I was not aware this was a problem I could have fixed by contacting you. As far as I knew, this sort of thing was to be expected of glass stones in general and this kind of problem comes down to buyers remorse.

I was asking if this was characteristic of glass stones in general, and if others had similar experiences. I was wondering if I should have expected this of all glass stone sets, or if this was an anomaly. This being the first stone set I have purchased, I am a little in the dark about these things.

I'm just going through the stones now and it's about 50/50 so far for the white ones. Is it normal for tiny subtle tilts on glass stones? Do all sets have tiny imperfections, where they may not sit perfectly level, or should I cast out all of them which tilt even a little bit? Some of them seem okay but upon close inspection they do have a tilt. At this stage I'm merely wondering how picky I should be.

This thread is making me more curious than ever about the Korean 10.6mm glass stones that I have on the way. I would imagine that the thicker the stone, the greater propensity for tilting and unevenness. Makes me really appreciate the slightly flattened surfaces of the plastic ING stones, which pretty much guarantees that they lay uniformly flat on the goban.

Are glass stones the most common type used in Go clubs, salons, and tournaments everywhere outside of China?

All of the clubs I've been to in the US that have their 'own' equipment (as opposed to people just bringing their personal sets in) have ING Stones.

Most likely this is because they got the ING stones (and containers) from the AGA (or AGF?).

One reason black stones are less susceptible to defects could be that they are less visible. Black stones look very shadowy, so any irregularities in shape are easily overlooked. Unlike white stones, which are (obviously) very bright, in which defects are easily noticed. That said, I didn't find any black stones with anywhere near the same degree of tilt the pictured white stones had.

The Seattle Go Center uses glass stones

Yeah well they have their own building and those nice thick boards. I haven't seen anything like that anywhere else. I certainly wish it...

Haha, they even have wooden bowls. Tupperware containers is the standard I find.

David (GGG),

Do you have any plans to sell yunzi - biconvex stones? I'd love to go in for some 38s in those.

The Greater Washington Go Club also uses glass stones and primarily agathis boards.

EDIT: I'm not sure how old the sets are, but the club certainly predates the Ing foundation.

This may seem like an odd question, but how often do clubs wash their glass stones?

we (seattle go center) had a big stone washing party just two days ago -- and from what I hear, they even wrote a formal document on the washing and drying process

Do plain glass stones need to be washed?

If you don't mind lots of oil from people's hands getting on them, not really. However, it is nicer to use one that is clean.

Yes.

Nifty! But how long had it been since the previous washing? And is washing a routine thing? If so, what is the frequency?

If things go well we'll look into adding more products like that later. Probably not in the short term though.

_________________
David

Go Game Guru: Learn Go | How to Get Better at Go | Go Game Shop | Go Boards | Baduk TV

Yearly at our club, would be more often if something made it necessary.