Greg Oneal’s background in art and woodworking began at an early age.  It is only natural Carl Oneal, Greg’s father, a carpenter in theconstruction trade, would provide Greg with his first toolbox; a toolbox filled with the required saws, squares, hammers, and all of the other things for making sawdust & getting splinters.  In addition to carpentry, Greg’s father also instilled in him a great love for the out-of-doors and its wildlife.  Both of these things have held Greg’s interest and would lead him in the direction that has made him the professional woodworker & artist he is today.  I have never met a man other than Greg with such a God-given astute, natural gift to create such beautiful objects from things like clay, bronze, and wood.

Greg has only recently finished this incredible table.  It is the culmination of over 400 hours of painstakingly creative efforts.  He has worked on this particular table over a period of two years.  He worked only during those times that were especially conducive to practicing his craft to the fullest of his abilities.

There are a couple things of particular interest about the wood utilized in this table.  Greg had come across and acquired the wood by chance ten years ago.  The wood is Teak, and there was enough of it to do the entire tabletop and apron.  The legs are also Teak but cut from a different piece of wood.  The inherent uniqueness of this piece of wood is the strong fiddleback grain pattern running through it.  It is an extremely rare and exceptional piece of wood.  Greg had hesitated how to best utilize this particular piece of Teak the last ten years before cutting into it.  When I quizzed Greg on creating another table of its equal, he explained to me finding a piece of Teak which has aged this long with its unique grain pattern would border on the impossible.  This table is truly one-of-a-kind.

The actual chessboard is built right into the tabletop itself, flush with the tabletop.  The dark squares are Teak and the light squares are Bird’s-eye Maple.  The squares are regulation tournament size, 2¼".  There is a solid Ebony strip separating the squares from the surrounding tabletop.  There is an Ebony border around the outside edge of the entire table.  You will find other finely tooled accents of solid Ebony on the drawer pulls and legs.  There is a drawer on each side of the table.  The solid Ebony drawer pulls are hand carved Ebony and Ivory.

The motif is that of a larger shell design, adorned atop with a smaller shell carved from Ivory.  In addition, two Eagle legs, with tendons, culminating in clawed feet gripping a ball straddle across the top of the two shells, miniatures in the same motif as is seen in the legs.

The detail seen in the eagle claws & carving of the shells on both the drawer pulls, together with the tendonized legs leading to the feet of the table, takes one’s breath away.  You can literally sense the blood running through the limbs of these miniature sculptures.  The legs were carved in a modified Queen Ann style, with a hand carved and dished out area on four sides.  The ridges coming down the legs create tendons to the feet.

The construction techniques that Greg has utilized are a culmination of 20 years of professional woodworking experience.  I might add that eight of those years had specialized in chessboard construction for Legend Products.  Greg has developed a unique, systemized construction technique for boards and tables.  This consists of a technologically sound internal splining system, which maximizes the stability of the chessboards and chess tables he creates.