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Shodog
15th February 2007, 16:15
Greetings everyone (new e-budo member and first time post)......

I am interested in advice from anyone who's ever tried to make (build, construct...whatever) their own mats.

I am working to establish a judo/ju jitsu class within my karate school. The school has the thin, jigsaw mats which are not sutable for judo falls (trust me, I've tried it).

My budget is virtually non-exisistant, yet I know I'm going to have to spend some money for mats.

As I was looking into the major producers (Swain/Zebra, etc.) and looked at their specs......the thought occured to me "I wonder if I could find the materials myself...wholesale...and build them....boy that would save me a bundle."

I'd love to hear the pros and cons of this wisdom (or lack thereof) from those of you who've had experience with this.

Is it feasible or am I going to end up bitting the bullet and buying from the big boys?

All comments (good natured and respectful) are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Mahanes
Louisville, KY

Prince Loeffler
15th February 2007, 16:35
Greetings everyone (new e-budo member and first time post)......

I am interested in advice from anyone who's ever tried to make (build, construct...whatever) their own mats.

I am working to establish a judo/ju jitsu class within my karate school. The school has the thin, jigsaw mats which are not sutable for judo falls (trust me, I've tried it).

My budget is virtually non-exisistant, yet I know I'm going to have to spend some money for mats.

As I was looking into the major producers (Swain/Zebra, etc.) and looked at their specs......the thought occured to me "I wonder if I could find the materials myself...wholesale...and build them....boy that would save me a bundle."

I'd love to hear the pros and cons of this wisdom (or lack thereof) from those of you who've had experience with this.

Is it feasible or am I going to end up bitting the bullet and buying from the big boys?

All comments (good natured and respectful) are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Mahanes
Louisville, KY


When I was training in Judo ( about 10 years ago) and wanted to work on basic falls. My friend Used to come as my partner. At that time Mats were too pricey for my lifestyle.. :) You know what I did ?


I found two kingsize old futon mattress in the back alley, after steamed cleaning it I went to home depot and bought me a canvass tarp big enough to cover the two mattress. Guess what It was a great mat !

The only thing I hate was setting it up and then trying to propped it to the wall when done.

kenkyusha
15th February 2007, 20:11
Swain sells the textured vinyl that they use to cover tatami in larger sizes.

If you are looking to have permanent matted floor you can purchase rebonded foam (or closed-cell, but that stuff outgasses in a pretty unpleasant way, and will need to be replaced as it compresses) and use the Swain stuff or canvas- if you have local sailmakers (or any of the other mat covers- you can get samples from most gymnastic mat companies) as an overlayment.

Be well,
Jigme

Shodog
16th February 2007, 02:52
Thanks,

When you're talking "rebonded foam"...where would one find that?

kenkyusha
16th February 2007, 05:04
If you have a decent carpet supply place locally, they may have it (probably in decent weights, but not thick enough)... they will also have hardex or some similar jutte material (cheaper by the square, but softer, might be decent in combination with a firmer foam).

Be well,
Jigme

Douglas Wylie
16th February 2007, 07:34
We just got off of on old patch together mat onto new Zebra sport tatami last year.

The old mat was made from rolls of closed cell foam, carpet and canvas. For an equivalent size it was probably half the price of Zebra mats.

Here is the kicker, the foam is quite a bit softer than sport tatami. This is bad on your knees. Doesnt sound like a big deal, and it probably wouldnt be for short run training, you know, a weekend. 11 years (3000+ hours) on it and I had achy joints pretty much all day every day. A few months on good mats and my joints are feeling much better.

Do yourself a favor and get some Zebra/DAX/Swain mats. Zebra often offers used mats for a discount. PM me and I'll tell you how to save even more.

Shodog
16th February 2007, 14:19
Thanks you guys for your insight.

There's a fabric store here in town that sells "high density foam" in various sizes, weights and thicknesses. I'm going this weekend to check and see if they have anything suitable.

More than likely, I'm going to have to do as Mr. Wylie suggested and just break down and get the good stuff. I will PM you soon as you offered.

Thanks again (this thread is not closed by any means, so if there are other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.)

Eus (Bow),

Jim Mahanes

BlackPaladin
16th February 2007, 16:15
Thanks you guys for your insight.

There's a fabric store here in town that sells "high density foam" in various sizes, weights and thicknesses. I'm going this weekend to check and see if they have anything suitable.

More than likely, I'm going to have to do as Mr. Wylie suggested and just break down and get the good stuff. I will PM you soon as you offered.

Thanks again (this thread is not closed by any means, so if there are other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.)

Eus (Bow),

Jim Mahanes


This post can be used in 99.999% of the forums on the Internet:

When you need money to get into a new hobby or profession, or to upgrade, get it from liquidating the old stuff.

Make sure all of the things that you no longer use are sold. Old hobbies that you no longer participate in are excellent sources of things to sell.

eBay, or better yet, Yahoo! Auctions, which has no fee, and you can still use PayPal.

Brian Owens
16th February 2007, 22:51
...Eus (Bow)...
Do you mean "osu" (pronounced "ohss" -- sort of)?

Good advice above, by the way.

At one dojo I attended, the floor was made of a layer of thick foam padding covered with low-pile carpet. It worked reasonably well (although not something that could be taken up every night for a karate class), but our sensei from Japan commented on a visit that he didn't like it. The impression I got was that he thought it would be hard on ankles and knees because our feet couldn't slide and pivot properly.

We did learn to pick up our feet, "old school" style, though.

Nyuck3X
24th February 2007, 20:28
I just received my puzzle mats from this vendor.
They are nice but tend to move around on the carpet if not anchored
down. I rolled out a sheet of floor vinyl 8 X 12 on it and it feels pretty good.
Not super soft but soft enough to do break falls. I'd like to try canvas
if I can find any. Here is a link to some foam rolls from the same maker.

Good luck!

http://www.greatmats.com/products/foam-roll.html

Shodog
25th February 2007, 12:56
That's great....exactly what I was looking for.

Two questions:

1) In the link you provided, there's two types of foam (poly foam, and EVA foam)...what's the difference?

2) When you say "breakfalls" are you talking full Judo throws, or simply foward rolls, back falls, etc.

We currently have the thin (very thin) jigsaw mats (bought before I enrolled here). They're OK for rolls, back and side falls, but not full Judo throws.

Thanks for keeping me updated. I'm going to call this company on Monday.

Eus (osu, Eusu, ohss, ooooossss.....whatever floats Mr. Owens' boat),

Jim Mahanes

Brian Owens
25th February 2007, 15:19
...Eus (osu, Eusu, ohss, ooooossss.....whatever floats Mr. Owens' boat)
It's not my boat, it's an entire people's language.

"Eus" cannot exist in romanized Japanese, because there is no "s" in romanized Japanese, only sa, shi, su, se, and so.

If it did exist, it would be pronounced eh-ooh-s based on that romanization, rather than oh-s[u] as is usual.

But this is not the language forum, so let me not digress too much.

For more on osu, see:
http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11930,
http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6648,
and http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35269.

HTH.

Nyuck3X
26th February 2007, 03:28
That's great....exactly what I was looking for.

Two questions:

1) In the link you provided, there's two types of foam (poly foam, and EVA foam)...what's the difference?

2) When you say "breakfalls" are you talking full Judo throws, or simply foward rolls, back falls, etc.

We currently have the thin (very thin) jigsaw mats (bought before I enrolled here). They're OK for rolls, back and side falls, but not full Judo throws.

Thanks for keeping me updated. I'm going to call this company on Monday.

Eus (osu, Eusu, ohss, ooooossss.....whatever floats Mr. Owens' boat),

Jim Mahanes

Mr. Mahanes,

1. The puzzle mats are EVA. I am guessing that the poly foam is the open cell
stuff you can buy at most fabric stores. These mats are 1" thick. Thicker
than those you would get at your local Hardware outlet.

2. Basic rolls. (Forward & backward) I would still need a thicker pad for
throws.

They processed my order on a Thursday and I received the pads on
the following Wednesday evening.

Mr. Owens was just trying to enlighten you on a subject that you
obviously are not well versed in. Please accept this reply as a friendly
response from one stranger to another.

Osu.

Shodog
26th February 2007, 13:43
Thanks for all the info....it's been very helpfull.

And, yes, my most humble applogies to Mr. Owens for being a smart !!!.

I do respect and appreciate everyone's opinion and information.


Osu,

Jim Mahanes

MikeWilliams
26th February 2007, 13:59
The best mats I have ever been thrown onto were 30mm (I think) jigsaw mats from these people (http://www.linkamat.co.uk/).

Very well cushioned, but without much give when you were stood up and moving around so footwork wasn't impaired. Plus the surface was nice for goundwork too. Best of all, they were very lightweight, so easy to put away when you were knackered at the end of a class. :)

No idea if they have a US distributor, and I bet they probably cost a bit too.

On the DIY front - I would steer clear of canvas or carpet coverings if you do any kind of groundwork and value your skin...

Jeff Duncan
12th April 2007, 00:30
The best mats I have ever been thrown onto were 30mm (I think) jigsaw mats from these people (http://www.linkamat.co.uk/).

Very well cushioned, but without much give when you were stood up and moving around so footwork wasn't impaired. Plus the surface was nice for goundwork too. Best of all, they were very lightweight, so easy to put away when you were knackered at the end of a class. :)

No idea if they have a US distributor, and I bet they probably cost a bit too.

On the DIY front - I would steer clear of canvas or carpet coverings if you do any kind of groundwork and value your skin...


I second the Stay away from canvas...
The Last two floors I have put together were both 2" crosslink from Norberts.. the first one, I went to the local paint shop and bought canvas hallway runners, then a trip to the stitch shop to have it all put together.
http://www.fullcircleaikido.com/floorironing.jpg
Second time I spent the dough on the vinyl..
http://www.fullcircleaikido.com/dojofloorfinished.jpg
well worth it. But the drawback is that its Permanant flooring.