I'm working on a design for a chess set of my own. How long did it take you to make each peice. I was estimating it would tak eme about 40 hours to complete one.
How large did you make the pieces. I'm considering making the king about 4" tall and 2" in dia, and the pawn about 2" tall and 1" in dia. I also plan on making a gaint set when I master it... with a king about 7" tall and 3.5" in dia... this would make the chess board be over 3 feet squre though.
If you mean 40 hours PER PIECE, you and I are in about the same ballpark.
A suggestion regarding size, based on my experience: If you make a board and want to add a frame, and maybe even some nice banding around the squares, it can get
very big
very quickly. I made a prototype with 2 1/2" squares (to suit a 2"++ base on the largest pieces) and wanted a beveled edge on each square - which added another 1/4" to each sqaure. Then I added a frame, and in order for it to look proportionate it had to be 2 1/2" wide - another 5" added. So, I ended up with a 27" wide board... Not exactly something you can plunk on an end-table.
What I'm getting at, is that standard pieces will have a standard (or average) base diameter for a given height. Think about how big a board you want to end up with, calculate the size of your squares based on your design (frame, bevels, trim, borders, banding, etc) and this will tell you what size pieces to make. I personally wouldn't go any larger than 1/4" smaller than your square size, which will give you 1/8" clearance all-around your biggest piece.
In my case I am going to scale back to a 24" board. Taking 4" off for the frame, I'm left with 20". 20/8=2.5" per square. I really like the beveled look, so I lose another 1/4" per square, and I'm left with 2.25" per. Taking off another 1/4" for clearance, I have 2" max base diameter for my largest pieces. A classic Staunton style set with a 5" King has a 2" base on the large pieces, so this is my max (and coincidentally, my intended) size.
A 4" King usually has a 1 5/8" base, so I (with my bevels and frame) could get away with about a 19" board.
Based on my (likely faulty) calculations, you're looking at about a 28" board for a 7" King.
Cheers!
Gary