The Junkyard Chess Set

I know I need to get some knitting projects finished and blogged, but this has to be shared. I came across a link to a really cool nuts-and-bolts chess set on homegrownrose's blog.

Nick and I have been trying to play chess together more. When I saw this, I thought he and I would have fun with this. He really did like it. So, while at Home Depot today for all the bits and parts for my my yarn ball winder, we also planned our own version of this chess set.

Here's what we did:

Rook, Knight, Bishop

The Rook: On a 5/16" x 1 1/2" hex bolt, screw on 2 5/16" nuts to the end of the threading. Add 3 5/16" washers (wide rimmed) and one more 5/16" nut. Do this 4 times total.

The Knight: Take a 3/8" eyebolt (we're not sure if it was 2" or ???) with a 3/8" nut. Screw nut to the top of the threading, add 1 or 2 washers (ours are varied in thickness) and one more 3/8" nut. Do this 4 times total.

The Bishop: Take a 5/16" x 1 1/2" hex bolt, screw on one 5/16" nut, add 2-3 washers (again, the varied thickness is why the range), screw on another 5/16" nut and a 5/16" cap nut. Do this 4 times total.

Knight, Bishop, King, Queen

The King: Take a 3/8" x 2" hex bolt, screw on a 3/8" nut to the end of the threading, add a 3/8" wide rimmed washer, another 3/8" nut, another 3/8" wide rimmed washer, and a 3/8" wing nut. Do this 2 times total.

The Queen: Take a 3/8" x 2" hex bolt, screw on a 3/8" nut to the end of the threading. Add a 3/8" wide rimmed washer, another 3/8" nut, another 3/8" wide rimmed washer, another 3/8" nut. Do this 2 times total.

Initial Pawn design

Initial Pawn design: Take a 5/16" x 3/4" hex bolt (ours are threaded all the way to the hex head). Add one 5/16" nut about half way down. Do this 16 times total.

Newer Pawn design

Proposed Pawn redesign: Take a 5/16" x 3/4" hex bolt (ours are threaded all the way to the hex head). Screw 5/16" nut all the way down, add 5/16" cap nut to top and screw tight. Do this 16 times total instead of previous pawn design.

We're planning on making the board from some wood leftovers and probably some wooden bases from the same. Nick and I are still deciding on whether to stain the wood and paint part/all of the pieces to create the "black" and "white" sets. If we do paint the metal, we'll probably use some of our Reaper paints.

Whadaya think? We're totally jazzed about this set!