my jo is sticky

[Liam Cognet]

Hi.

I've recently bought a jo which I admit only cost me $30. Any pop, the finish on the jo is a bit sticky. I'm after some advise on how to remidy this situation.

Should I lightly sand the jo and put some knid of finish on it? Or should I do one of the above?

I probably shouldn't have cheaped out on my jo but, you know me.

On another note I've just finished learning the setei jo kata. Hooray for me. Just thought I'd say.

ok, I go home now, bye.

[gmlc123]

Originally posted by Liam Cognet
Hi.

I've recently bought a jo which I admit only cost me $30. Any pop, the finish on the jo is a bit sticky. I'm after some advise on how to remidy this situation.

Should I lightly sand the jo and put some knid of finish on it? Or should I do one of the above?

I probably shouldn't have cheaped out on my jo but, you know me.

On another note I've just finished learning the setei jo kata. Hooray for me. Just thought I'd say.

ok, I go home now, bye.

Hi Liam

What type of wood is it? is it Australian like spotted gum or ironbark, as it may have been treated with raw Linseed oil which will make it feel a bit sticky... after some use it'll feel better.

The best bet is to use steel wool or some very fine wet 'n dry sandpaper and just sand it lightly.

HTH
Greg

[Ong Han Beng]

Hi Liam,

I use 3 grade of sand paper for my Jo. An industrial grade by 3M to strip away the applied vanish. A medium grade to smoothen and finally a 600 grade sand paper for that super smooth finish :D

Han Beng

[Liam Cognet]

Thanks for the advice. I think the jo came from Taiwan. I'd best start researching on the subject of sand paper. There were other jo in the store with better finishes on them but the one I chose was slightly heavier than the others. I seem to prefer the heavier jo over the light ones. Plus I like the color of this one, it's a nice dark brown. Anypop, I'll see what I can do when I get home. Thanks again everyone, ta.

[Liam Cognet]

Here is an update on the sticky jo. I gave the jo a light sand and trained with it on Saturday. Some of the stickyness remained so I'll give it another light sand and see how it goes from there.

[Jonathon Sumner]

Try holding your stick a little less firmly... so that it slides through your grip better... Maybe it's not the stick that is sticky but your hands... did you wash them after that last PNJ sandwich?


Ahem... OK... All my Jo I bought in Japan and are shirokashi (Japanese white oak... most likely grown and made in China) and none of them had a finish on them. After lots of use they have become dark in color and are not sticky, and I think have gained weight from asorbing sweat and oil. They do look now like they had a finish on them from the oil. Granted, if the Jo gets on someone's sweaty forearm it's a little sticky but I always carry a little rag in my uwagi that is usefull for a quick wipe-down.

Here is a link with some info on how this maker finishes his weapons (mostly from Hickory) and a link to Kim Taylor's page...

http://www.kingfisherwoodworks.com/
http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/index.html

Jonathon Sumner

[fOOZ]

Hey I've found that getting it to be a nice finish is hard, takes a bit of trial and error with applying linseed oil (not the raw stuff).

I basically sand them off with medium sand paper (or coarse then medium if there's any rough areas that could tear or rip skin) and then use some fine paper, to get it super smooth, and oil, leave to soak, dry off, see how it is, they seem to usually prefer to be sanded down a bit (after the initial oiling) then have a slight amount of oil brushed over them.. they feel a little heavier and (it could be in my head) also feel stronger.

Takes a bit of playing around to get the finish how you like it.

The sand paper I use I'm not sure what rating it is, but it was just a cheap pack of "soft medium and thick" i believe.