View Single Post
Old 01-11-2009, 09:49 AM   #3
Sy Labthavikul
Dojo: Aikido Academy USA of Alhambra
Location: Los Angeles area, CA
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 98
United_States
Offline
Re: Kingisher and SDK supplies comparison pics

I've trained with SDK and Kingfisher bokkens and this review is pretty much spot on. I personally prefer the SDK bokkens: less expensive, highly customizable (you can get pretty much any dimensions you like by just asking), good weight, fine wood, and nearly indestructible for my purposes. The kingfisher bokken, while clearly high on the craftsmanship scale, just are too light for my tastes. The one I practiced with weighed only 1 lb: felt quite whippy to me. But a beautiful weapon, definitely.

I currently have 3 SDK bokken, two shirokashi bokken and 1 hickory, all iwama style. The hickory bokken is pretty much like yours, but mine happens to have a much straighter grain, kinda like your kingfisher. I'm not partial to it though because hickory is fairly light. Its more resilient than the shirokashi by virtue of it being a bit softer and less brittle, but while we train with fairly heavy contact, the white oak feels heavy, substantial, and very solid and sound in my hands, a feeling I prefer because its how I want my kamae to be, haha. The white oak also refuses to dent or scratch substantially; the hickory one, while newer to me, looks more like a grizzled veteran with several nicks and dents in it already. haha.

The hickory bokken weighs about 1.3 lbs and the white oak 1.7 and 1.8. Then again, my favorite forms bokken is one made from macassar ebony, with substantially slender, more swordlike proportions, that weighs a whopping 2.4 lbs, so now the white oak is starting to feel pretty light now too... still working on those Popeye forearms!

Last edited by Sy Labthavikul : 01-11-2009 at 09:59 AM.


---------------------------------
train as if the tengu will never visit, execute as if they already have
  Reply With Quote