Picked up 2 old gobans in an oriental store. Would obviously like to identify the wood used if that's possible. Believe both came from Japan. The story I had is that hotels have gobans and these were bought with auctioned furniture from a hotel. Both seem to have a light yellow paint wash along the sides and this is waxy to the touch. The brighter one has less wear and tear and a straight grain. The duller [which i take to be old] has more scratches and obvious wood inserts along its sides. There are cracks as well which I dont mind but are these likely to cause problems in the future and if so can I restore in any way.The older one has a wooden protective case that fits over the top. I like the thought that it has seen many many years of go play. Both are heavy.







[admin]
I enclosed all photos in hide tags so the thread can be read without sideways scrolling, and combined the two threads.
-JB
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see my earlier post.
these are photos of the older goban

Hello,
The second picture looks like Shin-Kaya (Alaskan Spruce) to me. The grain in spruce is darker and more pronounced than Japanese Nutmeg (Kaya). The wood also seems too to be too bright a yellow color for Kaya.

The other two pictures are too blurry for me to see the grain in good detail. It looks to be Masame cut which is in line with Spruce (You rarely see Itame cuts of Shin-Kaya).

I can't say for sure without better/clearer pictures (especially of the grain) but based on my uneducated guess, I'd say Spruce (Shin-Kaya)

Put a cover over it for a few hours then remove it. Is there a strong yet soft, sweet woody smell? If so, then it could be Kaya.

The third picture is too blurry to make anything out.

Anyway, this looks like an old Katsura board to me.

Katsura is a light to dark brown wood (depending on age) and is always Itame (cross-grain) cut because the trees don't grow large enough for Masame.