily with a plywood board that is larger than the finished chessboard should be. You then have to cover the gluing board with packing tape to avoid the glue to stick the chessboard to the glue board. And in addition, you need to have four lists to be used to press the pieces together. Two of them are screwed together at a 90-degree angle, while the other two will be used when the pieces are glued together to give good pressure from all angles.
Lay down all the squares so that they are in the place they are supposed to be. Have wood glue in a container so that you can effectively glue all the squares together quickly. Remember to use a wood glue that gives you enough time to glue all the squares together before it settles completely. Try to compress the squares as best you can along the way so that you get a good gluing.
I used a polyurethane wood glue to glue the squares together, this is a glue that has several advantages. The first is that it is waterproof and that it is good to use when gluing wood with other materials. These are not advantages that I need in this project. But another advantage that this glue has is that it expands a little when it dries. So for me it helps to seal small cracks between the squares.
Creating a backplate
When the chessboard is completely dry, it’s time to give it a backplate. I chose an 18mm / 3/4 inch plate that I cut to the same size as the chessboard. This makes the chessboard much more solid and higher. You can use a thinner backplate if you do not want a chessboard as high as mine. But I think it looks a little better with a higher board as you get a nicer frame around.
How to remove cracks in the chessboard?
After the back of the plate has dried, I sand everything again. This is because the gluing of the squares was not perfect. After I have sanded, I wipe off all the dust on the board and see if there are cracks or holes in the board. I fill the holes I find with homemade wood filler. This you make from the sanding dust which you mixed with wood glue. Fill this into cracks and holes and let it dry. After it has dried, you sanding the chessboard again.
How to stain black chess squares?
To stain my dark chess squares, I use an interior stain from Jotun. This is water-based and gives a suitable opacity so you can still see the lines and pattern clearly in the dark squares.
As mentioned earlier, I stained them before I glued them as well, but had to sand them again after gluing. I would recommend that you wait to stain until after you have glued the squares together.
What you need to do before staining the squares is to mask the squares that will continue to be white. I did this with blue masking tape and a sharp knife. You must have a sharp knife to get straight lines on the tape. Remember to remove the tape immediately after you have stained the board. There may be some stain on the tape which can then find a way down to the white squares below. If that happens you have to sand everything again.
How to make a frame for the chessboard
To make a nice frame around the chessboard, I have used plywood of the same type that I used on the rest of the chessboard so that the board is completely made of plywood. I cut up 8 strips that are as wide as the chessboard is high and 8 cm longer than the width of the chessboard.
I then glue two and two together. After these have dried, I take them to the table saw to give a beveled edge on the lists. Then I sand them a little before I cut them on the miter saw. After I have cut the lists and checked that they fit the chessboard, it is time to glue them to the chessboard. I also do this on the glue board. But this time I put the front of the chessboard down towards the glue board. This is so that the frame will be flush with the surface of the chessboard.
Glue one side first so that I have one that holds the others in place. I do this with the trick where you use both regular wood glue and super glue. As the super glue dries fairly quickly, it keeps the list in place while the wood glue dries. I also use this tactic on the other frame pieces. When gluing them together, make sure that you have pressure on both the chessboard and the frame so that they are flush with the glue board.
Which surface treatment do you use on a chessboard?
You can use oil, but I would recommend that you use something that gives a hard and smooth surface. So you can use epoxy, but I used a clear varnish. I applied five coats of varnish where I sanded with 400 grit sandpaper between each varnish layer.
How difficult is it to make a chessboard with a plywood pattern?
This is one of the projects I have spent the most time on, this has to do with the fact that I had to do some things several times. Like staining the dark squares twice. And the gluing was a bit uneven and I had to sand a lot to get a smooth surface.
If you avoid making the same mistakes as me, this will go a little faster. But it will still take time as there is a lot of drying of glue and varnish that takes time. I do not want to categorize this as a difficult project, but rather a time-consuming project. But if you have any machines that can make the job of sanding faster this will speed up this project.
I recommend you to try to make such a board, I am very happy with mine. But I’m missing some chess pieces for this. I have plans to make a chess set pretty soon so stay tuned here and on youtube.
All the tools and products used in this project i have purchased myself. I use affiliate links, which means that I can get a commission if you shop something with these links. I really appreciate you using one of my links when shopping. This helps me continue to create similar projects like this one. You find a list of all my tools here.
If you make a similar board I would love to see it. Feel free to share it with me on Instagram or send me an email at post@reprevmake.com
