Hi, /diy/, how is your day?
I have little experience with wood but am "workshop literate", and I would like to make a go board (pic related).
Ideally, I will use two pieces of wood glued together to prevent serious warping. My question for /diy/ is: where would be a good place to get wood of similar grain and color? To be more specific, I would like to use a yellowish wood with mostly straight grain on the large face of the board. In addition, I would not like to use materials such as plywood, MDF, and such. Just solid chunks/planks of wood. I live in Maryland, if my location helps.
Wood source aside, I will also have to cut and plane the wood, draw a 19x19 grid on the board, and wax/otherwise finish the board. I am only asking for advice on obtaining the appropriate wood, but advice in these other matters will be well appreciated.
>>899043
the only one around here that comes to mind that can be a nice yellow and a hardwood is poplar (although you'll have to do some digging, poplar goes from greenish to purple to yellow depending on the piece). It does have nice firm grain, but it's a little soft, so you'd need to lacquer it to prevent wear, not just an oil coat, so you'd lose a bit of the wood grain feel.
you may be able to get windfall or cut lumber off craigslist for free if you look, since you're willing to plane anyway.
Maple would be your next bet of available wood, but you'd almost certainly have to buy it. you could probably also go with ash and stain it (ash is usually fairly white).
I would also suggest inlaying strips along the back of the board across the grain on either end, to prevent splitting.
It's nice to see another maryland anon, btw.
>>899080
Thank you very much for all that information! Our weather is a bit gloomy today, ain't it? Cheers.
I've been looking at this as well, it seems like many modern boards use white spruce instead of the traditional Kaya.
Wikipedia Specifies white spruce from Tibet, Siberia or Alaska, I'd guess Alaska is the best bet in the US.
I made a go board out of white oak a few years back. I then used a light yellow stain. Looked pretty decent. I used white oak because I got it free.
For the grids, I actually used a laser cutter and etched the grid in. This gave it a slight height difference. Something like 1/64 an inch. So if you ran your fingers over the board you could feel it. I used mineral oil to finish it.
OP here. I appreciate the information. I have decided that I want to work with a medium-hard to hard wood. Staining is not out of the question.
>>899488
Do you have any suggestions on how I could acquire white spruce or similar woods? If not, it's ok; a Google search will probably lead me in the right direction, but a recommendation would be well received.
>>899507
>I used white oak because I got it free
Very fortunate! Although not very yellow, white oak is still not a dark brown, so it must have turned out nicely.
>laser cutter
I will probably just prime (correct term?) the board and then apply lines with a marker. Then, I will finish the board in some manner.
>>899688
Not very yellow, no. That's why I used a yellow tinted stain.
>apply lines with a marker
Don't do this. The color will look green on wood and will run if solvents hit it. A paint would be better, best would be a wood stain. You can get a black stain. Use masking tape to tape off the areas you don't want stained.
Apply the stain lightly to keep it from seeping under the tape.
Pic is a chess board I did. I should have applied the stain lighter as there was a little bleeding as you can see.
>>899888
The bleeding is a bit lamentable, but your board still looks very striking - very nice work.
>Don't do this. The color will look green on wood and will run if solvents hit it.
Ok, but I will first test the marker on a smaller piece of the same wood. The staining method you offered will always be in the front of my mind as I explore a few techniques. Thank you, once again.
For indulgence and inspiration:
Here is 13min 30sec video skimming the manufacturing process of Korea's most prominent go board manufacturer, 6Brothers Baduk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY2tPz9aRuw
>>899905
>The bleeding is a bit lamentable, but your board still looks very striking - very nice work.
I stained the white's a light golden oak toned color so it covered it up pretty well. Looked like darker grain spots.
>>900062
>Looked like darker grain spots.
Indeed, I don't even think I would have seen the bleeding as an error if you hadn't pointed it out :)
go to a woodworkers shop, and buy it there, or if you can buy online.
it will be sold s2s and in fractional thickness, by the linear board feet.
if you go someplace like Woodcraft, they may be willing to joint and plane a piece for you.,
Will save tones of time.
If you want the grain to be book matched, you will need to resaw the stock on a band saw, then plane and joint it.
you can join the tow pieces with a simple but joint, but a dowel, domino, biscuit or routed tongue and grove will be much stronger.
>>899688
you could use a soldering iron and straight edge to burn in the lines.
or a fine v gouge
>>900179
what the fuck completes to desu? desu?
what is this, some sort of fucking anime imageboard?
>>900180
baka desu senpai
>>900176
Thank you for the pointers!
>>900177
>>900179
I prefer not to indent the board :/ Good idea, though; I've seen someone else's board for which he etched the lines in such a way and later filled the indentations with ink afterward - how he managed to do so is unknown to me. The lines looked very sharp.
>>900179
>that chess board looks kinda yuck desu.
My 13 year old nephew picked out the pattern, not me. I prefer a standard square. I was offered $200 for it and the pieces though when I was finishing it. So pretty good day's work since I didn't even make the pattern.
>>900285
>he etched the lines in such a way and later filled the indentations with ink afterward
I'm guessing he used a paint rather than an ink.
I was considering lacquering my board to fill in the lines so it was smooth.
>>899888
That's what happens with oak. The grain is so deep that you cant simply just tape it off.
>>899906
WTF at 2m05s...
100,000,000 South Korean Won equals £57,076 GBP.
Am I doing something wrong?
>>900180
>desu completes to desu
sasuga.
>>900362
Presumably you could mask it with putty?
>>900399
OP here. Price is correct lol. It's just so rare to be able to find a chunk of tree that has the right grain and color. The Korean nutmeg wood used in the video is one of the highest quality woods used in go board manufacturing. It is very similar to kaya (torreya nucifera), which is considered to be the kingpin wood for go boards.
I just want to know where to get some "normie" wood like white spruce :(
>>900419
It is a lovely piece of wood. Full on /diy/ porn. But still...
>>900427
Yeah, no one really buys those except for rich enthusiasts, corporate officials who want fancy decor, and professional players (it's their job anyway, why not buy nice equipment?). Don't sweat it.
>>900285
He used a v gouge.
That is the way you do it.
You can run in forward to remove the wood , or with a soft wood run it backward to scribe the wood.
>>900441
Thank you for that, although I meant to say that I did not know what method he used to fill the etchings with ink/paint.
>how he managed to do so is unknown to me
Sorry about that bit; it is indeed pretty vague.
>>900362
Oh, it works perfectly. The real issue is the laser cutter that I used to cut the pattern. I should have gone for a higher power pass paired with brushed on stain instead rag wiped. I've actually made a couple more for friends because everyone loves them and they cost me about 25-$30 to make depending on thickness. Plus about an hour of my time minus glue drying. The others turned out perfectly. Just have to hone your process.
OP, here.
First, I would like to say that I will be tackling this project come late December. I will, of course, share my results with /diy/, my dear buddies.
I have decided that I will buy plain sawn 2 x 12 fir/spruce/pine from Home Depot or Lowes. I will specifically choose the more centered cuts. Then, I will cut out the [middle portion of the tree] from each of the planks so that I end up with what is essentially quarter sawn wood.
I will then glue the quarter sawn pieces together to form a square of wood at least 19in x 19in. From there I will cut the square of wood down to typical board dimensions - 460mm x 430mm.
The tricky part from there will be preparing the board for and applying the 19x19 grid lines. Some of you anons have offered some methods, which I appreciate.
After applying the lines, I will apply one last finish to the board.
Of course, this procedure I have described has many gaps and much room for elaboration. Please feel free to add more pointers. I originally made this thread to ask where to get wood, and I feel that if I directly ask for other advice I would be hijacking my own thread :P
>>900625
Hey OP. I've made a number of Shogi boards out of wood from Home Depot and better. I suggest using poplar for your first board. Build the whole thing. Carefully paint and finish it. Then play with it. Teach other people how to play and find someone or someones to play with at least once or twice a week. Then, when you have someone who can beat you at least 50% of the time, give him the board.
Before you give him the board, start making a new one. This time, go with maple. Try to bring another one of your friends to the level where they are consistently beating you. (at least 50/50 chance per game). Then give them the maple board. Find a lumber mill that carries hardwoods and pick a nice hardwood to use. Make a new one out of the hardwood.
After a while, you'll have a decent pool of players to play with, they'll all have their own equipment, you'll have a reputation for being a hell of a guy, and you will end up with an awesome board of your own.
My favorite shogi board is an oversized board, abt 24"x24" with painted pieces. Traditional symbols on the faces, but the sides are color coded to facilitate new players. Both are made of poplar. I've given away boards made of bird's eye maple, walnut, poplar, folding boards, etc...
If I was to make a new board, I'd make it out of birch.
As for painting, there are bunches of ways of doing it, traditional and not. I would suggest deciding whether or not you want to make any scribing or gouging for laquer or not, then seal the whole piece with wood sealer before you put the paint on. Then, after the paint, cover it with whatever you are going to use for a clear coat. I've pretty much stuck with clear polyurethane, but I've had fantastic results on spearguns with West Systems epoxy, and Phil Herranen sells some excellent epoxy as well, if you decide to go that route. The only problem with epoxy is that for a board like this, it might look too thick or slick.
>>900821
(continued)
Some people have said Oak. If you use oak, make sure you seal the SHIT out of it before attempting to paint your lines or otherwise finally finish it. I fucking hate oak for it's rediculous open grain, but it could be done and it could look ok.
When you select wood for your project, look for clear, straight grain wood. There is almost no reason this advice would not apply, unless you were looking for something for some aesthetic reason and needed knots or interesting grain. For home depot wood; look for the straightest grain you can find. It cuts down on warping.
Your method sounds like it'll work to get the right grain, (more or less straight), but be picky! Don't be shy about making a big pile of wood in the aisle, or walking the fuck out of there with no wood at all if it's all shit. Lowes and Home Depot have been BAD lately, for wood selection.
Google Annapolis woodworkers guild for a list of area hardwood suppliers. You might have better luck straight out of the gate and find a place that will lead you to even more projects down the road.
Good luck! I hope you post your results.
>>899888
I don't like the puzzle piece design as a chess board, because I think it is distracting. I DO like the board as a convo piece though. It IS striking.
If you want to avoid the bleeding in Oak, you have to use several coats of wood sealer to completely fill in the grain. It's not that noticeable though. (to normal people. To you, the flaws are glaring. to DIY, they're noticeable. To normies, it's a museum piece.)
Advice: Build 2 or 3 instead of one. The difference in time and material cost is negligible, and you'll have a chance to screw up and not bork the project.
OSAGE ORANGE
>>900821
>>900828
Thank you so much for all that advice on painting the board and selecting the wood. Extra props for the reference to Annapolis woodworkers. I appreciate this all.
I most certainly will post some nice pics :)
>>900872
Thank you for mentioning this. It does seem like the reasonable way to go about this project.
>>900832
>I don't like the puzzle piece design as a chess board, because I think it is distracting.
Yeah, I personally don't like the design either, but as I said it was for my nephew who, at the time, had just joined chess club. So for a 13 year old, it's awesome and different.
I made a few more for friends (some who don't even play chess) and solved the bleeding problem by using more power on the etch and by applying the stain with a brush for a lighter coat.
The golden oak stain for the whites made the grain pop out so it's not very noticeable.
