Okay, so I've made myself a goal, and I'm nearly there: Once I hit SDK, I'm getting a new goban. What I have, now, works, but in honesty kinda sucks. It's a hollow board(so that you can store the stones inside) made of lord knows what type of wood with a laminate finish that is peeling off on the sides.

Needless to say, I'm ready for a new board, so I figured I might as well start looking now.

Here is what I'm thinking about getting: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032K5RCQ?ie=UTF8&tag=learnbaduk-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B0032K5RCQ

I have a few concerns though...
Is it going to scratch up on me?
I've heard a few things about the boards being especially susceptible to cracking, is this true?
How does it sound when you place a stone on it?

If anyone knows anything about those(Especially the third), it would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks!

Yellow Mountain Imports is a good company (you could order from them directly, instead of via Amazon)

You should have to worry about scratches. Bamboo is a very dense and durable board.

I also heard reports of bamboo board cracking, but I think those reports are very few, and not common. You should have anything to worry about. If you do, then, again, YMI is a very good company, just talk to them about it.

The stone click sounds will be fine.

Mine has not seemed particularly prone to scratching. It arrived with a minor scratch and a gouge that looks more like a flaw in the wood, rather than damage. But normal play has added no scratches, and the scratches are not easy to see unless you are looking for them. It's a beautiful board.

I read reports of some bamboo boards separating, and it's supposedly caused by humidity changes. There's a Youtube video about bamboo cutting boards, and the guy said to season them with mineral oil every day for a week, and once a month after that. I don't know if Go boards need as much TLC, since they have a finish on them and are not washed with the dishes or have meat hacked up in them, but it can't hurt to give it a nice oil rub from time to time.

Can't really tell you how it sounds, since I have the 2 1/2 inch version, which apparently has some hollow places inside. Playing on a corner star point has a very loud, high-pitched tick. Playing on an edge or middle of the side has a more subdued tick. Playing tengen has sort of a dull thunk. If you really want, I could record an MP3.

I own one of the YMI 3/4" bamboo gobans, so I hope my observations will be helpful. I originally won the board on Ebay (a scratch & dent "layaway" item) from YMI, and was very pleased with the rich pattern of the wood and the heft of the board. I was less thrilled when shortly thereafter I noticed a crack starting on one edge, followed quickly by more cracks on the same and opposite sides of the board. I attributed this to the dry winter air, and my placing the board near the baseboard heat in the family room of my home, but even after moving away from the heat source, the cracking continued. Having also purchased Jade-colored single-convex Yunzi stones to go with the board (a handsome combination, I do say) I had purchase mineral oil to oil these stones, which I then applied to the board to moisturize it and perhaps lessen the cracking. It didn't help, new cracks developed, and I didn't like the look of the board after treatment (very shiny, too much glare). I exchanged this board for another YMI bamboo one, and this one has developed only one slight crack which has since stabilized, so I am happier. I will say that the replacement board is quite a bit lighter than the original one, so I suspect that the first one was solid, the replacement probably has a cavity inside--perhaps the more solid (but cracking) board would have lasted longer than the hollow replacement, but I'll never know--but it something to consider.

One thing that you didn't mention is the country of origin of your current go stones, which I am assuming you will use with the bamboo goban. Be aware that this board has a Chinese grid, which is considerably bigger than Japanese and Korean grids, and thus if you use Japanese sized stones (~21mm wide) they will definitely look lonely, with significant gaps between stones in the same row/column. Even if you have Chinese Yunzi stones, if they are double-convex they might be Japanese-sized; from my experience, the "best" match with a bamboo board are large (size 5 ~23mm) single-convex Yunzi. If you have Korean or Japanese stones, then I would encourage you to consider an agathis or katsura board from Korea or Japan instead, as this will be a better "fit" for your stones. This need not be expensive--I just picked up a folding Japanese katsura board for $20 on Ebay, or you can see what an importer like Yutopian has to offer in Japanese/Korean boards (solid 1" agathis reversible board from Japan or a 2" agathis board from Korea are only about $75 each, plus s/h). HTH...

I've had bamboo boards in stock for almost two years and I've never seen any cracks, in my experience the surface gets scrached as easilly as any other board though.
I don't have any special storage with regards to humidity/temperature but store some in my house and some in the garage where temperature varies between 30c and 10c so I'd say that they are pretty resistant from cracking, but it may of course be a problem in more extreme situations (e.g. in a desert or leaving the board in the car).
And I only have experience of solid boards, and I suspect that those could be of various quality too depending on where and by whom they are fabricated.

I have written earlier on this topic that there may be a higher risk with boards that have etched lines, as opposed to painted, but I haven't heard from any customers that this is a problem either.

As for the sound, I'd say that it is much more crisp than with a softer board, but again this is for the solid boards.
This, and also the Chinese vs Japanese size is much according to taste; some like the crisper sound and some don't mind the gap with Japanese stones on a Chinese board.
For reference, this is a bamboo board with 22-22.5 mm jade stones (Slate/Shell are 21.5-22 mm as are most glass stones I carry)


/Mats

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I have a bamboo board I purchased from YMI 6 years ago. The board has been taken on several trips and lives on my kitchen table, so you can imagine the abuse it gets. I have not noticed any signs of extensive wear or cracks on the board. The board appears to be in the same shape as when I bought it. I use marble stones with the board and the sound they make is a high 'click' as opposed to the low 'thonk' I hear on softer boards.

Of the three wooden boards I have; kaya, Tibetan spruce, and bamboo, I use the bamboo board most often. It is durable enough to leave out and can take occasional abuse. When I want to play or work out a problem, it is the board at hand.

I used to think that the bamboo boards looked terrible, but I'm coming around and I can see one big plus being "they aren't that expensive so you can use them in more situations." Plus, I really want a set of marble stones and Chinese-size bamboo boards are easy enough to come by.

like a useful chopping board. lol

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Go is such a beautiful game.