Shinai Maintainence

[stakenaka]

My curiousity wins out again. What do you use to maintain your shinai?

[Kendoka]

My secret recipe of a synthetic wax like coating or boiled rape seed oil (canola to you in oz).



Richard

[tetsuoxb]

Sorry, I mean, I use extra virgin olive oil.

One it coats well. Two it doesnt stink. Three it isnt super heavy.

Hasn't had any adverse effects either.

[Kuri]

After coating it in linseed oil (it works well on other timber, so why not bamboo), I run a candle down the sides of the slats so they slide past each other easier. Some people I know prefer to use bees wax.

just my 2 yens worth

[lucian]

I normally use virgin olive oil too and works bloody great, but also been using gun oil from the many sa80/lsw maintance kits I found buried at the bottom of my wardrobe
i'll Say no more in case we got any Rmp’s on here, if so my name is errr brigadier Hepworth… yeah that it

[stakenaka]

I have never thought of using olive oil. I personally use vegetable oil, followed by candle wax to the same reasons as Kuri.

[Ian Russell]

I've also been running with vegetable oil (canola oil usually, depending on what's in my pantry) and that seems to work fine for shinai. I'd rather use the extra virgin olive oil on my food than putting it on my shinai http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif

[olaf]

I must confess, fellas, under very desperate circumstances, I have resorted to WD-40. Even Vaseline. The former evaporates too quickly for the shinai to really absorb the lubricant while the latter stays on like jelly for weeks...

It all depends on the climate in where you live...in most East Asian places you hardly to have oil your shinai...ever. Not even in the winter time. When I was living in NYC - oiling, sanding, and shaving shinai were almost a daily chore...

[lewis]

At least nobody has said motor oil...yet.

[burger boy]

I have only been practicing kendo for a few months and have not given shinai maintenance much thought until now. What indicators does one look for that a shinai should be taken apart and oiled? And if I may extend the question a bit further, when is it necessary to sand and shave the shinai as Olaf stated?

[Jerry Wellbrock]

I use vegetable oil, probably canola.....keep in mind that linseed oil whcih is great for wood in very conbustible....no I'm not worried about your shinai bursting into flames althought that might be a interesting sight....take care in how you store the used oil cloth with linseed oil on it...if you keep a oil cloth store it in a sealed metal container....with high enough temptures linseed oil cloths can self combust.....bamboo shinai will dry and become more brittle...the oil is to help slow this process down to extend the life of the shinai and to help prevent cracking and splintering....I usually oil a shinai even before I use it for the first time....then with regular inspection look for drying and splintering on the sides of the shinai....trimming and sanding any splintered or rough edges and re-oiling the shinai....this not only extends the life of the shinai but is for the protection of training partners who are at risk from breaking of splintering shinai...

[stakenaka]

I just wanted to add to Jerry's post. It is good to wax the shinai after repairing the splintered areas using the method that Jerry described.
I did not know that Linseed oil was combustable!!
The list was composed of things that I heard people used on their shinai.
Just one note of warning: DO NOT USE CHOJI OIL ON SHINAI! Choji oil is clove oil, used to maintain Japanese swords. It smells nice, but it is acutally highly toxic.

[akihiro]

Food grade wood conditioner works well in my experience. It is mainly mineral oil, if not completely mineral oil. You can usually find it at stores which sell kitchenware. It is used to condition cutting boards, butcher blocks, etc.

[cdal]

Just to pass along information on an experiement I ran. When I first began Kendo a few months back I had two VERY poor, VERY dry shinai that I had purchased MANY years ago for play with my kids. To learn about shinai maintainence I attempted to recondition these two. I dismantled, sanded, trimmed and attempted to "rehydrate" the bamboo.

To soak the shinai, I took two wallpaper trays, cut one end off of each and put them together to make a tray the length of the bamboo. I then placed the tray in a VERY large trash bag to contain any leaking. I then proceeded to soak each shinai in two forms of oil...one in vegetable oil and the second in WD-40 (they sell that stuff by the gallon now!)

The results I found was that the bamboo strips became VERY pliable after soaking only 2-3 days in vegetable oil (these were VERY dry stips!!!) and did not become as pliable after 5-7 days in WD 40.

For what its worth I have been sticking with vegetable oil...cheap, readily available, and it works. There's my 2-bits worth!

[KENSHIN]

uhh...i think you actually forgot to put one extra on your poll thingy.... ear wax? it works for me, especially for some with so much of it....hehehe:D

[KENSHIN]

Originally posted by lewis
At least nobody has said motor oil...yet.

ummm...have they not? are you sure about that...hehehehe.:D

[Steve]

Time to put some of my Edjumacation to use!

The best oil to use after a little research seems to be mineral oil. Why? Use Google.com and search for chemistry of oils and such.

Organic oils such as olive oils will oxidize over time, causeing it to "solidify" and produce a hard protective coating. This is disasterous wrt a shinai!

Mineral oils (or baby oil) do not oxidize, and hence will remain an oil.

Now, don't worry an awful lot about using olive oil and ruining your shinai. kinetically, the oxidation of the olive oil is fairly slow. Meaning, if you clean and oil your shinai regularly, you'll eand up "washing" away the oxidized bits and replacing them with fresh oil. (like disolves like).

Next, vegetable oils are fairly heavy. if you really soak your shinai in these they will become quite a bit heavier. Most of the oil will be in the outer portion of the shinai, as it takes time for heavy oils to diffuse through the bamboo pores into the core of the shinai, leaving the staves unprotected to "inner fractures".

I'm no expert, and this is just some info i've collected. Its up to you to find your "secret recipe". Whatever the outcome, any oil would be better than none!

Steve.

[Cloud]

hi, newbie here :smiley:

Is sunflower oil any good? thats all i have in the kitchen at the mo. I also have some cycle oil.

[The great I AM]

hi, newbie here :smiley:

Is sunflower oil any good? thats all i have in the kitchen at the mo. I also have some cycle oil.Nope. If you use the shinai long enough the oil in the shinai will go mouldy, ruining your shinai.

Linseed oil is supposed to be ok, I used for a while, but for the past 18 months I've not oiled my shinai at all, and they haven't lasted any longer or shorter than previously. That having been said some people also swear by it.

[Bucho]

but for the past 18 months I've not oiled my shinai at all, and they haven't lasted any longer or shorter than previously.

This is one way in which your constant 100% humidity is a blessing. I took a vacation this summer came back and my shinai had dried out. Three of them broke the first time I used them.

[Bokushingu]

for new shinai,
1) lightly sand edges.
2) use damp rag to wipe down and dust from sanding.
3) use mineral oil to soak each slat good.
4) let sit for a day
5) use Vasoline rag on each slat
6) reassemble then place in plastic bag for another day.

Regular use; after practice
1) inspect for splintering.
2) wipe with damp rag
3) put in plastic bag for night

it's really dry in san diego

[Bucho]

Vasoline rag on each slat


:eek: Please keep the vasoline far away from my bogu.

[The great I AM]

This is one way in which your constant 100% humidity is a blessing. I took a vacation this summer came back and my shinai had dried out. Three of them broke the first time I used them.No, the ONLY way.

[Manuka]

..snip..
Just one note of warning: DO NOT USE CHOJI OIL ON SHINAI! Choji oil is clove oil, used to maintain Japanese swords. It smells nice, but it is acutally highly toxic.

Actually Choji oil is 90+% pure mineral oil with a very small percentage of clove oil to give it a scent.
Neither mineral oil nor clove oil is toxic, but mineral oil is a laxative.
Pure clove oil will rust a blade.

The clove oil was added in old Japan so the Samurai wife could differentiate the cooking oil from the sword oil and not give Mr. Samurai the runs.

Try to imagine keiko after a pound of epsom salts.
Who gets to clean the dojo floor?

Oh yes, another Olive oil on the shinai

[John Seavitt]

Organic oils such as olive oils will oxidize over time, causeing it to "solidify" and produce a hard protective coating ...

Mineral oils (or baby oil) do not oxidize, and hence will remain an oil.



Actually, the point of oiling wood in general (furniture, bokuto, shinai) is to protect the wood from the effects of humidity (warpage) by excluding water. Linseed/tung ('organic') oils protect the wood by forming that nice polymerized layer either at or just within the surface. Mineral oil does not form a protective layer and, in fact, is not retained over time (read: messy). I'd mention that some oils (olive and other cooking oils) tend to go rancid with time, though I suppose that the odor of linseed and tung isn't nothing, either.


John

[Pan-Chan]

I use lemon oil.

It's light, smells good, and doesn't stale.

[pyang]

i use light machine oil, does anyone know if there is a problem with that?

[MartialArtsGirl]

So nobody uses wood oil on their shinai?

It's strange, but I thought that the kind of oil you'd use for wood furniture would be what people would often use for their shinais. But vegtable oil?? I'd never have expected that!! I'm going to ask people at my dojo...

I already cracked one of the... splints (i think they're called?) on my first shinai. Luckily, I had bought a new one only a few days ago.

Do you think it will kill my new shinai if I don't oil it right away? And also, I assume that using some kind of wood oil on the bamboo shinai is a bad idea (nobody seems to use it here...)

[Anonymous]

So nobody uses wood oil on their shinai?

It's strange, but I thought that the kind of oil you'd use for wood furniture would be what people would often use for their shinais. But vegtable oil?? I'd never have expected that!! I'm going to ask people at my dojo...

I already cracked one of the... splints (i think they're called?) on my first shinai. Luckily, I had bought a new one only a few days ago.

Do you think it will kill my new shinai if I don't oil it right away? And also, I assume that using some kind of wood oil on the bamboo shinai is a bad idea (nobody seems to use it here...)


I use a lemon scented wood oil on my shinai and naginata.

[Abramo]

I have also used wood oil. Works fine.

[Reiver]

Danish Oil works well, and olive oil turns the shinai a nice colour.

[Reiver]

I must confess, fellas, under very desperate circumstances, I have resorted to WD-40. Even Vaseline. The former evaporates too quickly for the shinai to really absorb the lubricant while the latter stays on like jelly for weeks...



Does not the former loosen everything? And does the latter make the shinai slip off the targets?:cheeky: