Step 1: Materials and Tools
2′ × 2′ × 1/2″ plywood
1/8″ × 1 1/4″ steel angle – 3 foot lengths × 2
1 × 4 pine board – 4 feet long
1 × 6 pine board – 6 feet long
1 × 8 pine board – 2 feet long
2 × 6 pine board – 8 feet long
2″ × 2″ tile (black and white, sold in 12″ squares held together with glue)
Steel mending plates and corner brackets
Construction adhesive
Two in one wood stain and polyurethane
Wood glue
Wood filler
Citric acid
Gun blue
Metal clear coat
Screws (1/2″, 3/4″ and 1 1/4″)
Furniture glides
Cabinet handles
Tools:
Mitre saw (with both a wood cutting blade and a metal cutting blade)
Table saw
Drill press
Brad nailer
Drill
Sander
File
Dremel rotary tool
Paint brush
Step 2: Build the Top
Use a table saw to chop your plywood into a 17 1/2″ square.
Put a metal cutting blade in your mitre saw and cut the ends of your steel angles at 45 degrees, 17 5/8″ long, from long point to long point. Use a file to wash up any burrs from cutting. Use a drill press to drill holes along the middle of the steel angles every two inches ranging from the center and measuring outwards. do that along each side of the steel. The holes should be just large enough for the 3/4″ screws to suit through.
Temporarily attach the steel angles to the plywood with a few screws. Lay out your tiles inside this square, within the order you would like them, to form sure everything fits properly. If all is sweet , remove the tiles, put down a skinny layer of construction adhesive and replace the tiles on top. If a number of your tiles are a rather different size, it’s better to space out any gap within the middle of the board instead of have it along the sting .
After the adhesive dries, remove the steel angles, polish them up with a wire wheel during a dremel tool and provides them two coats of gun blue, polishing after each coat. Soak your screws in acid for a few hours to get rid of the zinc coating and polish them up also . Give the screws and therefore the steel angles a few coats of protective clear coating. When dry reattach the angles to the chessboard with a few screws.
Step 3: Build the Case
Glue and nail the 5 1/2″ pieces of 1 × 4 onto the ends of the 16″ pieces of 1 × 6. Glue and nail the 1 5/8″ × 10 1/2″ pieces flush with the tops of the 1 × 4 and therefore the 3/4″ × 10 1/2″ pieces flush with the bottoms to make a box as shown within the pictures. Glue and nail the 3/4″ × 16″ pieces centered across the highest and bottom as pictured to feature stability. Attach mending plates to the within of the case at the joints to strengthen them.
Fill the nail holes with wood filler and after it dries sand the case and finish with stain and polyurethane.
Step 4: Build the Drawers
Set your table saw blade at 1/2″ depth and 1/2″ from the fence and cut a rabbet around all four sides of both 4″ pieces as shown within the picture.
Glue and nail the pieces of wood together to form two drawers, with the 1 × 8 because the bottom, the plywood pieces because the sides and back and therefore the 4″ pieces because the drawer fronts.
Insert the drawers into the case and mark where the drawers touch the 3/4″ strip on rock bottom . Cut some small pieces of plywood and nail them to the rear of the drawers on either side of those lines to act as drawer guides. Cut the backs of the drawer sides on an angle so you’ll be ready to insert the drawers with the guides on.
Fill the nail holes with wood filler, sand and finish with stain and polyurethane.
Step 5: Attach the Top and Add Details
Soak eight corner brackets and enough 3/4″ screws for them in acid to get rid of the zinc coating. Finish the brackets with two coats of gun blue and polish them and therefore the screws with a wire wheel within the dremel. Apply two coats of protective clear coat. When dry, attach two brackets, evenly spaced, to every corner of the case. Attach handles to the edges of the case and to the drawer fronts.
Step 6: Build the Legs
Cut four pieces of two × 6 at 23″ long. Set your table saw blade at a 45° angle and rip eight pieces that are 2 3/4″ wide to the long point of the angle. Set the table saw blade back to 90°. Make a tapering jig out of some scrap pieces of wood as shown within the picture. Make the space between the boards at the top of the jig 1″. Place the jig against the table saw fence and put one among the 23″ boards in situ within the jig with the long point of the angle against the jig and therefore the bottom of the board resting against the stop block. Adjust the fence therefore the board will contact the saw blade at 8″ down from the highest of the board. Run the boards through the saw using the jig with half the boards oriented with the long side facing down and half with the long side facing up. this may offer you four pairs of boards with tapers on opposite sides.
Next, set your saw blade at a height of 3/4″ and your fence 5 1/2″ from the blade. With the long side facing down and therefore the top toward the fence, run each board through the saw several times to slowly nibble away half the thickness of the highest of the boards as shown within the picture.
Now glue and nail the board pairs together along the 45° angle to make four legs with tapered edges on all sides .
Fill the nail holes, sand and finish each leg. Nail a furniture glide to rock bottom of every leg. Flip the chessboard the wrong way up and fasten the legs with 1 1/4″ screws, four per leg. Flip the table back over and luxuriate in .
