About Castle Chess
I studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, in the UK, and worked as a design engineer in the aircraft industry for a number of years. I subsequently completed a management trainee programme with an International Corporation, worked for them in the UK and then accepted a management position with them, here in South Africa, some 45 years ago. After a number of years in the corporate environment, I decided to open my own business and for more than 30 years my wife and I ran a recruitment company specialising in engineering and technical placements.
I have always been interested in woodwork and “do it yourself” projects and so, as retirement loomed, I set up a home workshop and had the idea of trying to make solid hardwood chess boards. After about a year of creating various jigs and fixtures, I produced the first prototype, and then made a couple more. They turned out OK and my wife and I decided to approach an online retail chess company (with great trepidation, I might add) to see if they would be interested in perhaps adding them to their range of products. They were happy to and today they sell them from their Johannesburg based store as well as on line, and we have added chess piece boxes to the range. In addition we make chess boards to order on a one off basis.
As well as chess boards, we also design and make a variety of solid wooden boxes, mainly jewellery and keepsake boxes, which are now for sale on Bid or Buy, and also at various craft markets in and around Gauteng. In addition, my wife crotchets large and small blankets, which form part of our product range.
The chess products are sold under the name of Castle Chess and the jewellery boxes and blankets under the trading name of P & A Fine Crafts.
The Workshop:
Currently the workshop comprises a DeWalt Table saw, a Makita Band Saw and Planer / Thicknesser, a Router Table powered by a 3,25 HP Triton Router which doubles up as a Jointer, a Ryobi Drill Press, and various Bosch sanders as well as a Triton vertical rotary sander, plus the usual hand held tools such as Makita Biscuit Jointer, Drills, planer, a couple more routers, and so on. Tools4Wood have been key in the development our small enterprise, supplying difficult to find items such as spare parts, and particularly router bits. They are extremely efficient, helpful and for us living in Alberton, very convenient.
The Chess Boards and Boxes:
The Chess Boards are made from solid American Walnut and Hard Maple, imported from the US. They are finished by hand rubbing Danish Oil – usually three or four coats, and then polished using multiple applications of BriWax. It takes about 4 weeks to make two boards simultaneously. The boxes are similarly made. The Jewellery Boxes are currently made from solid Cherry Wood.
