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Old 01-02-2008, 07:58 AM   #1
roadster
Dojo: Aikido of Santa Barbara
Location: Santa Barbara, California
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Marking your weapons

Do you mark your pracitce weapons with your name? I've seen some mark them with their initials. Do you write them in English (or what ever native language you speak) or do you mark them in Japanese?

If you mark them in Japanese, do you use use Katakana, Kanji, or another?

Only reason I ask is because I am going to mark my practice weapons. I think I am going to burn (with a wood iron) my name on them but I wanted to get everyone's feedback on how they mark theirs before I mark mine. I don't want to completely rely on how others in my dojo do it.
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Old 01-02-2008, 09:34 AM   #2
ChrisHein
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

It's not really any big deal in any of the schools I've been in. Just mark the end of the weapon with a mark you can recodnize.

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Old 01-02-2008, 10:21 AM   #3
ChrisMoses
Dojo: TNBBC (Icho Ryu Aiki Budo), Shinto Ryu IaiBattojutsu
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Re: Marking your weapons

Sharpie + initials = done.

Mine don't last long enough any more to bother doing anything fancy. Everybody I train with hits too hard these days. Freakin' bruisers.

Chris Moses
TNBBC, "Putting the ME in MEdiocre!"
Budo Tanren at Seattle School of Aikido
Shinto Ryu Iai-Battojutsu
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Old 01-02-2008, 10:21 AM   #4
Janet Rosen
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

I sign them just as I do my paintings: with a tiny soft watercolor brush and acrylic paint, sign my name, then after dry, cover with a layer of acrylic medium and let it dry.

Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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Old 01-02-2008, 11:03 AM   #5
Gerardo Torres
Location: SF Bay Area
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Re: Marking your weapons

It's a good idea to mark one's weapons, especially at large gasshukku/seminars where one has to switch weapons continuously. I use the sharpie + initials method. Some friends burn an identifiable mark on the wood -- using a heated pattern made by metal wire I suppose.
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Old 01-02-2008, 01:49 PM   #6
ElizabethCastor
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

At my dojo, there are a few different preferences...

My weapons came with an option to have a kanji character(s) burned on them. I chose something simple that reflected my own personal goal for training (if you want a similar thing you can check out the kingfisher website... they have a huge list of various kanji and maybe some kana)

Others have simply written their initials with sharpie on the butt end of the weapon (quickest and easiest if you ask me)

Still others have a chosen to use a rubber stamp with permanent ink along with some kind of fixer like the gel medium to make it really tough.

Really, I guess that its your choice you can go as fancy or as simple as you want...
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Old 01-02-2008, 09:39 PM   #7
Jory Boling
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

almost all of my Japanese dojomates and sensei sign the bottom of the handle with their names in kanji.

mine is signed by my first name in katakana (since i'm not japanese and eveyrone calls be by my first name). at the end of class, people run over to the weapons pile and grab their own weapons.

the bokto that my sensei has from Osensei is even signed on the bottom of the handle!
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Old 01-03-2008, 08:20 PM   #8
Eric Webber
Dojo: Aikido West Reading
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Re: Marking your weapons

I use one kanji from my name to mark my weapons, makes them easily distinguishable in large gatherings. Sharpies work wonders on a variety of materials (wood, bamboo, suede).
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Old 01-03-2008, 10:00 PM   #9
MikeLogan
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

I find the blood of unsuspecting Uke's to be rather distinctive due to the spray patterns unique to the occasion. Some like to leave the teeth fragments lodged in place as it lends a certain tactile viscerality. Personally, I don't think the callouses are worth it.

Blood is best, it gives a jo or bokken good grip, but doesn't leave it feeling sticky. Not too much in the first application, it will get all crusty. Best to apply over several occasions. Seminars are great for this. The tricky part is the last 2 or 3 coats, as some of the choicest Uke's become not so unsuspecting upon encountering a jo or bokken of a splotched, rusty-red hue.

As always with advice from the intar-web, your mileage may vary.

Happy Friday folks!

If way to the better there be, it exacts a full look at the worst.

- Thomas Hardy
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Old 01-04-2008, 06:14 AM   #10
roadster
Dojo: Aikido of Santa Barbara
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Re: Marking your weapons

I think i'll just write my nickname on the butt of each weapon with a sharpie.
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Old 01-05-2008, 01:37 PM   #11
Karen Wolek
Dojo: Kingston Aikido
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Re: Marking your weapons

Quote:
Erik Jacobson wrote: View Post
I think i'll just write my nickname on the butt of each weapon with a sharpie.
I just put my initials there (with a Sharpie) so when I bring them to seminars, they come back home with me. Nothing fancy.

Karen
"Try not. Do...or do not. There is no try." - Master Yoda
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Old 01-10-2008, 04:24 PM   #12
Elijah211Barr
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

I marked mine with my initials
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Old 01-11-2008, 02:33 AM   #13
Dirk Hanss
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

My problem is, that I am everything else but an artist - as you can see in my avatar - And I do not want to spoil my new expensive weapons. So I have to find someone to mark my weapons with the jiriki kanji. which way does not really matter.

My old ones I just marked with a pen. Later I found someone to burn in my first name with a soldering iron - on the blade of bokken, tanto, shoto and somewhere on the side of the jo (ahem gardening stick)
Dirk
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Old 01-14-2008, 10:46 AM   #14
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
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Re: Marking your weapons

I just write my initials, in a kind of unique way, so as to keep my weapons from getting confused with anyone else's. I've never seen kanji, pictures or other ornamentation used in my dojo.
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Old 01-15-2008, 02:07 AM   #15
roadster
Dojo: Aikido of Santa Barbara
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Re: Marking your weapons

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
I just write my initials, in a kind of unique way, so as to keep my weapons from getting confused with anyone else's. I've never seen kanji, pictures or other ornamentation used in my dojo.
Doesn't anybody have their hakama stitched with their names in Japanese?
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Old 07-07-2008, 12:50 AM   #16
brian donohoe
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

I burn my name on all my weapons in katakana. I also provide this service on the weapons I make.
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Old 07-11-2008, 01:21 PM   #17
Spookin
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

I using a pencil to draw in some characters that I found on the Kingfisher website that I liked. After that, I used a wood burning kit (that I bought at A.C. Moore) to burn in the characters... A quick run of some extra fine sandpaper made it look even better!

Cheers and good luck!

Don



Southern Maryland Aikido Center, Member
http://members.aol.com/smdaikido/
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Old 07-11-2008, 02:01 PM   #18
Suru
Location: Miami, FL
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Re: Marking your weapons

You could always write, "Not Yours" on them, unless someone at your dojo acted on that before you.

Drew
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Old 07-16-2008, 02:33 AM   #19
GaryBowles
Location: Towcester
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Re: Marking your weapons

Being a carpenter fo over 20 years I like to make bokken and Jo for myself and friends - I usually inlay them in some way so that they are each individual - these photos are of a Jo I use every day for kata & is my favourite 'hiking stick' when I walk in the hills - the inlay is of kotegaeshi using woolly mammoth tusk, white mother of pearl and abalone shell, it's getting a little worn now but you get an idea of what it looks like.





All the best!
Gary

Last edited by GaryBowles : 07-16-2008 at 02:43 AM.
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Old 07-17-2008, 11:03 AM   #20
Larry Cuvin
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

Now that's a mark! Good craftsmanship!

Plus Ki
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Old 07-17-2008, 01:45 PM   #21
Shany
 
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Re: Marking your weapons

Mine is sanded with hamon a like line like my Katana. I'm the only one with Hamon like sanded bokken that i've seen in any seminar I take here, so its pretty much original lol
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Old 11-29-2008, 05:25 PM   #22
GeneC
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Re: Marking your weapons

Excuse me, does anyone have a link to the Kingfisher site?
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Old 11-29-2008, 05:47 PM   #23
Bob Blackburn
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Re: Marking your weapons

Quote:
Clarence Couch wrote: View Post
Excuse me, does anyone have a link to the Kingfisher site?
http://www.kingfisherwoodworks.com/
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Old 11-30-2008, 12:04 PM   #24
Walter Martindale
Location: Edmonton, AB
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Re: Marking your weapons

I keep it fairly simple - carve (with firearm checkering tools) interlocking "V"s (one upside down) with give a WM butted against each other on the end of the handle or one end of the jo. Additional naming - punch-stamp my surname on one side near the end of the handle of the bokken with metal letter-punches. small font - you can feel it, and then when you look to see what's under your fingers, you figure out who it belongs to.
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Old 11-30-2008, 02:58 PM   #25
graham butt
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Re: Marking your weapons

I mark my weapons with the blood of other practicioners! that way there is a story left behind with it and the mark is pretty much done totally effortlessly!
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