Much demand for hand-crafted weapons?

[Please visit our sponsor:]

[John Boswell]

After searching the web a while and looking around my local area, I see there is very little selection when it comes to practice weapons, bokken and jo. As far as bokken are concerned, you have your choice of the red oak plain ones two to three other brands of various woods. Jo? Not just a lot of choice that I can tell either.

I've considered making several choices of ken and jo and offer to personalize them in various ways and try to sell them, but then I wonder... is there much demand for practice weapons like that? Are you happy with the selection of weapons avalible now, and if not, what different are you looking for?

Just thinking out loud. Thank you for your thoughts. :)

[Bronson]

Hmmm, I haven't really found this out there on the web. Places like Kingfisher Woodworks (http://www.kingfisherwoodworks.com/) and Bearwood Products (http://www.hoshinjutsu.org/Products/Bearwood/Pricelist.html) have a nice selection of woods. Artha Gallery (http://arthagallery.com/index.shtml) in the Phillipines makes nice ebony weapons (I have some). Kiyota Co. has a nice selection of bokken styles but you'll have to call ((800) 783 2232) for a catalog as they don't have a web page.

Heck, just checking in Aikiweb's weapons database gives several places. That being said if someone local could make good quality bokken and jo to specs that I gave (longer handle, looove the longer handle :)) and offered a nice wood selection I'd probably go with them if the prices were close to what I'd pay from somewhere on the web with comparable quality. Also, if you're going to make weapons you may also want to look into coming up with some nice weapons rack designs.

That's my $.02.

Bronson

[Bronson]

I just found this site: Bokken Shop (http://bokkenshop.com/eng/index.html)

Bronson

[Larry Feldman]

I concur with Bronson. Would include Bujin Design in the supplier list.

I did however have a student who used to make weapons out of exotic hardwoods - more as a passion than a big business. He would sell them to my other students, it turned into a hobby that paid for itself. He never persued it beyond that, and has since moved away.

[akiy]

Although I can't vouch for Artha Gallery's quality, I will say that they send out unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam). For that fact alone, I, for one, won't be supporting them...

-- Jun

[jk]

You might also want to check out these sites:

Purpleheart Armoury (http://www.woodenswords.com/)

Sei Do Kai (http://www.uoguelph.ca/~iaido/)

I have an excellent, albeit discontinued, hickory cut n' thrust sword with a compound guard from Purpleheart Armoury. Paired with a main gauche, it's a great thing to have amongst the bokuto-armed hooligans in the dojo. Either that, or one of their longswords... :D

Uncle Kim Taylor at the Sei Do Kai has a very informative site, and you can see all that he has on offer. Great bokuto.

Mr. Boswell, given that you're in Texas, how about making some weapons out of osage orange (bois d'arc, bodark, etc.)? Figure that'll be a nice marketing hook, away from the standard American hickory offerings.

Regards,

[Jucas]

Hmmmm... Do you think those bokken from The Bokken Shop are any good? They seem really inexpensive... I am looking to get a boken for inexpensive, but I don't want to get one that isn't suitable for practice.

Also... If anyone has looked, does there seem to be much difference in styles on the BokkenShop website other than looks?

-J

[Bronson]

Although I can't vouch for Artha Gallery's quality, I will say that they send out unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam). For that fact alone, I, for one, won't be supporting them...

That's too bad. The quality of their stuff is good (in my opinion) and so was their service, but I hate spam so much I'd have to agree with you.

Bronson

[Larry Feldman]

Artha makes a beautiful bokken and Jo. I have had numerous dealings with Steven and he is a man of his word.

I offer my students a choice of his weapons or white oak, with the white oak being a little more affordable.

I don't like spam, but here is a small business in the phillipines trying to get the word out on what they have available.

Part of the promise of the internet is being able to shop unique products in far away places that you might not be able to find locally.

That said, when ordering from him you need to know that there will be a fee for western union sending your payment over, and UPS to deliver.

[Bronson]

Artha makes a beautiful bokken and Jo. I have had numerous dealings with Steven and he is a man of his word.

Agreed. I really like the set I have from them, looks nice and feels great. Steven was very helpful and patient with my ignorance of international shipping.
I don't like spam, but here is a small business in the phillipines trying to get the word out on what they have available.
My ignorance in this area is also great, but there must be a better way than spamming.
That said, when ordering from him you need to know that there will be a fee for western union sending your payment over, and UPS to deliver.

They also accept payment with a bank to bank fund transfer. It's quick and much cheaper than Western Union. There will also be import duy against whatever is shipped into the US. It gets figured by customs and a bill is sent.

Bronson

[Larry Feldman]

I suggested he use a bank payment, as it is MUCH cheaper. Glad to hear that. I did get hit with an import duty of $14 on 1 shipment. However, President Bush has since eliminated that duty.

My first impression of the email I got was also negative, but I was glad I looked into it.

Compared to all the scams, and porn, and other real junk I get spammed with - martial arts weapons email almost looked like an informative piece of mail. I still get more junk snail mail at the dojo.

[Janet Rosen]

I've been happily using my custom made (but inexpensive) hickory jo and bokken from Kim Taylor up in Guelph Ontario for yrs. Believe the website is here on aikiweb...

[akiy]

Although I can't vouch for Artha Gallery's quality, I will say that they send out unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam). For that fact alone, I, for one, won't be supporting them...
I just got word that they're still at the spamming game as a person on Aikido-L just got spammed by them today.

In fact, looking at my sendmail logs, it looks like they tried to send six pieces of mail to me today. Since my mail server blocks mail from certain spammers (including them), I didn't see their unsolicited e-mail in my inbox.

My take is that sending out unsolicited e-mail, regardless of the size of the company sending them out, is unethical and should not be supported. As such, I'll probably never send any of my pennies over to Artha Gallery and spend it on folks who don't follow unethical practices as spamming.

-- Jun