THOMASVILLE, Pa. — York County native Tim Myers grew up playing chess with his dad and fixing up farm equipment.
Now, he's combined these two passions by creating chess pieces out of scrap metal, making for one interesting roadside attraction in Thomasville.
Myers, a retired tractor mechanic, described what his days working on the farm would look like.
"Sometimes I'll be overhauling a tractor, sometimes I'll be out in the field at the customer's farm...there's a lot of variety in that, it's not the same thing everyday," said Myers. "That's one thing I liked about it."
Myers has grown his metal working skills ever since he's begun turning scrap metal into chess pieces upwards of 12 feet tall.
In high school, Myers used to participate in 3D chess tournaments with three boards and three different levels.
Myers bases his life-size chess pieces off their original measurements first and then enlarges those measurements to create his famous scrap metal pieces, displayed along his property on North Lake Road in Paradise Township.
"The hardest part is the base because it's so big, it's a lot bigger and rounder so it takes a lot longer to weld everything," said Myers.
The former mechanic uses a variety of material to create these realistic-looking chess pieces, including: metal drums and tanks, flat metal, cylinder drums, and tractor rims.
Some pieces are especially tricky and require Myers to insert a vice to bend the metal to create the round shape of the base. Myers says tractor rims especially work great for creating that circular base of each chess piece.
While Myers loves what he does, it's not without sacrifice. Myers says he's been to the eye doctor's several times from grinding up the metal.
"That's the part that I don't like the most, cleaning it off and grinding the metal down so it's smooth to get ready to paint, that's the dirtiest job," said Myers.
One day Myers noticed the mailbox at his local post office wasn't high enough and offered to make an upgrade for Easter, he described.
"I asked them, "Can I make a large chess king and queen?"" "But I don't think they imagined I was going to build something this fancy."
While Myers has never been married, he says he doesn't mind being alone, since its enabled him to have all this time to focus on his scrap metal hobby.
"I don't spend all day on a cell phone, nope and I don't spend all day on a computer," said Myers. "I actually enjoy making my metal pieces more than I enjoy playing chess."
Myers doesn't plan on keeping all his chess masterpieces after he passes and wishes to donate his artwork.
While the chess pieces aren't for sale, they have become a great landmark attraction for those traveling through Paradise Township.