Life In 19x19

My new stones came in the mail today - I've never been so excited before about a package!

I bought my stones from Erythen's ebay listing (Am I allowed to link to it? I don't want to violate a forum rule). He was a big help, and a fair businessman. If you're reading this, thank you again for helping me out

The stones are brand new, size 37 Yuki grade clamshell.

I also got a matching set of keyaki bowls from Kurokigoishiten. Mr. Kuroki was very helpful. As it turned out, the bowls arrived a day before the stones. Who would've guessed? They had to fly in from Japan!






Now for the stones.... They came wrapped in about 6 inches of bubble wrap! To quote Erythen, they came wrapped well enough to survive a small nuke xD









I have the bowls lined with cloth. Does anyone do something different? Or do some people not bother?




Here's a view of them from the side.




I love the contrast between the grain of the bowl and the grain of the stone:






The stones are satisfyingly heavy, with minimal wobble.








All in all, I'm really pleased with this set of stones. I notice the slate stones are pretty dirty. I may clean/oil them. Is there any issue with using mineral oil for slate? I don't imagine there would be, but I should make sure!

I'm very excited to spend the rest of the day studying go with my clamshells.. I plan to keep these stones my entire life. They are truly a work of art.

Hope you all enjoyed!

-Christopher

Mr Kuroki's bowls are extremely unlikely to discolour the sones. However I keep some tissue paper in the bottom of the bowls to protect against chips. The bowls look similar to mine. Are they cherry?

Congrats on the stones, they look very nice. Don't worry too much about the slate stones. Mineral oil is fine. Use a tiny amount.

Your board looks quite big. Maybe Chinese bamboo? It's quite large for Japanese stones. When you decide to, consider a Japanese board. Mr. Kuroki sells lots of spruce and kaya boards; they're quite reasonable in comparison to the stones.

本蛤碁石 -- google translate says "this clam stones"
蛤 - I recognize this one, but don't remember it. Its probably a word with 本蛤. Probably has to do with clams.
碁 - go
石 - stone

Or do some people not bother?

To answer a direct question: I don't

Your stones look absolutely beautiful.

本蛤碁石 means real clam go stones or maybe genuine clam go stones.

I put some thick flannel cloth in my bowls with clam go stones. I was told that the cloth in the bowl acts as a shock absorber when stones are put or dropped into the bowl. The clam go stones are then less likely to chip. The black stones are very unlikely to chip or break so no cushion is needed for them.

Totally beautiful, total envy.
Mineral oil (fine machine oil) is okay, I can say from personal experience. A few drops will suffice. But please wipe of excess oil with a dry cotton cloth. Otherwise, the shell stones get oily too.

Jujube wrote:Mr Kuroki's bowls are extremely unlikely to discolour the sones. However I keep some tissue paper in the bottom of the bowls to protect against chips. The bowls look similar to mine. Are they cherry?

Congrats on the stones, they look very nice. Don't worry too much about the slate stones. Mineral oil is fine. Use a tiny amount.

Your board looks quite big. Maybe Chinese bamboo? It's quite large for Japanese stones. When you decide to, consider a Japanese board. Mr. Kuroki sells lots of spruce and kaya boards; they're quite reasonable in comparison to the stones.

The bowls are keyaki! I wasn't worried about discoloration so much as chipping on the clamshell. And another cloth for the slate just for symmetry.

The board is Japanese size, shin-kaya /spruce. Do you really think it's too large?

My plan is to save for a kaya floor board. It will go quite nicely with my yuki-grade stones

Congrats, Christopher.

I cushion all my bowls, even my very cheap bowls and plastic ING stones.
It's just good habit to protect the stones, the bowls, and dampen the clacking noises.

And not just the interiors -- I also cushion the bottom of the exterior of the bowls, and the lids! (When I flip the lids as prisoners' containers.) This protects not only the bowls & lids, but whatever surface they rest on; e.g. the goban!

EdLee wrote:Congrats, Christopher.

I cushion all my bowls, even my very cheap bowls and plastic ING stones.
It's just good habit to protect the stones, the bowls, and dampen the clacking noises.

And not just the interiors -- I also cushion the bottom of the exterior of the bowls, and the lids! (When I flip the lids as prisoners' containers.) This protects not only the bowls & lids, but whatever surface they rest on; e.g. the goban!

I cringe when people slide the bare bottoms of their bowls along the surface of the goban; a reaction not unlike the screeching sounds on a chalk board!

Thanks EdLee

How do you cushion the outside of the bowls/tops?

I've been using these stones for a few hours, and the white stones are very uniform in shape. There are no tilts or dents on the surface. For the slate, there are maybe 2 or 3 stones with scratches that offset the balance. The slate are also very rough in texture, while the clamshell are smooth. Is this typical for slate?

Another thing I noticed, is that the clamshell stones are very cold! I also have a neurotic habit of constantly checking to make sure that I place the white stones so the grain faces up. It just doesn't feel right to push that beautiful pattern towards the board!

Finally, I really enjoy the thickness of the stones. They feel heavy in my hand in a satisfying way, and they make a pleasant sound when I place them on the board (a noticeable difference from my glass stones - I was surprised to hear the difference). I'm really pleased.

本蛤碁石 hon hamaguri go ishi

本 hon; true/genuine/proper; as in honte 本手. (See also Honda, below.)

蛤 hamaguri; clam(s).

碁 go; as in Go.

石 ishi; stone(s). As in 碁石 Go stones, go ishi.
And Mr. Ishida 石田 -- "stone field" -- of the famous Ishida Joseki dictionaries.
Honda 本田 -- automobile brand -- true/proper/genuine field.

( Mini Japanese lessons. )

How do you cushion the outside of the bowls/tops?

1-mm or less foam sheet ;
1-mm or less felt sheet ;
cut into a circle shape for your needs --
your local art supplies or crafts store is your friend.

If it's a Japanese board that should be completely ok. the dimensions just looked a bit on the large size to me. But then again, looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes this morning, it seems fine.

Kris2476 wrote:The board is Japanese size, shin-kaya /spruce. Do you really think it's too large?

Hi Christopher,

I go crazy with all these vague, relative terms -- "too large", "big", "large size", etc. "urgent before big" --
could you measure the exact dimensions (to the nearest mm) from A1 to T1, and from A1 to A19.

EdLee wrote:

Kris2476 wrote:The board is Japanese size, shin-kaya /spruce. Do you really think it's too large?

Hi Christopher,

I go crazy with all these vague, relative terms -- "too large", "big", "large size", etc. "urgent before big" --
could you measure the exact dimensions (to the nearest mm) from A1 to T1, and from A1 to A19.

Fair enough :p

For posterity's sake, I measured the dimensions
From A1 to T1: 16"
From A1 to A19: 16.75"

Unfortunately there is no standard set of measurements for go boards. This page on SL http://senseis.xmp.net/?EquipmentDimensions gives measurements for a particular Japanese floor board. Chinese boards have larger spaces between the lines (and thus larger stone diameters). I don't know about Korean measurements. What really counts is whether you like how the stones fit on the board.