I’ve been interested in hand carving my own wood chess set and board but have no wood carving experience. A chess set has 64 pieces and I think that could be very hard on the hands without the right tools for small wood carving, so I’d like to know what kind of tools would be best for that. Also I would be appreciative of any advice on the type of wood to use and/or tips on staining/glossing.

Thanks in advance for your responses, Yahoo! Answers community.