r/ArtisanVideos • u/Areia • Jan 09 '23

Wood Crafts Japanese craftsmen making Go boards [19:59]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVuDM9jQQ1s
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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '23

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u/fooz_the_face Jan 09 '23

You have your order backwards - people don't acquire these boards to play as much as they to do to look at (well, it's both, but assigning a priority would be silly). The "straighter" the grain, the more valuable the board. Also, the bigger the tree. They love the look and sound (as the pieces are placed) of a large hunk of tree. You could probably "fake" it with a bookmatch around a solid core (good luck getting the endgrain right, but you could come close), but it wouldn't be the same. Which is part of the answer. The rest is "it's traditional". There are many things in the west that are equally silly and not half as pretty.