Needed: Advice on best material for special application

Tennis Smith · 2003-10-13T21:01:59+00:00

Hi,I'd like to get some advice for material to use for a very specificapplication. Please bear with me here, because I need to give you alittle background first.I'm a martial artist involved in Japanese sword training. Most of the time, we don't actually use a real swords. We use asubstitute training sword called a "bokken" (BOH-ken) for safetyreasons. Traditionally, bokken are made of various kinds of wood. However, there are lots of problems with this approach.For one, they are prone to splintering and/or breaking. We spend alotof time hitting the bokken with great force. Some wood types can'teven stand up to a single session without breaking or splintering tothe point of actually being dangerous for attacker or defender.Another problem is that wood is generally too light in weight. Ideally, it should approximate the weight and balance of a real sword(about 3 lbs).So, it tends to be a trade-off. Woods that are sturdy enough to beused (like hickory) are too light and woods that are heavy enough(like iron wood) are too brittle. (You could do things like make alight wood bokken very thick to appoximate the weight, but that justgets the student used to holding something _much_ too thick.) Finally,I'm not ruling out _all_ wood as an option. Its just that I've neverseen any so far that wasn't prone to one of the shortcommingsmentioned.Why not plastics? Well, plastics tend to conduct the force of impact.Someone using plastics will tend to get a tremendous vibrationconducted directly into themselves. (That is, it has been true for allthe plastic bokken we've tried so far.)So the rules are:1) heavy as steel2) non-splintering3) non-conducting of vibrations4) can be molded to approximate the length shape of a traditionalbokken5) won't break if violently struck with another bokken of any type.Thanks for your time. :) If you have any ideas, please let me know.TIA,-Tennis

Oct 13, 2003 22 Replies

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Tennis Smith 22 years ago

Interesting idea. How do you put a sleeve on something? Is it something that a layperson can do, or is it some industrial process?

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Tennis Smith 22 years ago

Great idea. I'm told it is UHMW-PE, correct?

It really sounds promising, but I can't find it in "dowel" form. Any ideas who might have it?

-Tennis

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Bushy 22 years ago

If you were to try a piece of steel rod about 12mm diameter and slide it up inside a piece of garden hose you might have a cheap unit that won't do a serious injury. Maybe even a layer of silastic to glue it all together.

Once the piece of steel rod gets a few bends it could be straightened in a vice.

Hope this helps, Peter

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