How to Draw Reproducible Accurate and Precise Gridlines?

I hope to inspire a good discussion here. I'm interested in making a special type of game board for an ancient game called "Go". A Go board has gridlines that look like this. Those little circles may or may not be included. My son plays competitively.

The old masters in Japan do it like this. They use some kind of blade that is coated in some kind of lacquer and rocked across the wood. I don't read Japanese......

So without going on and on about this interesting and ancient game. I'd like to hear some suggestions on how to do this, as getting these gridlines onto the board is going to be the most difficult part of the project. I have read everything I can find about this, but most of the people who are making these boards are not woodworkers, they are Go players and aren't using perhaps the best or most efficient methods.

Required:

1. The lines are a prescribed thickness and must be evenly spaced.

2. The lines are spaced a different amount in one direction as opposed to the other; they are wider in one orientation that the other.

3. The lines are thin, like 1mm

4. If they are cut in rather than drawn on, then they have to be filled so that when the board is finished the top is flat--you do not want to be able to *feel* the lines.

5. If lines are drawn on, I don't want them to bleed--initially *or* after it's finished (coated) with something.

6. I also need some kind of method that is reproducible so I don't have to keep reinventing the wheel every time I make a board like this.

I've been puzzling over this for a long time. Puzzling until my puzzler is sore (didn't the Grinch say that?). One thing I considered was having a permanent template made of gridlines cut into either metal or acrylic, laying it on top of the wood, and then....what? cutting it? drawing it? I also wondered if I could cut the lines in the top of the board, then flood it with dye, and sand off the surface, where the dye would remain only in the cut lines........

Tell me how you would approach this project. And I can't wait to hear what Ken C. is going to suggest.

Thank you.
 
My question would be:
Do you want those lines drawn or incised as in the pics?

If you would have them drawn or incised I would look for a friend who has access to a cutting plotter, or CNC milling machine. Draw the lines on a cad software and use the plotter to draw or incise them ( depending on the type of plotter) Some sample making plotter have the possibility of actually milling lines, which thickness will depend on the milling bit.

Milling those lines on the back of a acrylic sheet would rend them opaque seen from the other side leaving a complete smooth surface to play on if that's what you want. The drawing should be mirrored on the CAD software before milling.

The other possibility is using a lot of care and what we call here a "paralex ruler" that is (was) used to draw parallel lines, and special calibrated tip markers ( for technical drawing) with permanent ink. Some finishing trials are mandatory in any case.

A metal ruler clamped at the right points would allow you inscribe the lines with a marking knife without fearing of moving the ruler. A rather painstaking process but would work.

My question is: Does it need to precise to one thousand?

Hope this helps.
 
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Wood engraving machine (laser) would be the best bet if you are making a number of them. Make an arrangement with someone that has one.

Bill had the same idea I do. The laser is very accurate and repeatable. Another possibility might be silk screen printing.

You mentioned flooding grooves with dye. I doubt that will give you the results you're looking for. The dye will bleed and not stay withing the lines.
 
Thanks for the ideas so far!

Toni, no it doesn't have to be good to 1/1000. how about 1/100. I'm not a machine, so if it has the small errors that handmade things have, that's okay with me. If the lines are really out of whack, then it would be distracting for the players.

Toni, I considered the acrylic or metal template only for the purposes of making the marks on the wood, not to use as a surface.

Vaughn, you can silk screen on wood? But then you still have to draw the grid on the screen.......I'm assuming 1mm lines is too narrow for inlay?

Bill and Vaughn, a wood laser engraving machine? Didn't know there was such a thing. So this is something that can be programmed to engrave whatever lines you want? of course, then the lines are engraved. They still would have to be made black, and filled in so the board surface is flat. What do you say about that?

Ken, I'm sure it's a good one!
 
Cynthia, the lines left by a laser engraver on wood are already dark, and paint can be added to the grooves (then sanded off the surface) to make them fully black. On some woods, the lines are already pretty black. Have a look at some of the work Pete Simmons (a member here) does with his.

http://www.laserimagearts.com/

If you're wanting a flush surface, you should be able to get it by building up layers of shellac or lacquer and lightly sanding it until the whole surface is flush. Mush like filling the grain on porous woods.
 
Maybe an Incra LS Positioner with a precision fence and a good mini router?

Or were you not planning to batch out enough to pay off such a setup? :dunno:

(Still, the setups to get the outer border and corners just right would be pretty tricky.... :huh:)
 
I think the inking is the most cost effective way, but another way is gluing up sections similar to building a chess board, but adding banding for the lines between the sections. If you Google building a chest board, I think you will see the general method, you just add the dark narrow banding for the lines. You would need to glue up a border with the banding to get the outside lines.
 
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Maybe an Incra LS Positioner with a precision fence and a good mini router?

Kerry, I have a secret. I have that positioner. I just don't have the table yet, so it's not set up. :eek: What do you mean by a "mini-router"? How about a tiny bit in a normal router?



I think the inking is the most cost effective way, but another way is gluing up sections similar to building a chest board, but adding banding for the lines between the sections......

Bill, what do you mean by "inking"? you mean drawing in the lines? With what? I considered gluing up sections, but the lines are only 1mm thick....I can't very well cut slices that thin can I?
 
Using an inlay for the lines as Jim suggests would work, but I would probably try the chess board method using dark veneer as the lines. Because I would be putting the veneer on edge, I would also make the rest of the sections on edge (quarter sawn) so all the grain was going the same way.

There is so many ways to skin the cat and I am not sure what is the best way.
 
Most veneers today are somewhere around 1/32" ~ 1/40". A dark veneer (ebony? or ebonized maple, etc.) might work. Rout the lines with a dremel router - maybe in a Stewart-MacDonald precision base - and glue in the veneer, then scrape/sand flush.

So, Jim, I can't use a bit in a regular router? That Stewart-MacDonald precision base is designed for a smaller routing tool? I didn't know I could get veneers that thin. Bill, your idea is good too, but since I have these solid pieces of wood that large, I'm more inclined to try Jim's idea first. I also like Jim's idea because there's no chance the lines are going to bleed.
 
Hi Cinthya.

A second look at the pics of your link tells me that those blades are used only to transfer ink to the wood, I'm pretty sure that those lines are drawn, NOT incised.

I understand that they work like a printing machine does, first they spread the ink evenly on a flat surface, then they dip the edge of the blade rocking it on the inked surface, in this way the amount of ink thickness is the same all along the edge of the blade, and then they transfer the ink to the board.

They get so perfect lines because of the control they have on the amount of ink applied and the use of the jig. Basically those blades are like the transfer or anilox cylinder on a printer.

I'm pointing this out because it seems that all of us have drifted towards the idea of milling or engraving those lines with other variations like using veneer or so. All of them are good, now it is your choice.:dunno:
 
So, Jim, I can't use a bit in a regular router?.

You might be able to, but it'd be a bit clumsy to do, IMO.

That Stewart-MacDonald precision base is designed for a smaller routing tool? .

The Stew-Mac base is intended for use with a Dremel tool. Kinda expensive, but it works great - way better than any other Dremel base I've ever seen.

I didn't know I could get veneers that thin.

1/32" is actually pretty thick for commercial veneer these days.
 
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