Description
Birdseye Maple and Bocote Chessboard.
A Birdseye Maple and Bocote Chessboard with raised 2-3/8″ squares of Bocote and Birdseye Maple and a solid Bocote frame, The chessboard measures 24″ square. This Signature Contemporary Chessboard, with its unique raised playing field, was crafted by Joel Will. The chessboard is new.
With its striking, zebra-like contrasts, and bold figuring, Bocote is a very eye-catching wood. It is roughly as stiff and strong as Hard Maple, even though Bocote is considerably heavier. This hardwood is native to Mexico and South America. More detailed information on Bocote can be found at: http://www.wood-database.com/bocote/
Birdseye Maple, from the Sugar Maple tree, is used for the light squares of this chessboard. It superficially resembles the wood of a burl, but is something else entirely. Birdseye Maple is not technically a distinct species of Maple, but rather, it’s a figure that’s occasionally found in Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple) trees. The eyes reportedly caused by unfavorable growing conditions for the tree. The Maple attempts to start numerous new buds to get more sunlight, but with poor growing conditions the new shoots are aborted, and afterward a number of tiny knots remain.
