Sybob - thanks for the links. I've seen those before, but they are indeed super helpful.
GoTony - So I got them yesterday, and overall I am very pleased. No time for pics, but I'll try to do that another day. All I had time to do was wipe each stone with a clean cotton towel and put them in the new bowls. The chestnut bowls are beautiful - way better than I thought for one of the cheapest wooden bowls on offer. On the Aoyama site they're not the darkest color nor the lightest. I don't like the light color because I prefer for the bowls to contrast with the goban. I don't like the dark color because I don't like how the grain comes out light against it. Personal preference to be sure. This color looks really good to me, and the bowls are really, really nice. The slate stones seemed to have no oil on them at all, but maybe I'm wrong. they felt completely dry to me. The size 36 is great - ever so slightly smaller than my favorite glass set that I think I mentioned above. The slate is slightly less black than the matte glass, but still a super dark grey that you'd probably call black unless you see the stones side by side. The shell stones are really, really cool. The vast majority of them have 6-12 pretty straight lines of grain running across. There are a few that only seem to have one to three lines on them, but I suspect that if I looked under a brighter light they have more, just faint. I was purposely not under a very bright light, because I wouldn't play that way anyway. The stones are very uniform in shape, although they do seem to have a little bit of a round dimple on one side (hard to explain) - I wonder if that has something to do with how they are made/formed. It's pretty subtle, I'm guessing many people wouldn't even notice. They are quite bright white, again, you'd say white until you put it next to the white glass and then they look a bit creamy in comparison. The shape is slightly less "severe" than the glass stones I have - those come to a bit more of a point around the edge, if you get what I mean. But they are super similar to the glass ones in size and shape, which is good - I love those glass stones. I don't know if the shell ones are waxed. They are very shiny, so I suspect they are, but not sure. My plan is to play with them with clean hands, and at some point when I have time (when is that ever?) I'll wash and wax. Seems like a good coat of wax would be the best way to protect, along with clean hands. One stone had a small chip in it, maybe the size of a pinhead? Not too bad. When I asked the dealer, he said I'd get 181 slate and 180 shell, and they don't sell extras. I didn't count the shell stones, but I did count the slate as I put them in the bowl. I counted 183, which either means I got a couple of extras, or I miscounted by two. I'll check that again when I have more time. Hopefully I have a couple of extra shell too, then the chipped one can get relegated. In either case, I may purchase a set of extras, blue label from Kuroki. Then I'd have some extras, plus I'd get to compare the two sets from two different vendors.
As for my hiba goban, I love it. It's Japanese, 2 inches thick, bought from Samarkand many years ago. I think they said if was from a goban maker in Osaka. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think it's about 6 pieces, but it's joined well enough that I think you'd actually guess that there is a seam where there is not one, it's just the grain. Over time, probably 3 or 4 years after I bought it, one of the pieces expanded ever so slightly. It's not noticeable by sight on the playing surface, and it is barely noticeable if you run your finger over that seam. Where you do notice it is if you look at the side - that piece is now about .3 mm longer than the others, and sticks out a tiny, tiny bit. I love the yellowish color (again, love the contrast between white and black, board and bowls) and the grain is noticeable but not distracting. Subtle but prominent at the same time.
In fact, I love the hiba board so much I think I'm going to buy another one at some point. That way I'll have two great boards for my two favorite sets of stones, and who knows, maybe I'll get one I like even more than the first, and won't have that small expansion issue over time. Obviously I'd probably go kaya if I could, but that might be overkill for jitsuyo stones, and the few hundred extra dollars probably isn't going to happen. The hiba plus shipping will be expensive enough as it is. Not sure if I should get it from Aoyama or Kuroki. Wonder if the names of the vendors is the clue I'm looking for - Aoyama GOBANten/Kuroki GOISHIten. Hmmm.
I will say this regarding the board and stones - if I had to choose, I would take my hiba board and glass stones over my slate and shell stones with a much cheaper goban. The glass ones look and feel really nice - they are a nice set of glass and I know many are not. But that set and goban looks and feels really good. The slate and shell are an upgrade to be sure - but an expensive one even with this "budget" set, and it's not as big of an upgrade in my opinion as it would be to move up to a 2 inch board made of hiba, or maybe shin kaya. I've never seen a shin kaya board "in the flesh", so I cannot compare that with hiba. But from pictures I have seen, I think the hiba is more yellowish and shin kaya is more tannish in color, and I prefer the yellow. It's more expensive, so maybe I'm not alone in this preference?
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading my book.
