How to treat my new bokken/jo

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[Jeff Tibbetts]

I just purchased my first decent jo and bokken through my dojo© They are both white oak I believe, and feel like they're good quality© I want them to stay that way, so I was wondering what I should do to the wood to treat it and keep it good© I already did the light sanding and linseed/tung oil application, and I've heard several opinions of how many coats you should use and how long to let it dry, etc© Any tips from those who've tried out different ways to treat the wood? Also, the carrying bag for them isn't seperated, so they are just in there next to each other, should I be concerned that they'll wear each other down? Thanks in advance for any advice©

[erikmenzel]

Check your weapons after (heavy) use. Oil them regularly (In my opinion the regular maintenance is much more important then the exact number of coats or the time to dry). Avoid moist like the plague. If possible, avoid sudden changes in temperature.

Keeping them in the same bag should not be a problem.

[Thalib]

I wish I know...

Broke 2 of my bokkens already: I lent one to a junior and asked him to do a proper defense against yokomen-giri. I did the yokomen with my other bokken and broke the one I lent to him. He did the proper defense, therefore he wasn't hurt at all. Just my disappointment in my own control.
The second one I broke while demonstrating the shin-shin-toitsu type demonstration where one does a shomen-giri to the bokken held in chudan-no-kamae by the other partner. When I used natural movement (ki), I was able to drop my uke's bokken. But then I demonstrated using physical force and broke my bokken.
I taped both bokkens and still use them for suburi, but no longer for partner practice.

The point is, when both of the bokken broke in half, I noticed that it was really porous and dry inside. Was this due to the type of wood? Or maybe I wasn't taking care of it properly.

I put all of my bokkens inside a golf club bag. Not the big partitioned one to carry a complete set, just the small unpartitioned one where you carry a few of them. Inside I carry 3 bokkens (2 of them broken but taped up), 1 suburi-tou, 1 shinai, 1 jo, and a tanto.

I keep all of my weapons inside that bag when I'm not using them.

[erikmenzel]

The point is, when both of the bokken broke in half, I noticed that it was really porous and dry inside. Was this due to the type of wood? Or maybe I wasn't taking care of it properly.
I had the same thing with one of my white oak bokken. After it broke, I showed it to a friend of mine who is a carpenter. He said it was because the wood that was used was to young and that it in my case had nothing to do with poor maintenance. He said that a bokken made out of 200 year old oak would not have that problem, but finding 200 year old oak would be a problem (both in actually finding it and in the attack this wood would make on your wallet).

[MikeE]

My students and colleagues refer to me as the "destroyer of buki".

For some reason I go through more weapons than Christ (a little Christmas humor...very little)...

We do train very hard with weapons though.

This may be the subject of a different thread, but what do you recommend as the best bokken you have ever had, or have. I would love to find something that lasts more than 3-6 months.

[Williamross77]

anything Iron wood, mike try Randy Bonefet's next time he is in town, it is awesome! tell him hello please.

[MikeE]

Hi Bill,

I'm really not fond of iron wood. It doesn't have the feel I like.

I think I might give the Brazilian Cherry from Bujin Design a shot.

[PhilJ]

Another little known fact, MikeE is also known as the "Destroyer of Underpants" (read as "Yonkyo-nage").

:)

*Phil

[henry brown]

These will put a dent in your budget (and maybe your opponents bokken), but they are great weapons.

http://www.kingfisherwoodworks.com/