TheCatLver wrote: That's what I was thinking too. By chance, would it be That noticable? The "veneered" board I mean.
Yes, it's noticeable if you know what to look for. The people that make these go to a great deal of effort to line up the grain, as you can see here (but look at the corners where two sides meet carefully). Based on this discussion, it sounds like this distinction is something that's important to you, in which case you might prefer a single piece board. The other board is for people who want to save money and I usually recommend that one first, because it's much cheaper and looks almost the same.
Also, can I repeat an exhortation that I've made earlier on L19? If you're going to buy something from us and you already know about our website or store, then please buy it from our website instead of eBay/Amazon. The difference is that about 20% of what you pay (nearly all the profit in most cases) goes to us instead of some mega marketplace corporation. We use that extra money to keep publishing free news/commentaries/problems/etc on our site and to promote Go. Who knows what they use it for? Probably not Go...
You may also find that you save money at our store. We only sell on marketplaces because so many people will only shop there and by selling a greater volume of equipment we can drive the costs down and reduce prices. However, if everyone only shops on the marketplaces then small stores will eventually close down completely or become 'Amazon shops'. Some people might have noticed that YMI has already done this - fulfilled by Amazon and their website is run by Amazon. All they do now is send the stuff to Amazon's warehouse, so they basically just work for Amazon. That this makes things cheaper for customers is actually a myth. We don't want to work for Amazon and we want to keep sharing our passion for Go on our website and promoting the game if we can afford to.
Here's the original response that I sent to you on eBay last week, to add context to this discussion (I've removed the links that were in the original so as not to spam this forum):
gogameguru wrote: 1. Single Piece Shin Kaya Board ($239)
This first board is made from a very big piece of uncut wood (this is what single piece means). Obviously the wood has to be cut at the edges to make it into a rectangular Go board shape, but there are no lines in the board where the wood was cut, because it hasn't been cut. These boards are the most expensive, because you need a very big, old tree to make them, so the wood is much more expensive. The reason why these shin kaya Go boards are expensive in general is that the wood used to make them costs a lot. It's in high demand because of its nice appearance (we also sell Go boards made with other materials though). Shin kaya is the Japanese name for spruce wood.
2. Multipiece Shin Kaya Board ($184)
It's more common to have smaller trees or pieces of wood that aren't the right shape or size to make into a Go board. In that case the craftsman uses several smaller pieces of wood and joins them together with very strong woodworking glue. The multipiece boards we sell are made out of three pieces. The craftsmen we work with are very skillful, so it's not obvious at first, but if you look carefully at the wood grain on the bottom side of this board in the photos, you can see that the pattern changes where the pieces are joined. This board is cheaper than a single piece board because the smaller pieces of wood used to make it don't cost as much.
3. Shin Kaya Go Board ($119)
This board is less traditional than the first two, because it makes use of modern woodworking techniques to produce a great looking Go board at a lower price. This board is also made from smaller pieces of wood, but with a compressed composite core. This modern technique produces a board with a stable core which is very strong, which means the board won't warp crack even in very hostile climates. This board is costs less, but it should actually outlast the other two, because the wood is so stable (all of them can be expected to last for decades though). The reason why this board costs less, is that material in the core of the board is cheaper. Only the external facing panels use the very expensive wood (spruce) to make the board look nice. This means that an even higher grade of spruce (lighter in color, with a straighter wood grain) can be used on the external panels, because it's used more sparingly. Most people can't tell the difference between this board and the $239 board because the craftsman who makes these boards is very highly skilled. In my opinion this board offers the best value for money and I recommend it for most people. Some people prefer to buy the more expensive boards because they like the idea of a single piece of wood or a more traditional manufacturing style.
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How does that work exactly? Does anyone have either of the board with real picture to compare?
