In January I received a small parcel from a friend in Australia - 2 pieces of wood which my friend had bought in Tasmania some 50 years ago - Huon Pine. He had written on the these small blocks (5in x 2in square) King and Queen. A little bit of investigation and a lot of drawing led me to making a chess set - actually both black and whitish pieces. The black pieces were made from iroko and coloured whilst the white pieces were made from the huon pine and boxwood and simplt polished. Unfortunately the white queen took a bit of a knock(actually a catch) and lost a bit of her crown so she became a pawn. The Aussie king survived and is now united with an English boxwood queen!
