Shinai disassembly detail

[Anorymous]

So, a couple months ago, I'm taking my shinai apart to oil them, right.

I follow the instructions I've read, heard and pre-practiced, and soon enough, the shinai have become 4 slats each, with the saki-gomu, leather parts and tsuru lying beside me.

And now the question... How the f&*k do you remove the chigiri?

Many times when I've tried taking a shinai apart for the first time, the chigiri is suspiciously hard and time-consuming to remove. Once, I just wasn't able to do so, and even cut my finger trying. Am I doing something wrong or what?

I have a suspicion as to why, for three reasons. Firstly, the chigiri is not perpendicular to the slats. Secondly, it is very tightly wedged inside them. Thirdly, I tend to buy the lowest-quality shinai that a respectable seller can offer me. For those reasons, I thought this: Could it be that the chigiri have been machine-pressed, and if so, is that why they're so hard to remove? And anyway, whatever the case, what can I do to remove them easily?

Thanks in advance.

[IndigoGirl]

Take some pliers and pull it out. Don't forget to put it back in place when you reassemble the shinai.

[ShinKenshi]

There's no need to remove the chigiri at all so just leave it there. You can do your regular maintenance with it still in one of the slats. If the chigiri were easily removed, then it wouldn't be doing its job.

[GothMelancolia]

If it doesn’t come out I don’t force it ….try to oil and sand the slats without removing the thing.
I tried to remove one by force and I managed to splinter one of the slats :dead:.
And it was a new shinai grrrrrr :mad:

[ender84567]

If i take it out I dont usually bother putting it back in. It makes it easier to get the tsukagawa back on, but it it not 100% necessary. Some shinai also seem to use a bit of glue/resin to hold the take at the bottom, you usually have to break that bond before the chigiri will come out.

[Anorymous]

Take some pliers and pull it out. Don't forget to put it back in place when you reassemble the shinai.

"Shinai are not usable under ZNKR regulations if the chigiri is not present." Dunno where I heard that, but I've never forgot it.

[Neil Gendzwill]

The only metal allowed in the shinai is the chigiri but I can't think of a reg that requires one. They certainly don't disassemble your shinai to look for it. Ostensibly it helps to keep the staves lined up relative to one another so I suppose it could be considered a safety issue but really once the shinai is assembled I think the staves are held in place pretty well without it.

[ender84567]

only way it would be 100% required is if your shinai was under weight without it. It certainly is not a significant safety feature as its main purpose is to hold the take together for the final shaping of the tsuka and shinai.

[Kenzan]

If i take it out I dont usually bother putting it back in. It makes it easier to get the tsukagawa back on, but it it not 100% necessary.

Ditto.
This becomes true especially when you start refurbishing Shinai, or building new ones from spare parts.
I.e., it pretty much isn't going to work unless you specifically cut new slats for it, and even then, it never seems to align properly.

I've found there's little to no difference in play with or without the chigiri.

Pro Tip:
If you save them up, you can put them between your teeth to save on braces.

[verissimus]

If you save them up, you can put them between your teeth to save on braces.

Just make sure you don't swallow it. The papers would go crazy about how someone commited suicide samurai-style. More bad press for the martial arts.

[Curtis]

I always put it back in. Keeps the staves from moving around or collapsing in the handle. With a replacement stave I cut in the notch. Although there is little chance of it if tied correctly, if for some reason the sakigawa comes loose it keeps the stave from slipping out. Part of the safety and feel of the shinai. Left one out one time and the handle moved around.

[yoda-waza]

I also put the chigiri back in when installing replacement staves. For a thin saw kerf I use one of these. (http://www.amazon.com/Xacto-X75300-Precision-Razor-Saw/dp/B00004Z2U4)

[Anorymous]

Alright, thanks a lot for the replies. Of course, being the ungrateful prick that I am, I only thanked you after I needed your help again, but whatever.

So anyway, some more questions:
1) This has happened lots of times: After taking a shinai apart from the first time to oil it, after it's put back together, it starts to creak. Is that reason to worry? Could it have anything to do with me not cleaning the sawdust properly? (I didn't know it had to be cleaned... learned that a month ago.)
2) When our teacher taught us to maintain our shinai, he said we should oil them with olive oil. On the other hand, in this forum somewhere, it said that one should not use that. I've seen most people's preferences somewhere, so I'll be more specific: has anyone compared olive oil to other oils for this purpose? (I never had a problem with it, BTW.)
3) At the aforementioned occasion, our teacher also told us "You should re-assemble it immediately, otherwise the slats will bend as they dry.". This contrasts to the "wait a day before re-assembly" advice given here. Again, any feedback on this?

Thank you in advance for your time.

[AndreiB]

Yeah, I'm about to embark on Shinai repair and answers to these queries would be great.

[turboyoshi]

1) I've had this happen a couple times, and I suspect it's just overtightening the tsuru that causes the creak. It's not usually a problem, since the tsuru will stretch with use, but just understand you don't need to make it as tight as a bowstring. It should be tight enough that the sakigawa cannot slip off, which could be a very dangerous thing to have happen during keiko.
2) I've used olive oil and vegetable oil, never noticed any real difference. I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't use olive oil, except for the general case that food types of oil can go rancid over time so you should change it every so often.
3) I've always waited for the oil to soak in which usually takes about a day. I can't see how you would be able to reassemble it faster than that. I always make sure to have extra shinai I can rotate to while I'm waiting for 1 or 2 to dry.

[GothMelancolia]

1. Never happened to me…but a really tight tsuru would explain this
2. I heard that too I guess it’s a matter of preferences….since olive oil is allot more expensive then what I use (sunflower oil), I don’t usually do this…tried once but the smell was allot more powerful so I haven’t used it since. The people I’ve asked use more sunflower oil then olive oil. Also olive oil is allot thicker so it would take longer to dry.
3. I never assemble it immediately after oiling it….and I was always told to wait until the slats dry and then putt them back together. I suspect it dries faster this way. Still I think that you were told to assemble it and then wait for it to dry and NOT to go to practice with an oily shinai (that would be dangerous :dead:)

[JByrd]

Now that I live in a wetter climate, I don't find the need to oil my shinai. When I lived in a dry climate, I would use lemon oil, and I only applied it to the inside of the staves. Lemon oil seems to penetrate better than vegetable oil, presumably because it has a lower molecular mass (or maybe because it is aromatic?). It's not so easy to find pure lemon oil, though. Most furniture care products with lemon oil have petrochemicals in them.

I always replace the metal piece in the bottom when I replace a stave. I always assumed it was a backup safety measure, to help prevent a stave from coming through in case the sakigawa is torn. I stand the shinai, along with the new stave, straight up on its handle end on a table, and squeeze the handle. The metal makes a small indentation on the new stave that indicates where to make the notch. A cheap hacksaw blade does the job nicely.

[DCPan]

+1 on always putting the chigiri back for both "tsuki" safety and tsuka feel.

[Kenzan]

The creaking could also be due to an improper alignment fit with the staves.




It may also be haunted.

[AndreiB]

I just finished maintenance on my 3 shinai - two were purchased from a different supplier a few years back. These first two shinai were easy to repair - all the bamboo slats were separate which allowed easy access to the chigiri. The final, newer shinai, featured bamboo slats that were glued together that made accessing the chigiri a nightmare. I eventually removed two slats and didn't bother separating the final two as I was worried applying force would split the slats or cause damage.

I'd love to know if my older shinai were originally glued together but that glue has disintegrated with time. I couldn't seen any traces of old glue... Beats me why a producer would make a shinai that's difficult to oil.

[Anorymous]

I have returned with two more questions!

One: This (http://www.budostore-onkochishin.com/WebRoot/StoreNL2/Shops/61724336/MediaGallery/AJBF-Label.jpg) label is one that is on each and every one of my shinai. I managed to translate the first line as "Please always check your shinai before and after using them". Does anyone know that the rest means? It's just a curiosity, though, I don't think it's important.

Two: On this (http://www.ninecircles.co.uk/Cache/F2AB8E1F-2BF4-4C24-9571-E0119533938A_550_90.jpg) picture of a shinai kezuri, I can identify six different pieces: The blade, a small curve adjacent to it, a medium curve a bit below, a large curve on the other side, the flat back and the little dimple on the cap. Does anyone know what each of those is useful for?

Thanks in advance.

(P.S. Turns out that, so far as I can see, the creaking mentioned 4 months ago was due to glue residue after I'd separated the take for the first time. As in, nothing to worry about at all.)