Repairing dents on the surface of a go board // wax or oil?

Koosh · #1

Things happen that are out of your control, and now you have a dent on the surface of your beloved Goban. What do you do?

Do you dare to apply the drop of water and heat method described here?
Do you leave it be?
Do you use a mortar and pestle to crush up almonds and push that powder into the dent?

I'm also wondering whether wax or board oil would be best to apply to the top of the board. If anyone here has experience with this, I would appreciate it.

I have already read the GGG post on oiling the board and the post on L19 by Jujube who applied oil per that recommendation. The result was pretty good, but Kurokigoishi sells board wax, so I'm wondering which is better.

(Separately, in conjunction with purchasing a Paulownia Box for my board, I inquired to Kuroki about the above dent issue and will post what they respond with here for everyone's benefit.)

Koosh · #2

I'll start by suggesting a course of action; I could start by dumping a bowl of go stones on the head of the culprit. :mrgreen:

Wonder if that's ever happened before?

fireproof · #3

I've tried the water/steam method with fair results on shin-kaya and what I think is katsura. Neither went back to an un-noticeable state, but the dent was less prominent.

Oil on a board isn't appealing to me, because I don't want to get oil on my stones; but a _very_ thin coat of wax on an old board has turned out nicely, and I'll probably look into actual goban wax at some point down the line.

Koosh · #4

@fireproof: Thanks for the comment. I hesitate to apply heat to the top of the board, but I'm tempted to put a drop of water into the dent and see if it rises. Is this what you did, or did you apply heat/hot water? I'm wondering how I would even go about applying heat to a single square instead of a large area (such as with an iron).

Kurokigoishiten got back to me about this. I asked if any of the methods I mentioned above were used by the craftsman to repair dents and received a reply about how it would be a difficult repair to do for someone who doesn't normally work with Go boards. I presume this means they would take a layer off the board and then redo the lines.

I guess this would be the way to restore a badly damaged go board, but I can't imagine doing it with a single dent.

Mike Novack · #5

Wax ---- I suspect what is meant by that isn't "waxing the board" but using suitable "furniture repair wax" designed to fill scratches. These can usually be mixed for color matching and might be the best way to attempt to deal with an isolated bad dent. But that spot will not be as hard as the rest of the surface and will redent if hit right there.

I am not an expert with that sort of stuff. But I suspect from my "materials" knowledge of waxes that the ones that can be applied room temperature will remain softer than the ones that have to be heated/warmed before applying. In other words, you might not want the one "easy to apply". I'd read up on this first << antique furniture repair >>

Koosh · #6

@mike - thanks for commenting.
The wax that I was considering for repair of the surface is below.
http://shop.kurokigoishi.co.jp/en/item/320

Since the site describes it as a glossing wax for Go and Shogi boards, I think I was planning to simply wax the board, as you've put it. This is separate from the dent.

For the dent, what I wanted to do was to either use some sort of filler before waxing the top of the board, or apply a drop of water inside the dent to try to get it to rise a bit. I don't want to apply heat to the board because I have no idea how it'll affect the ink used for the lines.

Checking into antique furniture repair is a good idea. If I can find a relevant video tutorial or website on fixing similar dents, I'll post it here.

Koosh · #7

I found a website that details the use of the water/steam method on a guitar body. Given the fine grain of the guitar body, I think this is pretty close to the type of technique needed for my go board.

I had to visit the Wayback Machine to see these photographs since the links had broken long ago. Here's the full article with photographs.
http://www.evernote.com/l/AMiRXYS9wIdLTIAxdxHig2H8Xq6mOlAWbOU/

gowan · #8

A very skilled wood worker could cut out around the dent and replace the wood taken out with wood whose color and grain match the wood of the board. Such a repair can be invisible but it is a very high skill sort of thing. If you are willing to pay some money to get it repaired, Kuroki Goishiten does repairs but you would have to ship the board to Japan. In the picture it looks like the dent broke through the surface, breaking the wood fibers there. The dent does not impinge or break the lines, as I recall, so the board is perfectly usable. Go boards just get dented as part of normal use. Even dropping a stone on the surface can dent it. As you use the board the dent will just become part of the patina of use.

fireproof · #9

gowan wrote:

As you use the board the dent will just become part of the patina of use.

Good point -- and the patina of use can be really beautiful: https://designmind.frogdesign.com/2011/09/aged-perfection/

LifeIn9x9 · **#10**

I don't think oil and wax will really make the dent less noticeable, in fact it could darken it.

Koosh · **#11**

I'm all for patina of use, but this one is a single deep dent in an otherwise well looked after board. It is a dent that cannot be ignored. It stares at me from across the room. :evil:

Kurokigoishiten just posted a video on youtube and on their website giving the step-by-step process on how to treat your go board using Japan Vegetable Wax. The general idea is to apply it while hot because it hardens soon after contacting the board (it has a high melting point; 45-55C).

Click here for video

I almost have all of the information that I need to attempt the repair and will post more information when it's completed.

Koosh · **#12**

Koosh wrote:

Kurokigoishiten just posted a video on youtube and on their website giving the step-by-step process on how to treat your go board using Japan Vegetable Wax.

Someone was kind enough to transcribe the video into English. You can read that transcription here.

EdLee · **#13**

fireproof · **#14**

From reddit:

Quote:

This is vegetable wax.
Use a hair dryer or electric range to slowly melt the wax.
Make this kind of round shape out of cloth.
As the wax melts, spread it on the cloth.
And here's how you do it with a hair dryer.
[1:00]
Then apply heat again to the waxed cloth, with electric range or hair dryer.
If you don't heat the waxed cloth enough, it will harden too fast when you apply it to the go board.
Then apply it to the go board like this. If it starts to harden, heat it again.
If the wax on the cloth runs low, heat some more from the block and apply it to the cloth again.
[subtitle: Proceed little by little, heating the cloth when necessary and applying more wax to the cloth when needed. Repeat.]
[3:00]
Lastly, use a clean, dry, white cloth. White is best. Polish the board. [subtitle: The trick is to not rub too hard.]
Here's what it looks like when it's done. [subtitle: When you finish polishing it, it should look glossy. It's not only beautiful, but protected from scratches and damage.]
[subtitle: Do the sides in the same way as the top.]
I recommend doing one side at a time (wax, then polish).
And here's the finished product.

sybob · **#15**

I came across a totally unrelated tip to repair dents and scratches in wooden floors.
A trick might be to crush a walnut. Put it in the dent/scratch, and then oil/wax it.
Anyone here familiar with this, or did this already?

Koosh · **#16**

With regards to moisture and heat applied to dents, here's a similar process but applied to a mandolin hardtop. I found this helpful and wanted to append it to this post.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AllThingsMandolin/permalink/2851549238228274
(login not required to view)

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s200/sh/b12b4a16-4637-46fe-a504-dc4f890047a1/71d097f6924ebbe6af205a713a2bf8db
(Evernote link provided just in case it ever gets taken down off the facebook page)

bogiesan · **#17**

that video from Kuroki illustrates the last stages of getting the board ready for sale by applying hot wax to the surface. Wax will not penetrate the wood, wax will not inflate crushed wood fibers.

A dent is a crushing injury to the fibers. to make the dent go away you must restore the fibers to their previous state. That is impossible. A small amount of restoration can be achieved by the application of water and heat. The steam pressure and water penetration will inflate some of the crushed fibers but their physical integrity can never be restored.

Imagine a bundle of straws (remember straws?), say 25 of them, forming a round bundle. Wrap the bundle in some tape and put it on a hard surface. Now, bring a hammer down on the bundle of straws. How would you approach restoring the shape of the straws to their original tubular shapes? Same problem with the crushed wood fibers.

Repairing dents on the surface of a go board // wax or oil?

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