Material Goban
Goban
Traditionally, gobans are made of wood. However, this is not really a requirement. One can find old gobans which were highly decorative, and made to resemble e.g. a turtle back or similar.
I once played on a goban made in Algeria, which was made of leather (pigskin, apparently) stretched out over a wooden frame, with engraved camels around the side and inset pieces of mirror. (!)
Nowadays, however, the trend seems to be towards simplicity and austerity.
The main requirement of the material used is that it is durable and does not warp. A secondary requirement is that the surface colour and texture must be so that the grid is clear, and that the sound made when hit with a stone is pleasant.
In practice this means that wood is used. For aesthetic reasons, the grain should be "masame", i.e. running straight, not bent.
Good quality plywood (not construction grade) is fine for home-made boards, as it is relatively cheap and easy to work with. You can get a thin piece of furniture or cabinet grade plywood and sandwich it to cheaper plywood for a thick, good-looking surface. Finish the edge with thin wood stock. Choose a type of plywood that is not too dark.
'Competition' gobans, the ones which are in photos of 'Go World', are typically made of the Japanese 'Kaya' wood. Kaya has the properties as described above, it is quite soft (nice sound), the colour is light (yellowish) and the grain is subtle. However, Kaya trees are reasonably rare and they grow very slowly. Kaya boards are therefore very expensive.
Other wood types which are used include:
- Agathis
- Ash Alder
- Basswood
- Beech
- Birch
- Cedar (hiba is a type of cedar)
- Cypress
- Elm
- Hiba
- Katsura
- Oak
- Purpleheart
- Redwood
- Sitka Spruce
- Soft maple
- White walnut
- Yellow Pine
- Shin Kaya
Scartol: I made mine out of yellow pine ($6.99/plank at Home Depot) and added little feet (in my case they are wooden circles from a craft shop, but my pal Matt found some rubber dealies that are even better). The resulting space under the board means that it resonates very well when whacked with a stone (especially my big fat Ing stones). Several folks have said that mine provides the best sound of any board in the club..
Jared: I'm currently building a spruce table goban. The original plan called for a folding board, but I decided against it at the last minute. Just wanted to remind people who buy their lumber: avoid pressure treated wood.
Damian For my first board I used pine, and made it into an oversize breakfast tray shape (complete with handles). My wife loves it and I even get her to play a game on it occasionally ;)
Hignaki: I have found cheap fiberboard at Home Depot, and it acually sounds quite nice when it is covered by a thin piece of Oak. It acually looks quite good too, if I say so myself...
FuZZ: I used walnut for my goban and it has a nice color even with his dark tone. I'm going to make a new one and I'm considering using cedar.
Kosh: Check my homemade board.
It's make of meranti hardwood, 4 pieces glued together. The legs are made of the same wood. The whole is waxed with furniture wax. http://elektron.its.tudelft.nl/~kkha05/goban_legs.jpg
- FuZZ: Nice board and interesting bowls :) What did you use for your lines?
- Kosh: The lines are drawn with an ordinary marker :) The bowls come from china. Do you also have a pic?
- FuZZ: Yes you can look at them here
- Kosh: Nice! I have created a new page on Gobans: KoshGobans
PatG: I am designing folding goban. Are there any preferences, benefits or drawbacks for placing the seam on a line, beside a line or down the middle of a square? Thanks.
The board that I have is such that when folded, the two halves line up essentially perfectly. The cut is just off the center line: I think that in any case you will probably prefer to cut first and draw the grid later, since cutting will probably affect the dimensions of your board (removing material from the center and making the boxes along the cut smaller than the rest
LeeHungLo: A goban should be constructed with a softwood, so that over time the board develops indentations adding to its value. The stones should make a click when placed on the board, which is another reason a soft wood is preferred (a bit of give results in a nice click apparently). The color and grain is important for easy playability. Kaya and Katsura trees are popular probably because they meet these conditions so nicely.
pashley Moved discussion originally here of Shin Kaya to its own page.
rmsp: At some point I ran across a really cool set of pages detailing the manufacture of kaya gobans, with pictures of the huge logs being cut and sectioned, the lines being drawn, etc. Kind of like what they have at Kurokigoishiten, but with more detail. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Something like this? http://www.goban.co.jp/koutei.htm