Modern Chess and Checkers Set

Our Modern Chess and Checkers set comes complete with a 15” x 15” board, a full set of walnut and maple pieces (including an extra Queen for when you’re on your chess game), decorative boxes for storage and display of the pieces, and a care card/explanation card that provides tips on how to maintain the board and delineate the pieces.

The board is a combination of Baltic birch “edge grain” and solid walnut squares, and the underside has soft rubber feet to keep it in place - in case you’re traveling and playing the game on a cruise ship.

The storage containers are decorative Baltic birch mitered boxes with solid maple splines and a center divider of “edge grain” Baltic birch, featuring the Hossle Woodworks logo.

When purchasing the full set, an outer box is included. The chess box and checkers box nest neatly inside, giving you the option of displaying one box or another, or all three!

Chess:

Each chess piece is made of either solid walnut or solid maple, and the main players have an inlay on the top to differentiate one from another.

The King features a thick, commanding Baltic birch inlay that shows his strengths, and arguably, his weaknesses. The inlay on the Queen is a circle, indicating that she is free to roam wherever and however she likes. A diagonal inlay spans the Bishops, two intersecting inlays form an L shape on the Knights, and intersecting inlays form a plus sign on the Rook.

This isn’t your parents’ chess board. It’s retro, minimalist, and mid-century, and it's Simple, Clean, Modern design (hey, that’s our tagline), guided us through the creative process.

Checkers:

Each piece features outer layers in the player’s color (maple or walnut) with a thin inner layer of the opposing wood. They’re simple, elegant, and almost look good enough to eat!

Handcrafted in Minneapolis.

Board (1): 15”L x 15”W x ⅞”H
Box (1): 7 ½”L x 7 ½”H x 2”H

King (2): 3”H x 1 ⅛”W x 1 ⅛”L
Queen (4): 2 ⅝”H x 1 ⅛”W x 1 ⅛”L
Bishop (4): 2 ½”H x 1”W x 1”L
Knight (4): 2 ¼”H x 1”W x 1”L
Rook (4): 2”H x 1”W x 1”L
Pawn (16): 1 ⅜”H x ⅞”W x ⅞”L

Care/Instruction Card (1): 2 ½” x 2 ½”

Total Shipping Dimensions/Weight:
15”W x 15”L x 4 ½”H, 8 lbs.

(01) Veneered Baltic Birch

Our Modern Chess Board is made using solid walnut and solid maple for the pieces with inlays of Baltic birch. The board is a combination of “edge grain” Baltic birch and solid walnut. Each of the 13 layers of the beautiful high-end Baltic birch plywood from Columbia Forest Products® are solid wood.

The Baltic birch gives a nod to the designers of the mid-century era, and it makes every piece by Hossle Woodworks a work of art, and a unique, one-of-a-kind, creation.

(02) Finish

We finish our products with a mixture of pure tung oil, boiled linseed oil and wax. This means less harsh chemicals when we are doing the work, and a safer breathing experience for you. The end result is a durable, water-resistant matte finish that feels like a silky-smooth piece of wood.

Another benefit to the finish is that it allows for easy repair when scratches happen. Buff out the scratch with a piece of high-grit sandpaper and rub in some Howard Feed-N-Wax® and your piece is as good as new!

(01) How do I care for this product?

Details can be found on our FAQ page and a care card will be sent with the item. That said, in general, treat the piece with kindness. A damp cloth is all you need to clean it (definitely no harsh chemicals), and the piece can be refreshed with a bit of furniture wax when needed.

Because the chess board is not wrapped in a frame or case, it will be more fragile than more traditional boards (read: don’t drop this board if you can avoid it, and don’t hit the winner of the game over the head in frustration).

(02) I don’t know how to play chess or checkers. Are instructions included?

We’re not masters at the games, so we decided that the internet will probably provide better detailed instructions than we ever could.

(03) Why is this such an expensive board?

This piece utilizes a lot of solid wood, which is not cheap. In addition, each main player has inlays that have been inserted and shaped by hand. We use power tools, of course, but this isn’t a “machine made” set. The board, box and pieces are all handcrafted, and there’s love put into each component.

Baltic birch europly (a plywood product) is a high quality, all hard-wood engineered material that is sustainable, stable, and artful in design. The product we use has 13 layers of thinly sliced birch between two layers of veneer. That’s 15 total layers of wood in ¾” thickness!

In some of our products, such as this one, we glue and stack the plywood together, which multiplies the layered effect. Then, we cut it vertically in narrow strips and turn the stack on their side, essentially creating our own specialty sheet of material, where all you see is individual layers of birch, and none the top or bottom veneers. We call this “Edge Grain Baltic Birch”, although it’s not technically an edge grain at all. It’s layer after layer of solid wood, and we love this look, using it to maximum effect.

It’s inspired by mid-century style, but is modern, minimalist, and a work of art.