Woodworking has been David Pentimo's hobby ever since his parents gave him a used Craigslist chainsaw for his 12th birthday.
His first project was easy.
“It all starts with a simple puzzle, like a silhouette of a penguin or a deer or something like that,” says Pentimone. "And then I got a little bit braver."
Armed with plans he found in a book on how to make wooden chess sets, Pentimone began making the pieces. Finally made a complete game. Then came chess games inspired by Roman architecture.
Currently, Pentimone uses his spiral saw, a new DeWalt, although he has had several others over the years, to carve custom architectural chess pieces and model them in the cities of San Francisco and New York. The enthusiast's most recent set includes architectural icons from his hometown, such as the Power and Light Building, Bartle Hall, and Liberty Memorial.
During the week, Pentimone worked as a trainer at Amazon. But the 21-year-old will take every opportunity to disappear into the woodwork in the garage of his home in Norland.
Pentimo's chess pieces were large and squared.
“A basic inch and a half is an inch and a half. The smallest pieces, usually pedestrian, are 2 to 2 1/2 inches tall,” says Pentimone. "Kings are usually 7 inches tall."
Each handmade set requires approximately 50 hours of work.
"Expert saws are very controllable and as long as you have a very good grip on the wood, all you have to do is learn how to use the tool and then you'll be in control," says Pentimone.
A few years ago, Pentimone started posting his creations on social media. He immediately received orders for a custom New York themed set.
After completing this work, Pentimone realized that he wanted to create a chess set based on the Skyline with which he was most familiar. So he started scouting buildings all over the city looking for buildings that resembled the real Kansas City.
"I know the distinctive architecture of more historic buildings, like the Power and Light Building, 909 Walnut Downtown," Pentimone says.
But creating a design that works takes time.
"A lot of people come in to cut out a piece (and then realize it looks terrible)," Pentimone says. "Let's start over, start over, repeat the pattern, stop until it works."
By this time, he was almost halfway through his Kansas City set, and a familiar horizon was beginning to appear. The iconic Walnut Building has twin 909 towers and the spiked Sky Station at Bartle Hall.
Using a spiral saw limits the shapes that Penitimon can create. Each building he designed had its own problems.
"I'm still actively working on Liberty Memorial because it's such a big part of Kansas City," Pentimone says. "Now it's a king, but it's square, and the king hook is round. So I'm still working on that."
An hour or so passed, and Pentimone finished with the queen, who looked like a miniature edifice of power and light. In the light of the shop lantern, the fresh edges of the cloth looked a little rough. Now is the time to lightly sand before coating with Danish oil.
Despite his ability to build these chess sets, Pentimone says his chess game requires little effort.
"I play chess," said Pentimone. "I'm not very good at it."
"I play with my friends, I play online. And it's fun to play the sets that I do with my friends or my brothers or whatever," he said. "That's why I'm playing and trying to improve."
With six months to complete Kansas City's recruiting process, Pentimone has plenty of time to practice.
