I'm at the stage in my TKD learning, that I am now required to break boards. In my school, we don't begin this until purple belt (just before red). I have been practicing on plastic rebreakable boards and was wondering: 1. Are rebreakables remotely close to actual pine in resistance? 2. Which do you break in the Dojang? 3. Which do you break at testing? 4. Which is your preference to break? Any advice for the new breaker is also appreciated. Thanks, TKDshane Ÿ BTW, this question was inspired by neryo's post regarding board breaking.
They actually are very similar to pine boards when it comes to resistance. we have one or two students break the rebreakable boards. i dont quite like them. Theyre nice when youre holding becaus you dont have the sharp corners but thats about it. The school does not allow them at tests, so in the mind of the student they arent quite prepared when they have to break a pine board and as such practicing on the rebreakable boards, in my experience, actually hinders the results when the students go to break. They also only have a certain amount of "rebreaks" in them because of the way they are made. After a certain amount of time they dont really work anymore because the plastic joint has loosened and they're easier to break. I prefer good old pine, besides you dont get the joy of going through wood for hours at home depot trying to find good wood if you get the rebreakabless (something im sure KickChick can relate to all too well)
1. In my opinion they are a world apart but after reading flyingblackbelts post I'm starting to wonder if UK and USA re-breakable board differ........ A LOT. In my opinion breaking PINE is a holiday compared to re-breaker boards . Pine breaks anywhere along the grain and unless you have a real knot in the wood then it allows the "breaker" to sacrifice accuaracy which you just can't do with plastic. PLastic you have to hit in the vicinity of the centre line. Pine you can be way off target and still break. I think there is more of an issue of accuaracy with plastic, just my opinion. 2. PLastic, cheaper and harder... sure we have to replace and "retire" boards as they become useless but the are more of a challange (as I say our UK ones are anyway ) 3. Plastic for coloured belts. Pine for black belt special techniques and air breaks. London Bricks and occasionaly slates also. 4. Pine for special or air, wood for amount cos it's easier Could someone drag a picture and specs up for USA re-breaker boards?? I'll do the same for UK ones. Just for personal comparisons. Things like thickness, material , dimensions etc. All info greatly appreciated!!
Check this comparison chart. It's from the manufacturer of the rebreakables, so take it with a "grain of salt"...heheh Do the pine people have a chart as a rebuttle?...lol http://www.umab.com/graphs.php TKDshane Ÿ
well, no but... Since you are breaking the board along the grain, a board with grain running in narrow bands along the length will be easier to break. The more grain that runs in a vertical direction, the harder the wood will be to break. The differences in grain makes a significant difference in the strength of the wood. Wood boards can break at some point other than the impact point and does not have the be hit in exact center as tosh posted. But isn't it true that a successful strike is usually less painful than a failure because failures occur when the hand/foot/etc used to strike was not aligned properly (hmm.. maybe less injury incurred when striking pine??) True.... area lumber yard workers hate it when they see me going through their stacks of wood looking for that "special" piece..... and I never go on a rainy day!
KickChick, thats funny! I'm the same way. One clerk at our local Home Depot knows I've broken all my pieces when he sees me rummaging through the boards. He told me I'm pickier about my breaking boards than about my home project boards. To answer your question TKDShane, I think its a matter of having confidence in yourself before you break. If you don't think your going to break the board, you won't. Talking to students before a test, I know almost to a person who will break and who won't by their level of confidence. So go for it and get mad at that piece of pine.
i can't tell u anything smart when it comes to pine vs plastic because we never use any plastic rebreakable boards. we always go ahead with real wooden boards. anyway, good luck, u can do it!!!
We use pine boards for tests and demos. We have a few rebreakables that we bring out for students who have a board break requirement coming up and let them break it a few times. We don't do a lot of "practice breaking" because we want to see how the handle with actually using their skills to break something. For that same reason, we use pine boards for the intimidation factor. Students know they have to break it to pass the test. They know there is a difference between the pine and the plastic. In my own personal experience, I find plastic to be pretty uniform and dependable on its feel... pretty secure. The pine sometimes is easy and sometimes hard (and our master searches out special (knotty and warped and mean) for special test takers (like ornery black belts). My opinions on your questions: 1. I find that some are and some aren't... the rebreakables are color coded for more or less resistance and may get easier with more wear. I find they are a bit more consistant than pine... which depends on the grain and age. 2 and 3. In the dojang, students may get a few practice runs on a rebreakable. All tests and demos use pine. 4. I like the pine better personally.
