I want to create an inlayed chess board (and possibly accompanying
back-gammon board) into a table top. I was wondering of techniques
that can be used to get different colored tiles.

My plan is to cut some square pieces of wood, glue them on a flat
surface, and run the whole thing through a planer (before sanding and
finishing of course).

The other option is to run two pieces of wood through a planer, and
then cut the square peices, and glue them on, and sand smooth (but I
forsee that as being more work).

Ideally, I would use two different types of wood. However, I was
wondering about the possibility of bleaching or staining the wood as
well. The problem I forsee though is as I plane it or sand it, I
will loose the bleached/stained area of wood. Is there any way to
bleach or stain wood to a significant depth?


Thanks