Nice stuff, wood and size. I’m just bit surprised you vernish it before drawing the lines?
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I tested a bit on scrap and if I don’t, the marker will probably bleed into the grain, making fuzzy lines.
Here’s the finished 13x13, with two more coats over the marker:
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Still offering?
Not if you use the right markers. When (late 90s) I made a board, I foresaw this problem. I asked the people in the art shop what marker would not go fuzzy if I varnished the board. I think that I was advised a water-resistent marker. So if you explain what your plans are (varnish is not the only option; oiling, waxing are other options) an art shop can advise you on this.
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I did 1 coat polyurethane, marker, then 2 more coats polyurethane, and the coatings did not make the marker lines go fuzzy. They get fuzzy if drawn onto raw uncoated wood, since the ink soaks into the grain.
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Next time I get into some decent sized wood I’ll take some pictures and we can discuss.
I continue to be amazed by the unbelievably tedious process involved in cutting the lines. Seems like something that could get so frustrating, yet at the same time be very satisfying.
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I’m posting this from my phone, so forgive any lack of finesse. Here are the main concerns I have, and I’m no woodworking expert by any means. The wood can dry and crack very easily if not heat treated or kiln dried. Without doing any legwork I honestly couldn’t tell you what it would take to ship something like this, around 100 lbs. But, let me know what you think… the first and last picture is just a little showing and telling about the amount of wood I have access to. Lots of this is populus (cottonwood, Aspen, popular) and not a hard wood used for wood working, but the middle picture of the slabs are ash, which is a very hard wood… Anyways:
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K, in an practical frame of mind (mainly because i gave to redraw all the cad cant frames on the frigate i am building and that will take ages) so i have decided to build another goban but with process improvements to avoid some of the pitfalls of my original approach.
That board is fine but i can do better.
Structure will be as before strips joined together but this time with a base. I will keep with the beech and black walnut though as i like the colour. I will also use japanese measurements for this whereas my original used the chinese (for my chinese stones).
Admittedly i will need some japanese stones to use the board.
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Sightly off topic but I thought some people who are building Go boards might like to see the trophy for the Newcastle tournament…
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Which monster made it 10x10 
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Yeah, I was wondering what would make it more unplayable for me: the lack of Tengen or the text (which could just as well have been printed on one of the sides).
But OK, hobbyists, and maybe the 3D person wasn’t much into Go and its aesthetics … so I’d keep my mouth shut if I’d be there.
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Ok it’s a trophy but… I find frustrating to not have written on the side instead at the middle of the board.
As a cleaning people would say, gonna be just a dust collector
Don’t get it wrong, still a wonderful object.
But easier to clean than most intricate trophies right?!
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If they made it 9x9 or even 11x11 it would probably actually get used, and thus would need minimal dusting. As it is, probably not many people are so interested in 10x10.
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We haven’t yet debated about the size of the stones.
The wood light color looks great. For transportation I have no idea, I can just say that usually it takes the low cost (so slow) way.
Any news?
Hi everyone!
I recently picked up some wood offcuts (see image below) that seem just the right size to make some 9x9 go boards with. The wood is Yew, and I have also have one piece of Birch.
I’m not a woodworker and don’t have access to much in the way of tools. Hopefully the wood being roughly the correct size and only one piece already helps keeps things simple, even if I’m mostly using hand tools.
To my understanding, the process is:
- Cut to size and sand the wood flat
- Clean everything – is turpentine the right stuff for this?
- Apply some oil (eg, teak oil?) to seal and protect the wood
- Mark the grid
- Apply wax over this?
To any woodworkers here, does this seem like an appropriate plan? In particular, I’m curious to know:
- Do I need to be careful choosing an appropriate oil? Will this choice affect the colour of the final piece?
- How much should I worry about warping and splitting at this size? I don’t know how long the wood was dried for, but I gather the thicker the wood, the more of a problem this can become
- Is it sensible to draw the grid after oiling? Reading back on this thread, it seems like ink could bleed into the wood otherwise and look messy, but I also don’t want it to rub off.
- Any tips for drawing the grid? Most people seem to have gone down the good ol’ sharpie and ruler route
Thanks in advance for any tips – progress will probably be slow, but I will post updates as they happen.
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Sounds like you have a good plan in place with some beautiful wood. It has been several years now since I constructed my board as only an amateur, and unfortunately I haven’t gone any further in woodworking due to a lack of resources and equipment. So my thoughts are not to be taken as absolutely infallible and if an experienced woodworker chimes in, I’d listen to them instead.
I can only comment on a couple of your bullet points that I feel most confident in some info for. I also presume you read this entire thread, so apologies if my information below is only redundant.
- Yes, warping and splitting is always a real concern, even with much thinner chunks than a lot of people realize. I used planks of oak that were only roughly 1.5 inches thick if I remember correctly, and they were held together with clamps until the glue fully set. The warping during this setting and clamping process was horrendous, and I had to redo and reset several times.
- It does appear you are taking the better approach of using a large, solid piece. This will reduce or eliminate a lot of the complications I faced and is the safer, more beginner friendly way of going about it. The cost was a big constraint for me at the time, and so that is why I used strips instead.
- I wish I could give a better answer, but without knowing the age and how long the wood has been drying out, it is really hard to say how warping will play out; only time will tell.
- After applying the grid lines if you are using sharpie, I recall being told to use a spray-on finish of some sort such as a spray-on polyurethane. The reasoning is that some finish and oils react with and will smear the sharpie if you apply a coat over the lines manually. Unfortunately, I don’t really know anything about the oil you are wanting to use.
- I had the luxury of access to a CNC machine, and so was able to laser the grid onto my board, which is a far superior approach if precision is the most important thing. My fairly experienced woodworking teacher recommended this instead and went so far to say that I would be likely to very much regret the results from sharpie. However, I understand this may be the only option for you, and I bet you can make it work with the right planning, patience, and care.
Have fun with this and keep us posted! It is a tremendous learning experience and something that really makes me want to eventually get into the woodworking hobby more generally someday if I have the space and money to do it.
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