What is the Best Wooden Chess Pieces?
- Written by: Joe bob Joe bob
- Published on: Jul, 06 2011
Wooden chess pieces come in many colors, styles and sizes. Wood provides a warmth and feel to your chessmen that can’t be duplicated with other materials. There really is not a “best” type of wood chess set, but you can know all about what is available to find the chess pieces that will be the “best” wooden chess set for you. Wood for chess pieces Boxwood Boxwood is the most common wood type for chess pieces. It’s a very dense wood with a clean grain and not too much variation in the color. It is dense enough to be carved the most intricate detail. Boxwood is moderate in price, but it’s still of a high enough grade to be used in the most expensive of chessmen. It is taken from a tree fittingly named ‘The Boxwood Tree’. Ebony Ebony is a very dark, heavy and dense wood. When polished it provides a deep dark luster black color. This wood was used on the original Jacques chessmen in the mid 1800s. Since then it has become one of the most popular woods used in chessmen. Today it’s mostly used in luxury wooden chess sets due to its moderately high cost and value. Less expensive chess sets will often imitate ebony by a process called ebonizing which is essentially dyed boxwood. Because it’s a dye and not paint it allows the wood to be polished as if it were natural. Rosewood Rosewood is a rich brown color with attractive reddish grains and hues. It’s not as hard as ebony but many would say a lot more attractive. Rosewood tends to be quite oily and is therefore difficult to lacquer, however it can be polished which makes it perfect for chessmen. Rapidly becoming a rare endangered wood, the price and value continues to escalate considerably. Rosewood is used a lot in the manufacture of musical instruments. It is said to have rich tonal properties. Sheesham Sheesham, often referred to as Golden Rosewood is a dense hardwood that is available in abundance in India. The grains is extremely attractive and it’s used to make chess boards as well as pieces. Due to the mass availability of this wood, many chess sets are made from this wood. Red Sandalwood Red sandalwood goes by a few different alias names. The reason for this is that officially its export is restricted from certain countries so people will export it under a different name. Common names include bud rosewood, blood rosewood and redwood. Red sandalwood is a deep grained wood with stunning figuring and rich reddish tones. It’s hard and dense and makes beautiful chess pieces. The vary finest luxury wooden chess pieces are made from this wood. For more information about wooden chess please visit our site http://www.boardchessset.com/home.html