Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Rough wooden set

Stumbled across an eBay listing of a janggi set, for very little. Made an offer, which was immediately accepted, so here it is!


The pieces are wooden, very roughly made, and certainly not 'commercial' in any sense. Seller said that a family member had picked it up many years ago in North Korea. So a truly hand-made set from the home of janggi!


As the pieces were so 'rough', I wanted to make a board that matched that. So, basically, a board that looked like it was quickly put together, from material that was just lying around. 

Looking for such material that was 'just lying around', I saw in our shed some wood panels that were part of a box for a fancy wine bottle. Perfect for my rough janggi board!


Joined up the panels, and noticed that they were slightly warped, surely due to the humidity in the shed. Rather than trying to flatten them, I decided not to try and get rid of the warping, and regard it as a design feature rather than a flaw.


Keeping with the 'rough' nature of the board, I simply hand-pained the lines on it, using brown paint.



So this is what the full set looks like!




And to show the slight warping of the board from another angle:

I think the board really fits the pieces, and the warping really does add something unique!

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