I'm going to make a new one and I'm considering using cedar.
It acually looks quite good too, if I say so myself.įuZZ: I used walnut for my goban and it has a nice color even with his dark tone. Hignaki: I have found cheap fiberboard at Home Depot, and it acually sounds quite nice when it is covered by a thin piece of Oak. My wife loves it and I even get her to play a game on it occasionally ) Just wanted to remind people who buy their lumber: avoid pressure treated wood.ĭamian For my first board I used pine, and made it into an oversize breakfast tray shape (complete with handles). The original plan called for a folding board, but I decided against it at the last minute. Jared: I'm currently building a spruce table goban. Several folks have said that mine provides the best sound of any board in the club.Īxd: are you talking about the heso, or about the empty space between the legs? The resulting space under the board means that it resonates very well when whacked with a stone (especially my big fat Ing stones). Scartol: I made mine out of yellow pine ($6.99/plank at Home Depot) and added little feet (in my case they are wooden circles from a craft shop, but my pal Matt found some rubber dealies that are even better). For that and other reasons kaya boards are very expensive. However, kaya trees are reasonably rare and they grow very slowly. Kaya has the properties as described above, it is quite soft (nice sound), the colour is light (yellowish) and the grain is subtle. 'Competition' boards, the ones which are in photos of 'Go World', are typically made of the Japanese 'Kaya' wood. Choose a type of plywood that is not too dark. You can get a thin piece of furniture or cabinet grade plywood and sandwich it to cheaper plywood for a thick, good-looking surface. Good quality plywood (not construction grade) is fine for home-made boards, as it is relatively cheap and easy to work with. For aesthetic reasons, the grain should be " masame", i.e. In practice this means that wood is used. A secondary requirement is that the surface colour and texture must be so that the grid is clear, and that the sound made when hit with a stone is pleasant. The main requirement of the material used is that it is durable and does not warp. Nowadays, however, the trend seems to be towards simplicity and austerity. I once played on a board made in Algeria, which was made of leather (pigskin, apparently) stretched out over a wooden frame, with engraved camels around the side and inset pieces of mirror. One can find old boards which were highly decorative, and made to resemble e.g. However, this is not really a requirement. All go boards on the iPad or other tablets are small and somewhat difficult to use by two people trying to play a game.Traditionally, go boards are made of wood. Vinyl boards are hard to lay flat after they have been rolled up. (My main travel board is a cloth board with plastic stones that I bought 25 years ago for ¥15,000 but my heathen friends still complain about the stones!)ĥ. People don't really like to play with light plastic stones. All 'real' boards with stones are 'really' heavy once you get the stones in your bag.Ĥ.
(bought it and use it but never bother to travel with it)ģ.
#Vinyl goban and stones crack
The roll-up magnetic board you can buy from YMI is better but it does crack from use and is still heavy. Folding magnetic boards are heavy and the little magnets fall out of the stones pretty oftenĢ. If you are traveling and want to study/play along the way.ġ. If you are going to a tournament the boards will be there. As a go board addict I can say authoritatively - don't worry about it!