Goban buying advice

Annihilist · Post by **Annihilist** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:29 pm

Not sure if iPhone photos do it justice, but there you go.

Also I've never owned a full size board, so to me it looks massive.

tchan001 · Post by **tchan001** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:58 pm

Be thankful you didn't get a thick bamboo board if you are concerned with the board being too heavy.

zslane · Post by **zslane** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 9:08 pm

That is such a lovely board. It appears to be from a single block of wood too. Congrats!

Annihilist · Post by **Annihilist** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 9:09 pm

zslane wrote:That is such a lovely board. It appears to be from a single block of wood too. Congrats!

It's not a single piece, but it does look very much like it.

kill0 · Post by **kill0** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:12 pm

That's a beautiful board indeed ! Congratulations on an excellent purchase. The thickness looks great and the color is very pleasing as well, definitely not yellow :tmbup:

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:34 am

I'm intrigued that it appears to be quarter-sawn wood. I don't think I've seen a go board like it before in that respect. This should be good in terms of the future stability of the board.

zslane · Post by **zslane** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:01 pm

Indeed. How many pieces of wood is it made from?

I had a two-piece agathis board that developed a pronounced seam down the middle of the board. This led me to seek out a one-piece agathis replacement board (which I now have). That two-piece board has made me leery of multi-piece board construction in general, even though I understand the reasons behind it. I have a multi-piece 2-sun Kaya shogiban which I am hoping will not develop seams, but only time will tell.

Annihilist · Post by **Annihilist** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 3:09 pm

zslane wrote:Indeed. How many pieces of wood is it made from?

I had a two-piece agathis board that developed a pronounced seam down the middle of the board. This led me to seek out a one-piece agathis replacement board (which I now have). That two-piece board has made me leery of multi-piece board construction in general, even though I understand the reasons behind it. I have a multi-piece 2-sun Kaya shogiban which I am hoping will not develop seams, but only time will tell.

It's difficult to say because it looks like one block of wood. I cannot tell how many pieces it is made from. I think agathis boards are better with single pieces, and shin kaya is better with multiple (although it could also be that agathis trees are larger and easier to make in one block, I don't know).

skydyr wrote:I'm intrigued that it appears to be quarter-sawn wood. I don't think I've seen a go board like it before in that respect. This should be good in terms of the future stability of the board.

The Japanese word is "masame" grain. I haven't seen one with grain this good (or pictures) either, I'm very pleased.

lemmata · Post by **lemmata** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 5:58 pm

Take care to store your board appropriately if you live in a place that requires heating during the winter. I have a 4-piece shin-kaya board and one of the four pieces has changed color dramatically. The wood also shrunk in an uneven way, making the 4-piece composition even more obvious. I still play/study on the board and I don't notice it when I am engrossed in a game, but it looks ugly now. I hope that you take of your board better than I did. Having nice things can be a chore sometimes.

EDIT: Some vague info on this

kill0 · Post by **kill0** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:20 pm

Got my shin-kaya go board and size-36 glass Go stones from `Go Game Guru' yesterday !!!! It looks like a thinner, more-portable version of the 2.4" one. I'm very happy with the purchase ! :razz:

In a moment of weakness :blackeye:

I also ordered the first Hyuga-kaya table board from this listing -

http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/o ... index.html

, along with some outlet, size-34 jitsuyo stones and a sakura gosu.

Waiting earnestly for them to arrive. This set I intend to keep at home for playing during the weekend.

My interaction with Kurokigoishi was a bit awkward though :scratch:

I ordered it last weekend, and except for the confirmation page at the end of the order, never got any acknowledgement of order, details of shipping costs etc. I even called up Mr. Kuroki on Tuesday to enquire if my order went through without problems and if he would send me tracking information for the shipment - He said they are shipping the same day and would send me tracking info. in a day...I'm still waiting :scratch:

. If it wasn't for all the good experience others had with Kurokigoishi, I would be worried.

Hopefully my shipment is on its way...

badukJr · Post by **badukJr** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:34 pm

Is it just me or is there some inverse relationship between strength and amount of equipment ordered?

Annihilist · Post by **Annihilist** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:52 pm

badukJr wrote:Is it just me or is there some inverse relationship between strength and amount of equipment ordered?

I don't see why.

zslane · Post by **zslane** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:37 pm

badukJr wrote:Is it just me or is there some inverse relationship between strength and amount of equipment ordered?

That's definitely true in my case. But I have to believe that a lot of pros also have prodigious collections. And I'm sure that most rank beginners have little more than a cheap folding board and plastic stones.

lemmata · Post by **lemmata** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:54 pm

badukJr wrote:Is it just me or is there some inverse relationship between strength and amount of equipment ordered?

If there is a relationship, then it is probably just a statistical accident.

One hypothesis: The people who can afford expensive equipment are probably 1) older and 2) must work hard to earn a level of income that can justify such a purchase. Age is negatively correlated with strength. Amount of work is negatively correlated with free time for study. Therefore the amount of work is negatively correlated with strength. However, this does not indicate a causal relationship in any direction between strength and possession of nice equipment.

We should all applaud the nice folks who keep on buying nice go equipment, go books, and support the go economy with their disposable income. It is thanks to those folks that the go world keeps on rolling.

Toward that end: :bow:

PS: I want to buy nice stuff, too. Threads like this give me vicarious satisfaction. I love pictures of boards, so keep them coming! :tmbup:

kill0 · Post by **kill0** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:14 pm

lemmata wrote:
badukJr wrote:Is it just me or is there some inverse relationship between strength and amount of equipment ordered?

If there is a relationship, then it is probably just a statistical accident.
One hypothesis: The people who can afford expensive equipment are probably 1) older and 2) must work hard to earn a level of income that can justify such a purchase. Age is negatively correlated with strength. Amount of work is negatively correlated with free time for study. Therefore the amount of work is negatively correlated with strength. However, this does not indicate a causal relationship in any direction between strength and possession of nice equipment.

In my case both the observations are partially true (though I would like to think 30 is not too "old" ;-)

). My go equipment far exceeds my ability as a player for now. I'm a full-time particle physicist so I can play and study go only occasionally, but my journey learning go the past month was exhilarating enough to take the plunge :rambo:

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