Daily Rome Shot 1041 – Request for DIY help

Welcome registrant:

Evan Landry

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Norway Chess resumes today with Round 9.

Meanwhile, at the Chicago Open someone was caught cheating by using a phone in OTB.  He didn’t bother to leave the board, but just had the phone on his lap.  Suspicious players complained to arbiters, who at first ignored them.

I need readership help with a DIY.

Speaking of chess, I have a pub table which has a chess board in/on the top.  However, I think it’s too dark.  There is not enough contrast between the squares.   This photo is a little deceptive in that it shows a somewhat higher contrast that it appears.  However, it shows the grain.   This is rubberwood (aka parawood).

I could use the expertise of the readership.  I’d like to avoid sanding it down.   My method could be to lighten the light squares using some substance and painters tape.  I’ve been looking around online for ideas.   I tried some bleach on the underside of one of the legs, a place that isn’t visible.  No joy.   How about oxalic acid?

Ultimately, I’d like to finish it with a hard clear varnish like like alkyd resin varnish and then leaving it outside on my tiny patio (which must be screened in).  Get it out of my living area which is too cramped.

Any ideas?

Meanwhile, … Mass at Omaha Beach the day after D-Day.

In your kindness, please say a prayer for the soul of a priest friend who was an Army Chaplain and was in the third wave at D-Day.  His generation of priest friends told me that he enlisted never intending to return.  He went on to be in the 3rd Armored Division and the Battle of the Bulge. Thereafter, he lived a long life, founded a parish with a successful school and fostered liturgical and musical excellence. Fr. John Buchanan. He did not take to the stupidities going on after the Council and daily at Mass prayed the petition, “That this unfortunate Archdiocese might return to orthodoxy, sanity and sanctity, let us pray to the Lord.” In his advanced age, the pastor (when I was back from Rome) would send me over to help him say the afternoon Mass (which he didn’t like very much but knew, I think, was necessary – Parkinson’s). Fr B would occasionally take off his cufflinks and hand them to me, which I still treasure. He was a real character. Drove a VW Rabbit entirely… ENTIRELY… covered with travel stickers of other countries. 87.  Silver star.  May he rest in peace.

Meanwhile, … just as Rosaries were once standard issue in the US military, so were chess sets, and kits with other games.

The Chess Hall of Fame has exemplars of sets issued and also distributed by the USO and Red Cross, sent in care packages to POWs.

This is interesting, because, I have this in my backpack when I am on the road.

Obviously, mine is, as advertised, with little magnets.  I’ve sure the GIs would have appreciated that.

Mine had a card out of which the pieces had to be punched.  I should have kept it for storage/movement!

You can get one! Or more and give them out?  US – HERE

Another type soldiers had.

Meanwhile, I have something similar, though larger and all from leather.

And the Germans were not to be outdone.    Schach und Dame.

Meanwhile, here’s today’s puzzle.  White to move and mate in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Meanwhile, I have just yesterday started an interesting novel, called ominously…

The Death’s Head Chess Club by John Donoghue.

US HERE – UK HERE

The premise:  An SS officer, wounded on the Eastern front, is transferred to Auschwitz to work on morale and efficiency.  He starts a chess club for the officers at a nearby luxury resort.  Meanwhile, a French Jew who is a prisoner, a watchmaker by trade, is in the camp.  A guard recruits him to play chess.  You can see where this is going.  Anyway, decades later they are pitted against each other in a tournament.  However, by now the former SS officer is now a Catholic bishop.  This is what really caught my eye and prompted me to start.   Each chapter is named after a term or opening.

It could be interesting were others to read this now and we could have some comments.

Also, the death’s head thing reminds me of the hilarious skit by Mitchell and Webb.  They play SS officers.  One of them remarks to the other, “Have you noticed that our caps have little skulls on them?”    HERE

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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7 Comments

  1. IaninEngland says:

    “Does that mean we’re the baddies?”
    One of my favourite skits *ever*!

  2. Not says:

    Military Chaplains are awesome. I love Fr. Brigidier General James Hugh O’Neill, who was General George Patton’s Chaplain. He wrote the prayer for good weather.
    General Patton’s war time autobiography is a great read. He was not Catholic. His Irish Nanny was! When you read it you see General Patton attending Catholic Mass, in three different churches and in different countries, one of them being the Vatican were he purchases Rosary beads for his Nanny and has the Pope bless them. I found out later that he was a sickly infant and his Nanny Baptized Him.

    Patton’s family home is just south of me in Hamilton Massachusetts.

  3. Lurker 59 says:

    I’d start with CITRISTRIP to get the sealant off and then see how well it works on lifting the stain from just the lighter squares or switch to a harsher chemical or just paint at that stage.

  4. jhogan says:

    Father, my chess skills are sorely lacking these days. So I will leave the solution to others. :-)
    I found the military chess sets interesting. The generation that fought in World War II has been called “the greatest generation “; I agree; the courage and grit that they showed on D-Day is amazing. I also think of priests saying Mass and hearing Confessions under difficult circumstances makes them amazing in their dedication to service.
    Thank you for this post.

  5. Jim Dorchak says:

    Hello Fr. Z and prayers from Chile.

    My son Thomas and i build furniture here in Chile. We have run into the same problem with a couple of antiques. Typically it is caused by UV exposure or possibly just dirt from time and use.

    Two things I would try are:
    1. Rubbing alcohol. Just plain old rubbing alcohol on a good old rag. This will clean out the oils on the top. Also do not be stingy on the alcohol use a lot of it.

    2. MEK: or Methyl Ethel Ketone. You can get it at Lows or Home Depot as well or any paint store. You put it on a rag and just use it to clean the top. It is a really strong type of alcohol that leaves little to no residue. It is strong. So you may want to use gloves. We used to use a lot of this stuff to clean airplane parts because it does not leave a residue. Also use it outside in a well ventilated area. Also I would test it on a leg of the table as well.

    Finally you may need to gently sand it. The dark will remain dark and the light will remain light, and you will need to re stain it and put a finish on it.

    Hope it works. Jim

  6. EAW says:

    I will always be grateful for the sacrifices brought by those brave men. What they did brought freedom to my nation, and we can count ourselves lucky that some of them are still around. Sadly, that freedom they fought for is now abused on a massive scale.

  7. SursumCorda17 says:

    The comedy sketch was great – I’e never heard of this duo before.

    Thanks for the book recommendation: it looks interesting and I’m adding it to my list.

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