Has anyone bought a shin-kaya goban from Yellow Mountain Imports, who would like to upload a picture for me to see? Stock photos are notoriously bad at representing the true colour of the product, and I'd like to get a decent idea of the colour.

Thank you.

I would upload a picture of mine, but I left it at home (I'm at school in a dorm).In my experience, I have to say that the pictures actually represent the products very well. Although if you live in a very dry climate, the board will probably warp so I wouldn't recommend shin-kaya if you lived in the desert like me. Aside from that, they carry pretty nice stuff.

The wood has a yellowish hue.

I know. But I'm not sure I like the exaggerated yellow colour in the stock photos. I'd like to see some better photos to get a better idea of the colour, before I commit to buying it.

We should note that the problems of a too dry climate are easier to deal with than the problems of a too wet climate.

Store when not in use in a container more or less airtight like a plastic bin or garment bag. You can obtain humidifying stones (porous rock or ceramic material) which can be soaked in water, drained dry, and then placed inside with the goban.

The reverse is harder as you would need a dessicant which you would need to reactivate in a warm oven every so often.

The grain of the wood matters. While we now think of this as purely aesthetics, different grain directions in the wood make warping/splitting more or less likely as the wood shrinks/swells during humidity changes.

Upon first receiving mine, my thought process was "Wow, this is really nice but yellower than I expected." After a week I was accustomed to it and have since grown to prefer the color and the clear contrast.

I should note I have a very particular aversion to the colour yellow. I suppose I could get used to it, but I think I'm leaning more towards an agathis board for this reason.

I m buy and will get it tomorrow, will take a photo for you (Samsung SII mobile), maybe not good quality file.

It's just as yellow as it looks online.



I actually bought it off Ebay from a liquidator who apparently had no idea of its real value (Buy It Now for $8 plus $13 shipping) but it was in a YMI box when I got it.

I have one as well and yes, it really is that yellow. (the board, not the cat).
Agathis is nice, but usually has slick finish on the surface. I prefer bamboo to agathis since the surface feels the same, but the bamboo color is much richer.

Thanks Inkwolf.

Yes it is very yellow. I don't think it's for me then.

The cat picture is definitely a classic. There should be a caption contest.

I think we have the exact same board! Do you know if it is Chinese or Japanese standard? (mine is the former) I'm excited because I usually tend to see people who have either thicker or thinner boards. These seem to be a weird middle-of-the-road thickness you don't see often (or at least I don't)

_________________
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Does anyone know if any less yellow shin-kaya boards exist and where to buy them? Otherwise I'll have to buy boards from other woods.

They do exist. I don't know where you'd buy them in the US (where I assume you are since you're shopping at YMI)

If you look at Shin kaya boards on Google Images, you'll see a lot that have a more natural color, but they all seem to be from European stores.

I think I read that the yellow color comes from a particular method of curing the wood.



It was originally posted in the Cats and Go thread, which I started to discuss the phenomenon that cats always park themselves on your Go board.



I think it's Chinese standard, but to be honest I don't know. (My friend Neil has a board from Japan and it seems smaller than all my boards.)

I'm in Australia - so Europe is as good as YMI (providing the website is in English).

My goban.

I bought mine in germany (from Spain), you can see it in that thread. It's not yellow at all, the color in the picture is real (in my screen).

I love this.

I looked on the website and I can't find it - can you link to the specific product? (I can't work my way around the German site very well).

Also, how much did it cost?

About the language, I don't speak a work of german and I did everything with the google autotranslation feature in chrome.

About the set, it was the EGC-Set. Maybe it was a limited series and it isn't there anymore. The set page is this one.

The EGC set included :
- a 45x42x3 shin kaya board with a 19x19 grid on one side and 13x13 on the other.
- two jujube bowls.
- yunzi biconvex stones.
- a bag for the bowls and stones.

I also bought the 8.5€ board bag (which was a good decision, it doubles as a 'table cloth' when I play.)

Everything came in a huge (half a dish washer size) box with the things floating in a lot of protective bags, so it all arrived perfectly.

If you're interested I'd suggest you just mail Steffi and Tobias at info@hebsacker-verlag.de, they are nice and helpful people (and they do speak english).

It all cost me: 132.50€ + 30€ shipping to Spain. Total €162,50 taxes included. I'll paste the info in german taken from the response mail, so you can ask for the same set:
Artikel
------------------------------------------------------
1 x Brettschutzhülle mit Go-Zeichen (12-so034) = 8.50 EUR
1 x EGC-Set mit Shinkaya, Yunzi und Jujube (12-so058) = 124.00 EUR
Rückseite 13x13-Brett
------------------------------------------------------
Zwischensumme: 132.50 EUR
Deutscher Paket Dienst (DPD) (Versand nach ES: 1 x 7.87 Kg ): 30.00 EUR
MwSt. 19%: 25.95 EUR
Summe: 162.50 EUR

I don't think it's there - it's a shame, because I absolutely love the recessed lines.

The colours, however, are better here than on YMI, so it's a definite plus. Thanks.

Edit: Did they specify the lines were engraved? I've never seen a website specify whether the lines were engraved or painted.