Ask the expert!

[breakfast]

From my article on GoSensations.com:
http://gosensations.com/?id=2&server_id=1&new_id=1385

Paek Youngcha is the selling manager of "6 brothers baduk" - the biggest company in Korea, producing Go equipment for more than 40 years. Here you can ask any questions, related to Go boards, bowls, stones etc.
You can also send questions with photos to my email: backpast@gmail.com. For example, "I have an old goban at home. What kind of wood is it and what is the estimated price of this goban?"

Feel free to ask questions here on life19X19.

We had lot of interviews in the past with good Go players, but it will be the first interview with Go-equipment expert

[tchan001]

1. What is the inspiration for your turtle goban and how many have you actually sold?
http://www.6brothers.com/detail.php?c_c ... 0_10000004

2. When selecting a solid wood floor goban, what are the factors we should use to select the best product which fits our budget? What is the order of factors we should look at: type of wood, cut of wood, color of wood, thickness of wood, straightness of woodgrain, density of woodgrain, how long the wood was dried, imperfections such as cracks and knots, the sound a stone makes when placed on the floor goban, the oil content of the wood, etc.

3. In your opinion, how many more years will real kaya wood remain a viable option for making floor gobans as there is difficulty in renewing a resource which needs hundreds of years to grow to the right size.

4. If western hobbyists are interested in making their own table board, what advice would you give them in selecting the wood and in drawing the lines, etc.?

5. How long does it take to dry the various type of woods before they are used to make table boards or floor gobans?

6. Are there any recommended protective accessories for players to use to transport their table board, go bowls and go stones to go tournaments?

7. Is there a special way to play go with your four color set of flower baduk stones?
http://www.6brothers.com/detail.php?c_c ... 0_10000005

8. How much more valuable is a wooden bowl with pretty moku patterns compared with one made from the same wood but without moku patterns?
http://www.fuchu.or.jp/~kagu/siryo/moku.htm
For example of such bowls:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scatcat/51 ... 260950947/

9. Are there wooden bowls we should avoid using to store clamshell stones? I've heard that some woods might stain the stones and others like oak might cause clamshell stones to lose their luster.

[lemmata]

Q: Do you ever try to research and create new techniques and processes for crafting boards?

Q: Do you ever try to find new varieties of materials and woods that might exceed kaya in quality?

Q: Do you consider the current state of knowledge about board making to be complete and absolutely true?

In general, I am curious if innovation (or attempts to innovate) exists in this industry.

[Javaness2]

"We have seen bamboo become a popular material recently, are you on the look out for new woods or materials?"

[tchan001]

I've alway wondered what were the answers to the questions we had for the expert on go equipment and I've finally found the interview that was partially the result of our questions
http://rusgo.org/go-sets/

[TheCatLver]

Will your website ever be in English for those who does not speak Korean?

[tchan001]

This is a very old thread and the Korean guy backed out from the interview so they interviewed someone else. I just found that interview recently so I wanted to post it in case people wanted to see what the answers are. I don't think there will be another interview coming up. Breakfast hasn't been around L19 for quite some time. Check his profile.

[kaimat]

I noticed that Breakfast is still very active on KGS (username is breakfast). If there is still interest in an interview it may be worth sending him a quick message on there.