# Follow the world's first Twisty Puzzle chess set project



## Tony Fisher (Aug 14, 2021)

Over the coming weeks I will be posting photos, videos and information on my new puzzle project. It all starts on Saturday 14th August with a YouTube premiere where I reveal the project and show the start of design and construction. A premiere means it is displayed similar to a livestream so you can't skip forward and there's live chat which I will take part in. The time is 6pm BST / 1pm Eastern Daylight Time / 7pm Central European Time and it can be bookmarked in advance or you can set a reminder - 



The video is now public and as you can see it's about the design and making of the first pawn for my chess set project. This is something I have wanted to do for many years.


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## Dan the Beginner (Aug 14, 2021)

Sounds interesting. It's something I would like to do.

Anything about the objective, vision or why you are doing this that you can share for now?


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## Tony Fisher (Aug 14, 2021)

Dan the Beginner said:


> Sounds interesting. It's something I would like to do.
> 
> Anything about the objective, vision or why you are doing this that you can share for now?


It's something I have wanted to make for maybe 30 years but only now feel I have the tools, materials and experience to try it. It's probably the last puzzle making ambition from that era I haven't achieved. The premiere starts in a few minutes.


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## abunickabhi (Aug 14, 2021)

Tony Fisher said:


> Over the coming weeks I will be posting photos, videos and information on my new puzzle project. It all starts on Saturday 14th August with a YouTube premiere where I reveal the project and show the start of design and construction. A premiere means it is displayed similar to a livestream so you can't skip forward and there's live chat which I will take part in. The time is 6pm BST / 1pm Eastern Daylight Time / 7pm Central European Time and it can be bookmarked in advance or you can set a reminder -
> 
> 
> 
> The video is now public and as you can see it's about the design and making of the first pawn for my chess set project. This is something I have wanted to do for many years.


Really love the project idea. Making 32 pieces that are also functional twisty puzzles is something very novel. Super impressed since 2014 (I did not know the world of twisty puzzles before that), and super duper impressed now with the cubingchess project.


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## Dan the Beginner (Aug 14, 2021)

Very interesting!!!


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## qwr (Aug 15, 2021)

There was a recent huge chess wave on youtube due to lockdowns, Queen's Gambit on netflix, and people like Hikaru and GothamChess. So good timing


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## Tony Fisher (Aug 15, 2021)

qwr said:


> There was a recent huge chess wave on youtube due to lockdowns, Queen's Gambit on netflix, and people like Hikaru and GothamChess. So good timing


I was well into the project when Queen's Gambit came out so I was actually watching it while working on my set. It certainly added to my enthusiasm.


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## LBr (Aug 15, 2021)

LBr said:


> Sponsored by the Taiwanese Puzzle Corporation


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## Christopher Mowla (Aug 15, 2021)

Tony Fisher said:


> It's something I have wanted to make for maybe 30 years but only now feel I have the tools, materials and experience to try it. It's probably the last puzzle making ambition from that era I haven't achieved. The premiere starts in a few minutes.


Sounds like something James Cameron would say . . . waiting for (or letting enough time to pass to accumulate enough financing to research and produce) technology that's advanced enough to bring his 20 something year old screenplays to life!


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## Tony Fisher (Aug 22, 2021)

The second video is up.


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## qwr (Aug 22, 2021)

According to this informative video, the knight is the hardest piece to produce when hand carving 






I wonder if the shape for casting is difficult


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## SenorJuan (Aug 22, 2021)

A good video, Tony, thank you. As an engineer, I found your presentation of the complete process from design through to finished item enjoyable and thought-provoking.

I don't know if you resolved the metal pin issue, but one very strong and readily available steel pin is the standard sewing/embroidery needle, available in plenty of diameters/lengths. ( the manufacturing process involves lots of drawing, then folding in half to make the loop, then re-drawing, all of which makes them surprisingly strong. )


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## Tony Fisher (Aug 23, 2021)

qwr said:


> According to this informative video, the knight is the hardest piece to produce when hand carving
> 
> 
> I wonder if the shape for casting is difficult


It was important to me to hand carve / sculpt the knight masters as a challange and also to make the set unique to me. They were definitely my favourite part of the project. I enjoyed working out how I could sculpt the shape in such a way that it could be split into 8. This made it harder to create and more interesting at the same time. They are covered in episodes 7 and 8 in a few weeks.
I made a wooden chess set at school in the 80s. I turned the pieces on a lathe but sculpted the knights by hand with very basic tools, also a lot of fun.


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## qwr (Aug 23, 2021)

Tony Fisher said:


> It was important to me to hand carve / sculpt the knight masters as a challange and also to make the set unique to me. They were definitely my favourite part of the project. I enjoyed working out how I could sculpt the shape in such a way that it could be split into 8. This made it harder to create and more interesting at the same time. They are covered in episodes 7 and 8 in a few weeks.
> I made a wooden chess set at school in the 80s. I turned the pieces on a lathe but sculpted the knights by hand with very basic tools, also a lot of fun.


In middle school I had a mini class on woodworking and everyone including me had tremendous fun doing so. We made basic wooden racecars. I (and others) wish that public schools would teach more trade jobs like IT, carpentry, 3d printing engineering, etc. to give students more career options to think about. Given how expensive some US colleges are, those trade jobs can be well paying alternatives.


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## Tony Fisher (Aug 24, 2021)

qwr said:


> In middle school I had a mini class on woodworking and everyone including me had tremendous fun doing so. We made basic wooden racecars. I (and others) wish that public schools would teach more trade jobs like IT, carpentry, 3d printing engineering, etc. to give students more career options to think about. Given how expensive some US colleges are, those trade jobs can be well paying alternatives.


Same in the UK. It's almost expected that everyone goes to university nowadays and so many take useless courses. Such a shame the traditional apprenticeships are so rare and not encouraged.


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## Tony Fisher (Aug 28, 2021)

Third video is up.


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## abunickabhi (Sep 12, 2021)

qwr said:


> According to this informative video, the knight is the hardest piece to produce when hand carving
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow nice video.

The knight shape is super tough to woodwork for sure.


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## abunickabhi (Sep 12, 2021)

Tony Fisher said:


> Third video is up.


Part 4 and part 5 are out now. Rooks and Queen design and 2x2 piece making.

Part 4, Rook:





Part 5, Queen:


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## qwr (Sep 19, 2021)

Tony Fisher made a guest appearance in a dream I had last night. I was at home and we were setting up massive wooden bonfires underneath my home's wooden deck to make charcoal or something. I don't think this is actually how charcoal is made and I cannot explain the logic of doing it underneath a wooden deck. He set up three explosives within the three bonfire piles for unknown reasons. My grandpa in a hardhat was present too to help. I recall the process was actually successful somehow although I'm not sure what the end result was besides loud booms. Also I wanted to record the fires but my camera app was unavailable on my phone for some reason.


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## abunickabhi (Sep 19, 2021)

The episode where the king piece is made is out,






The plus sign on the top was tricky to mould and make it screw into the puzzle.


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## Tony Fisher (Sep 29, 2021)

A knight to remember.


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## abunickabhi (Oct 10, 2021)

Yay finally it is complete.
Good work Tony.
I loved this project wholeheartedly.


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## Tony Fisher (Oct 13, 2021)

Thanks. The missing video while I was away.


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## Filipe Teixeira (Oct 13, 2021)

imagine promoting your pawn to a megaminx


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## hellocubers (Oct 14, 2021)

It looks nice.


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## Futurechamp77 (Oct 29, 2022)

That is so cool!!!! I love chess and cubing so those videos were perfect for me.


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## abunickabhi (Oct 31, 2022)

Futurechamp77 said:


> That is so cool!!!! I love chess and cubing so those videos were perfect for me.


Yes it is an amazing project. Ingenious idea from @Tony Fisher !


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## NONOGamer12 (Nov 2, 2022)

I would so buy that


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