Rokavel began with a simple frustration: most chess sets are made to a price, not to be played with. The pieces are light, the knights are stamped from a mould, the boards are printed and warp within a season. We wanted the opposite — a set you would be glad to leave out on the table, and gladder still to pass on.
Wood first
Every set starts with the timber. We work in European boxwood, air-dried walnut, sheesham rosewood, padauk, oak and hard maple — solid stock, never veneer over filler. Each billet is chosen for grain before it reaches the lathe, so a finished set reads as a matched family rather than a bag of parts.
Turned, carved, weighted
Kings, queens, bishops, rooks and pawns are turned on the lathe; the knight is cut by hand, the one piece no machine can make. Tournament pieces are triple-weighted with a concealed steel slug, so they land on the board with the deliberate heft that changes how a game feels. Then every base is re-baized in billiard green for a silent, weighted glide.
Finished to last
We finish in hand-rubbed oil rather than thick lacquer, because oil lets you feel the wood and deepens with handling, year after year. A Rokavel set is not sealed under plastic; it ages with you, and it can be re-oiled and re-baized for as long as it is played.
Made by hand
Turned, carved and oiled in the atelier — including every individually cut knight.
Matched to play
Boards and pieces sized to FIDE proportions, so the king fits the square.
Kept, not replaced
Re-oiled, re-baized and repaired — built to be handed down, not thrown away.
More than chess
The same hands make our Go and Shogi sets, our backgammon boards and the small things that surround a good game — clocks, baize-lined coffers, scorebooks and the books that teach the endgame. If it belongs on a club table, we want to make it properly.
Rokavel is operated by KIRALDO LLC, 312 W 2nd St, Unit 3926, Casper, WY 82601, USA. For trade, club and wholesale enquiries, write to hello@rokavel.com.