Hello everyone. New poster here, go player of a few months. I purchased a set of glass go stones from the GoGameGuru, and I noticed the black stones came with a chalky dust on them. Washing them has not helped. Do these stones / glass stones in general need to be oiled? I noticed the white stones with this set are very nice and shiny, it's only the black ones that seem dirty. Any tips for improving the sheen of the black stones?

Thanks all!

-Christopher

Hi Christopher,

Welcome.

Generally, no, glass stones don't need to be oiled.

With some manufacturers, the black stones do come with a thin layer of chemical (some sort of oil ?) --
any standard kitchen soap or detergent should do the trick of removing any exterior chemicals from the glass stones.
If standard cleaning/washing doesn't help with the chalky dust, I would contact the seller.

The three groups of people:
- those who like their stones clean and dry (void of oil or any other chemicals);
- those who like their stones oiled;
- those who don't care (or notice ).

I belong to the first group.

Hi Christopher,
and welcome to the forum.

I like my black stones oiled.

You can find many nice "how to" in the web, the following is from BenGoZen
http://bengozen.blogspot.it/2010/10/how-to-oil-your-yunzi-stones.html
and you can foresee the original appearance (out of the box) and the final result.

If you still are in doubt, my advice is to try with 2-3 stones before processing all your set.

Good life and good GO!

Galation

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Generally, glass stones are not oiled, yunzi stones are.

Glass stones can be cleaned and washed using water and mild detergent. Same stuff you use to clean your windows (actual windows, not windows windows ). Wash and wipe each stone. Repeat if necessary.

yunzi is glass

Yunzi is a ceramic. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a glass. Some ceramics, like porcelain, do qualify as glass, but not all.