Wood Guide

It is seldom used to make whole chessboards however. It is a dense wood that is robust and ages nicely. Boxwood comes in various grades and can be seen on chess sets at opposite ends of the price and quality scale. It comes from a tree that is aptly named the “Boxwood Tree”.

It is a medium, dense wood that is robust, thus making it very suitable for chess boards. There are various versions of Walnut wood, American Walnut being the most popular.

In its natural state it is a dark brown with light streaks within the grain. This looks very attractive and some chess boards are made using semi-treated ebony to retain this effect. Commonly used in luxury chess pieces, Ebony is a fine, hard wood. Revered by musicians for its tonal qualities, it is used extensively in high-end guitars and violins.

Expect to find Bud Rosewood in high-end chess pieces.

Much confusion lingers thanks to an adulteration of the term Redwood. Some will pass off Rosewood as Redwood. They are in fact different woods from a different tree. Redwood is seldom used to make chess boards and cabinets but is often used to make high quality chess pieces.

Because of this, Briar has been used for crafting smoking pipes and other ornate objects for centuries. A luxury, dense wood, it is favoured by luxury Italian chess board makers.

A stable wood that is available in abundance in certain parts of the world, it is rare to see chess pieces made from Maple, mainly due to the popularity of Boxwood.

It is not dense or hard enough to turn into chess pieces. It is however used to form the frames of folding chess cabinets on lower priced sets.

In some parts of the world it is becoming very rare and valuable. It has traditionally been the wood of choice for luxury cabinet and furniture makers. It has a dense grain pattern and a solid structure that does not suffer heavily from voids and knots. It also has its place in the manufacture of fine musical instruments, which is a testament to its stable tonal qualities. Sometimes used as either a veneer or in solid form to make chess boards but seldom chess pieces.

The wood from the Hornbeam is heavy and hard with a light colouring and fine grain. It has been used for many purposes including tool handles, snooker cues, parquet flooring and of course chess sets. It is not favoured by all woodworkers because its hardness requires extensive tooling to manipulate effectively. Hornbeam wood is used regularly to make chess sets in Europe and Russia but rarely used in Asia; its dense structure is very hard-wearing, which results in wooden products that will stand the test of time.