======== Newsgroups: rec.games.go Subject: Re: Cleaning stones From: "Steve Bailey" Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:32:28 +0100 Test whatever you do on a single stone of each colour first. -- === Steve Bailey Zed Instruments Hersham Surrey UK Work: Electronics sgb@zed-inst.co.uk http://www.zed-inst.co.uk Play: Go: 2 kyu, West Surrey sgbailey@iee.org http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SGBailey/ "These words are not my own, they only come when I'm alone" WS "Fredrik Malmsten" wrote in message news:3BD667CF.EC7D7EB9@s2.chalmers.se... > Hi! > > A while ago i visited Japan and brought back a (very well used) go set > as a souvenir. The stones (slate and shell) are somewhat dirty and > sticky (at least in the periphery). My question is now, what is an > appropriate method to clean the stones? Are the clam shells sensitive to > water or detergents? Don't want to waste my treasure;) > > / Fredrik M ======== Newsgroups: rec.games.go Subject: Re: Cleaning stones From: royls@telus.net Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 17:02:41 GMT On Wed, 24 Oct 2001 09:03:43 +0200, Fredrik Malmsten wrote: >A while ago i visited Japan and brought back a (very well used) go set >as a souvenir. The stones (slate and shell) are somewhat dirty and >sticky (at least in the periphery). My question is now, what is an >appropriate method to clean the stones? Are the clam shells sensitive to >water or detergents? Don't want to waste my treasure;) Warm water and an ordinary dish soap that rinses off easily will not hurt the shell stones. I would not guarantee that all dishwasher detergents are safe, though. The slate (actually iron-stained quartzite) black stones are pretty much indestructible, but they are coated with a film of oil to make them look blacker. Washing off the oil with soap will make them look greyer, and show scratches more. Hot water alone -- no soap -- will get most of the gunk off them, but leave some of the oil film. Alternatively, you could get them really clean with soap, then re-oil them. Cleaning the insides of the bowls is harder, but if you don't, the stones will quickly look grubby again. -- Roy L ======== Newsgroups: rec.games.go Subject: Re: Cleaning stones From: bridges@CS.Arizona.EDU (Patrick G. Bridges) Date: 24 Oct 2001 19:26:08 -0700 A light mineral oil should do the trick. Just be sure to avoid any sort of vegetable oil. You won't like the result after it spoils. -- -Patrick Bridges bridges@cs.arizona.edu "Anyone that can't make money on Sports Night should get out of the money-making business" - Calvin, on the last episode of Sports Night ======== Newsgroups: rec.games.go Subject: Re: Cleaning stones From: "Roy Schmidt" Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 03:19:44 GMT Hi! Two points. First: "Ong Y C" wrote: > I used shampoo and the shell stones (they were new) lost their shine! The shine comes from a thin coat of wax. With one of my sets of stones, the manufacturer recommended "tree wax." Never figured out what kind of wax one would use on trees ;-}. But ordinary automobile wax is great! Use the type that is applied as a liquid. After it dries, you can buff the stones to a high shine, just like new. This coating protects the otherwise porous shell, so that it won't absorb skin oil. And second: Fredrik Malmsten wrote: >Thanks for the advise. I'm aware of the problem with gray-looking slate >stones. Actually I'm afraid that I'm partly responsible for the stickiness >of these, since I tried to put an oil film on them for exactly that >reason. I guess that I should have cleaned them thoroughly first, and that >you should be extremely careful not to get to much oil on them (any special >kind of oil to be prefered?). I have washed a couple of sets of black stones several times, and they did not turn gray, just non-shiny. One problem with putting oil on the stones is that the oil contaminates your go-ban. Mineral oil is especially bad. It leaves a dark residue that feathers out into wood (I tested it on a piece of pine, not my go-ban!). If you feel the need to oil your stones, consider the go-ban first. The Japanese go-ban makers recommend a tiny amount of corn oil applied with a soft cloth to condition the wood. So maybe rolling the stones in a small amount of corn oil, then rubbing off the excess with a soft cloth would give you the desired shininess without danger to the go-ban. You would have to wash them every so often, depending on how warm the weather is... Cheers, Roy ------------------------------------------------- my reply-to address is gostoned at home dot com ------------------------------------------------- Roy Schmidt Part-time Translator for Yutopian Full-time Professor of Business Computer Systems Bradley University ======== Newsgroups: rec.games.go Subject: Re: Cleaning stones From: bill hewitt Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 13:00:46 -0400 a tanka about GO stones goes: tsune ni yo no nonoshiri no koe ni touku ite aki no shimizu ni ishi araunari . which means something like: always far from the reproachful voices of the world in the pure water of autumn I wash go stones . This tanka is by Hashimoto Yoshinori from his prize-winning book Mukan.