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mikes
9th May 2002, 03:26
Can anyone recommend a good source of wooden weapons? Bo, jo, maybe even bokken?

I want something decent that will last, but I would prefer not to pay $80+ for a piece of wood. Perhaps its just me, but that seems silly.

Nicolas Caron
9th May 2002, 03:57
Sei Do Kai seem to have a nice range of wooden weapons. I can't say I have experience with them but I have heard only good reviews of all Sei Do Kai products so I'd trust them.

http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_bokuto.htm

fifthchamber
9th May 2002, 14:24
Hi all,
The best Bokken site for a wide range of prices is probably the one at www.japanesesword.net/bokken/index.html The range is from around $20 to $190 so the choices are certainly there..The wood is good also..Even for the most basic Bokken and the various styles of cut will make sure you get a wide choice for yourself.
The other one would be www.bujindesign.com .NOT cheap..The Dymondwood Bokken is expensive but reliably so I guess..The hickory Bokken are very strong and well made, as are the Bo and Jo they sell.
Mark Brecht in "Japanese treasures" forum here also would offer very good selections on Bokken from Japan but you would have to ask him for the prices of them.
HTH.
Abayo.

Patty Heath
12th May 2002, 02:50
Originally posted by Nicolas Caron
Sei Do Kai seem to have a nice range of wooden weapons. I can't say I have experience with them but I have heard only good reviews of all Sei Do Kai products so I'd trust them.

http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_bokuto.htm

I bought a bokken from Sei Do Kai and like it very much. It's laminated of purple heart (blade side) and hickory. Good balance and shape. Later I had a wakizashi made to match it. :D

Patty H.

Joseph Svinth
12th May 2002, 03:25
If you're on a budget and handy with tools, you can always try making your own. If you aren't handy with tools, well, at least reading about it should give you some ideas of what to look for when buying. http://ejmas.com/tin/tinart_taylor_1100.htm .

mikes
15th May 2002, 18:24
Has anyone here seen/used both the bujin design and bugei hickory bokkens?

They are both in the same price range, I'm wondering if anyone has a preference.

I have a bujin leather shinai and I just sold my Bugei katana so I know both companies make outstanding products...

chrismoses
15th May 2002, 22:57
I'm a big ol' weapons geek so here's my take.

I have used the bujin design bokken, and they are well made, although I know of one person's who's bokken delaminated. I personally don't like the shape of Iwama style bokken (as the Bujin are) I really prefre to use something that has more shape to it.

I have used a (relatively) cheap Japanese made white oak bokken, basically a kendo no kata type model for about 7 years. I do contact work and kata work with it and really like the feel of kashi. I have not seen many failures. You can get some nice Japanese oak weapons from http://www.tozando.com they have several styles to choose from and they are nice people.

At Aiki Expo I came across Bear Wood Products and was really impressed with what they had to offer. I walked away from their booth with more sticks than I really meant to. They had 2 main kinds of bokken, one a little more shapely and one that was a real edge basher. Their hickory offerings were nice and dense and had a beautiful live quality to them. Sometimes you pick up a stick and it just wants to move, their stuff was like that. You can ask about blem models too, they had a few that had nicks or whatnot that they discounted quite a bit, they still felt great and would probably hold up to plenty of (ab)use. http://www.bearwoodproducts.com
The Bear Wood hickory weapons were the first non Japanese wood items I have liked well enough to buy for serious use.

Bruce Campbell in Canada there eh' also makes some really nice stuff and lots of people in the know seem to like his weapons. I've only seen them in use but haven't handled any.

I have a set of Bugei's oak weapons, apparently they are now doing hickory. They are nicely shaped but the set I have is rather thin. They would work fine for a 'quiet' kenjutsu style but I'm not sure how they would hold up to AikiKen (lots of edge on edge wacky smack) espescially if your training partners were backing big old hickory logs.

Hope that helps. Let us know what you go with.

mikes
18th May 2002, 18:27
Decisions, decisions...

Quite honestly I'm a lowly kyu rank so I don't do much hard contact training kenjutsu (yet).

Tozando looks like a good choice, if I could get the regular type bokken in white oak instead of red. I've heard bad things about red.

On the othr hand, that Bujin cherry bokken looks _really_ nice... but yeah the Iwama type aren't very aesthetically pleasing..

Then again my kat was a Bugei, so theirs would probably match it perfectly. I shipped it off to the winner today. Last night I had this horrible dream I was in an Akira Kurosawa movie turned real, and all I had was a hanbo.. heh

Joseph Svinth
18th May 2002, 21:35
If you live in North America and plan on whacking things with your bokuto, then Clint Eastwood gave some very good advice in "Pale Rider," namely, "You just can't beat a good piece of hickory."

If want to be very traditional, then shiro kashi (Japanese white oak) is a traditional Japanese bokuto wood. A semi-custom shiro kashi stick currently retails for about US $53, postage paid. See http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_stdweapons.htm .