I have a soft spot for checkers.  My gandfather and great grandfather were barbers.  They had several small checkers tables set up in their shop for waiting customers to usem and from what I’m told, would even cut hair and play those waiting sometimes as the tables were just next to the chairs. 

So I’ve got a checkers table on my list of upcoming projects.  Even though it may be months off, I often think about future project issues well in advance to sort out/refine design and process issues.

While no doubt my grandfathers didn’t play on tournament regulation stuff, I’m intrigued by the regulation board in its green and buff motif:

 American Checker Federation has a very clear definition.

The board is to have green and buff squares, with play taking place on the green squares. The squares are to be 2″ on a side (making the playing surface 16″ on a side).

I’ve made a chess board with walnut and maple thin strips laminated onto ply, but that method counts on the ability to plane or sand wihtout effecting the color of the squares.  I had thought about trying to use green lignum vitae for the dark squares (likely maple for the buff), but upon posting a question in the wood and materials folder, a poster reminded me of how oily LV is and therefore difficult to glue (like cocobolo or teak I guess – I’m more of a US domestic hardwood user for the most part and still learning my exotics).  So my next thought is water based dye – like Lockwood.  Trouble is, I assume the dye would only penetrate the surface slightly and would be easily removed by the sanding or planing I might need to do as one of the last steps after laminating my board up.  So I eaither need a way to apply the dye to a board that has been fully leveled or a new assembly method that yields a board that doesn’t need a final leveling after glue up.  Any of you have any helpful suggestions on how to best get a green and buff checker board (as part of a larger table) that will be durable and pretty, sort of like this one (green squares are dyed sycamore according to the text on the site this came from):

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Thanks, Knotsters.