Oak Forest HS Material Processing Class Makes Chess Boards

Students in Oak Forest High School teacher Dan Brown’s Material Processing Class have produced beautiful walnut and maple chess boards. This three week project included selecting the wood, making the chess boards, and then covering them in a protective polyurethane. Senior Jenna Brown joked, “Now all I need are the chess pieces!” Some chess boards were stylistically different than the others. Junior Spencer Howell rounded his corners instead of making them straight. To do so, he said he “used his compass and rounded them off.” The fast drying polyurethane gives the chess board a nice glow. According to Eric Czajkowski, the polyurethane gives the wood “a nice finish and protects the wood.” The material processing class members that proudly displayed their finished product were: Jake Ishler, Gavin Dawson, Jose Ortiz, Jack Wyatt, Kyle Chaloupka, Joshua Lyon, Milton Medina, Ben Vanderwall, Spencer Howell, Eric Czajkowski, Jenna Brown, Myles Walton, Brandon McDonough, Patrick Gaffney, Anthony George, Alex Holewa, Matt Casey, Zach Lipine, and Alberto Vega.