Re-Felting a Chess Set

As a Christmas gift for me, my brother recently purchased a marble chess set.  Unfortunately, he did so from a random gaming shop and while the quality of the actual pieces is outstanding, the "felt" on the bottom is peeling and damaged.

I plan to re-felt the bottom of the chess pieces.  My question is whether anyone on this site has ever attempted anything similar and could offer advice.

Thanks,

Ant

Yeah I once decided that shoes are becoming way to expensive and decided to glue felt to my feet. Bad idea.

I've never done this before, but it seems pretty easy and self-explanitory.  Peel the old felt, sand the adhesive(possibly mask the side so you don't slip and scuff the marble), apply new adhesive and felt.

Well I've actually managed to stop giggling for my own joke now. My guess is when you remove the old felt make sure to remove everything. On a marble set you can use acetone and a mild abrasive sponge or something to loosen all the old felt.

Trace the pieces underside neatly on the felt and cut out. Do this with care, because it can jeopardize the look of your set.

Clean the pieces carefully and use a multipurpose glue to glue the felt neatly to the bottom of the pieces. 

Hilarious.  I hoped you were joking.  Thanks for the other suggestions.

I recently bought a new set of chess pieces that had vinyl instead of felt so I changed them. I found the easiest way was to cut the felt into strips then squares all a little bigger then the bases. Then i removed the vinal carefully with an exacto knife. Some times there was lumpt bits of vynal and glue left so  I sanded the bases down by holding down some 100 grit sandpaper on a cutting board. Then while moving the chess piece in a circular motion, sanded carefully until most of the old glue residue was gone. Then I dusted them off and smeared on some Elmer's glue with my finger being sure to get it right to the edges. Them press each piece in to the felt squares laid out on the cutting board. Then when dry, I used a pair of grooming scissors to neatly trim  off the excess. You can go round and round until the'r perfect. I did this part while sitting on the couch watching TV.

 Okay?  Is there any reason to prefer any one fabric?

 i have seen this, it a great idea...

Yes

I have recently learned about felting and I guess I would need it for a chess set passed down by my grandfather. Is there a way to do it at home?

Just read the other posts in this very thread?

Yeah, got it. Billiard cloth is what all are suggesting. Any suggestions for the adhesive that makes the felt stick to the pieces for long?

From what I gathered most people use wood glue. I think any higher viscosity glue would do, preferably one you can scrape off to make it easier for the future you if they need to fix something or add sensors/magnets/weight. High viscosity to not let the glue soak through the felt and harden the felt after drying. I'd try with a small felt sample first, you can try several glues next to each other and see the results, then decide on the one you want to use.

is it better to use the wood glue rather than an elmer's fabric glue for the felts?

Well... you got wood on one side, fabric on the other...

Both should be fine, I think there's more collective experience with wood glue for re-felting though (I might be wrong on this but I believe most people have some wood glue at home anyways and just would use that instead of going out to buy fabric glue).

As long as the glue doesn't soak into the fabric probably any glue would be fine. I would refrain from hot glue, thermal shock could lead some woods to crack.