Anyone know what type of wood is best for a bokken? I think it may be white oak but I'm not sure. Also, does anyone know a good website to buy one from?
My (admittedly limited) experience: it just doesn't matter. You can spend 10 or 12 $$ for a perfectly good, satisfactory oak bokken, or you can spend up to $100 to get one with an artificial 'hamon' line, made with two different colors of wood. For a beginner, there is absolutely no benefit to getting a $70 mahogony bokken, or even getting one with a plastic case (unless you get the inexpensive one from TigerStrike MA Supplies). Stay away from the laminated bamboo bokken if you are a beginner: they are great for practicing forms later on, but not nearly heavy enough to build proper strength, coordination, and technique as a starting weapon. Almost any decent MA supply website will have bokkens available. Two of my personal favorites are: Karatedepot.com: http://www.karatedepot.com/bokken.html Tigerstrike: http://store.yahoo.com/tigerstrike-martial-arts/woodbokswor.html
Kashi (Japanese White Oak). Not to be confused with Western version. A Kashi Bokken will run you about $60. A step up is Japanese Purple Heart (again not to be confused with the Western Version). But there are legends about training with Purple Heart bokken, that involve brusies that will never heal. http://bokkenshop.com http://www.budoweapons.com/Online Catalog/Bokken.htm
Meh, just go to any shop in your local mall that sells knives. Must also sell swords and bokkens. Buy one there for between 12 and 15$. Then go to Wal Mart (or equivalent) and buy a tube for a golf club for the bag and you've got a scabbard.
I disagree with going to get a cheap bokken. If you are doing nothing but empty air kata then have fun. But it plan to train, hit and use your bokken. Those cheap ones will just break, especially if you train with someone like me uses a high end kashi bokken. However, I agree with Kurohana about the saya. Go get the golf club tube from Walmart, I use that, $0.64 and a pocket knife with get a solid saya for battojutsu.
I've used nothing but these "cheap" bokkens for years and have never had one break. And yes, I use them quite heavily. The only thing about them that is cheap is the price, the wood is oak or hickory, depending on what brand you buy. The only reason I have ever had to replace one is because of loaning it to a friend and never having it returned. Or taking more than one to a seminar and having someone else borrow one and never return it. But never, never have I had one break. And if it did, then I would have rather have lost 12$ instead of 60$.
Ok, here's the Bokken quality and price that blow's em all out of the water! http://kingfisherwoodworks.com/ Take some time and browse through this site. These guys make superb Bokken and you can get them in a variety of different woods. Even amongst the Hickory there are several different grades that can be ordered. On a craftsmanship point - these are probably some of the finest Bokken made. Look through the site and you can see how the shape and curvature of the Bokken is formed with a draw-knife. Not sanded - but expertly carved to perfection. Wow. You don't often see this kind of craftsmanship in anything anymore. Note the photo's of the tip of the Bokken where it's been hand carved and not sandpapered into shape. Take a further look here: http://66.175.47.80/about.html Granted, it will most likely make little difference to your practice... but it's always nice to see someone that still can be bothered with quality craftsmanship. In this day and age where everything is a product of planned obsolescence it's decidedly impressive. Now, all that being said... they're not cheap. As they well shouldn't be. The one that I priced out ended up at around $300. Ouch! But with things like this I often prefer to support craftsmen who give a damn about quality over some nameless Chinese factory that is grinding out Bokken in the mainland.
Wow, it does seem like those guys put a lot of work into making high-quality bokken. But for around that price, I can buy a quality Shiro Kashi bokken(thats what my sensei recommended if I was willingly to pay that kind of money).
There was a really interesting article on those guys in the Asian Journal of Martial Arts... right in line with the quality that many have come to expect from this publication. If you can... check out a copy of it... well worth the time. No fancy ads, no miracle pills- just lots of down to earth academically solid research and history on the martial arts. Really the best magazine out there for martial arts. As for the prices... yeah they are not cheap. But I figure they're some of the best out there... and I think the top grade hickory they have will pretty much stand up to anything at the top end that others offer. Me I just got lucky the other day and found an Oak short sword in a junk shop here in Hong Kong for 10 Hong Kong dollars! Guess I can keep saving for my dream bokken.
Does it really matter what price you pay for a piece of wood? Why pay $70 for mahogony when a $10 bokken from any martial arts shop will do the same thing. If you are going to go out and spend $70+ on wood, you may as well get a cheap katana and use that instead.
Oh my. I suppose your flat is furnished in the latest chopped log covered in the ever popular burlap bag. No matter how hard anyone tries... no one can force you to understand or appreciate craftsmanship. Who mentioned mahogony? We're talking primarily Hickory and Oak - and even amongst those two woods there are varrying degrees of hardness and quality. Sure, you can buy your $10 dollar bokken and be happy with that. If that suits you, then hey knock yourself out. The point in posting the Kingfisher Woodworks link was to show the different levels of craftsmanship that are out there with Bokkens. Again like I said no once can force you to appreciate the difference. Wrong. Why on earth would you be practicing many techniques with a live blade that is a wall hanger?! The chance for being seriously injured is astronomically higher. Bad advice on your part. At the end of the day you have increased your chance for being seriously injured and you have a piece of junk in your hands. Not the way forward. :bang: edit: As well - what sensei in their right mind would allow you to come to class with a wall hanger to practice with it against a wooden Bokken?!
Very beautiful bokkens. However, for that price, I'd be afraid to use one of them It would end up hanging on the wall for looks instead of use.
Quality has nothing to do with a bokken. It is only a piece of wood. It grows in places called forests. There are loads of places that you can go to make your own. You should try it sometime. Look up in the first part of the thread, then ask the Q again. Well if you have more money than sense, the go ahead and buy a really expensive bokken. I will stick to my white oak bokken from China. Depends on where you buy it from. Cheap and nasty five and dime swords are useless. The one I have from the Royal Armouries has the correct weight, length and is so blunt, butter could sharpen the blade. One that says use control and try not to kill each other with your toys.
I normally buy from Sei Do Kai: http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_stdweapons.htm#Bokuto Like kingfisher, high quality craftmanship, plus a reasonable price. To those of you who haven't broken cheap bokken before you are fortunate. I've seen numerous cheap red oak bokken break with intense practice. Never pretty, and the splinters can be bad.
Thanks for the awesome link. I agree with rerman. Recently I was at a Bojutsu Seminar and we were doing some Kuki Gata (Staff on Sword) and the guys Red Oak staff didn't just crack, it actually split in 2 when I blocked (not strike) his staff. I have a Kashi bokken. Kurohana, the point of a $60 bokken, is it won't splinter and unless something weird happens, you most likely won't have to replace it. So i wouldn't be afaird to use it. I have way too much expirence with cheap training and live weapons and it never turns out for the best. I found it better to save a bit and buy better weapons, from expirence it works out better in the long run. I had very very good expirence with Ed Green over at http://www.budoweapons.com and being that it counts on this board, he is a Bujinkan.
Rubbish. Obviously quality does have something to do with Bokkens or there wouldn't be any concern over what types of woods are used to make them. How hard is that to understand? Good to see you mastered the concept of where wood comes from though. You might want to order you next Bokken cut down out of plywood. It can save you big bucks. I suggest you do some research and you'll find that the vast majority of Bokken are not made in mahognony. While it's a good hardwood there are many other much more easily available woods out there. Hickory being one of them. Ya know... the kind that grows in forests. I don't really know that it has much to do with sense. But nice attempt at a bait job. Sorry, but you'll have to do better than that. No one is forcing you to appreciate craftsmanship or quality - which was really the main point why I posted the Kingfisher link... it pays to consider context. If you can't figure out the difference between a hand finished bokken and and one that is milled out in the hundreds by a factory in China - then the quality and craftsmanship would be wasted on you anyhow. Your loss. Still poor advice from you. Using a wall hanger for anything other than hanging on a wall is silly... and dangerous. Great for comic fantasies. Pretty silly for training with partners. Silly. Practicing many techniques with a real blade is tantamount to foolishness. Practicing them with a wall hanger is outright idiocy. But hey suit yourself.
