Washing Kote

[Karaken]

I searched KWF for this but found nothing. I'd gladly go to the thread if it exist.
Anyway, palm of my Kote started to stiffen ( Spell? ) after one year of use.
It's soft when wet with sweat but it gets hard when dry. I'm thinking it's been soiled by my sweat and there must be a way to restore it's softness without tossing it into washing machine.

Come to think of it, it did not happen to my other Kote ( Cowhide ) - is it unique to deer skin? Is this normal?

Any Ideas?

Center

[xvikingx]

What about putting a little oil on it, like a baseball glove?

[Karaken]

No takers for this topic huh? Can you guys at least tell me that you've never washed your Kote and the palm is stiff when dry like mine?
Thanks in advance.. ( feel very lonely not to receive any input except one - surely you guys do have stinky Kote :-( ?? )

Center

[sminki]

I have never washed my kote. When the leather (I have deer leather palms for my kote) gets dry and stiff, I just wiggle my hands to re-soften and during the course of the practice, they are "rehydrated". :) I have put some shea butter (wax like material extracted from African shea nut used in cosmetics) on the kote palms to prevent dryness, but doesn't help a whole lot.

BTW, we have at 8 dan visitor (don't know the name) at NYC tomorrow. Interested?

[Kiki]

I never washed my kote but sometimes I blot them with a warm damp towel same as cleaning my men. Also when I take them off at the end of keiko I gently massage them pressing out the wrinkles. Not too hard because you don't want to tear the hide. This is how my sensei told me to care for kote. Now they are about 3 years old and just starting to need a second patch.

Lately, they are stiff when I first put them on especially when it's really cold outside. In the KW magazine I recalled reading about the proper way to put on kote and one thing said was because kote is made from skin you should warm up kote just like you would your body. I tried it, imagine warming your hands on a cold day, and they soften right up.

[muschio]

I think that perhaps if you try with that tennis-shoes-shampoo would actually help. I use it to wash delicate fabrics or leather that should be dry cleaned. There are also some products available on the markets to dry-clean at home and are also very good with leather... you just rub (whatever you are trying to clean) until bubbles come out and clean it with a damp cloth and that's it!. You should try it... at least on a small aread first to see if it works.

Also, if you are a sweatie-hands-kind-of-guy I suggest you one to five drops of alcohol on the palm of your hands (then wait until dry to put the kotes on) before trainning... many people I know use it for that sort of things and it actually works. I would (in your place) go to a homeopathy store to look for those really practical and useful things...

I hope this might help you, have a nice day

[justforkendo]

Kiki's advise is good. I take a small spray bottle of water to training and give them a squirt before training. A Leather worker told me to massage a little lanolin in them sometimes, to re-hydrate them. Never tried ot though, thought it might feel oily. I with kiki's advise.

[samurai999]

the leather palms of my kotes get stiff all the time. In addition, my left kote got a shiny "coating" and I couldn't get a good grip on the shinai with my left hand. THAT SUCKED. I couldn't even swing my shinai. Oh yeah.. I had to use a pumice stone and and scrape it off. Water couldn't penetrate it. leather softener couldn't get through it. I had no choice..

Tim

[Karaken]

I have never washed my kote. When the leather (I have deer leather palms for my kote) gets dry and stiff, I just wiggle my hands to re-soften and during the course of the practice, they are "rehydrated". :) I have put some shea butter (wax like material extracted from African shea nut used in cosmetics) on the kote palms to prevent dryness, but doesn't help a whole lot.

BTW, we have at 8 dan visitor (don't know the name) at NYC tomorrow. Interested?

Interesting.. What time is good for showing up?

Center

[sminki]

Interesting.. What time is good for showing up?

Center

4ish. I unfortunatly won't be there. In bed with flu...

[Karaken]

4ish. I unfortunatly won't be there. In bed with flu...

Boy, our path doesn't cross - well, maybe I'll save the trip too for when Kataoka sensei's around..

Center

[luckyb]

Boy, our path doesn't cross - well, maybe I'll save the trip too for when Kataoka sensei's around..

Center
I just had the pleasure today of seing Kataoka sensei on Gainsville: he is awestriking. I was amazed at his timing and precision. He even blessed us with some Iai kata and in my untrained eyes they were flawless (and the eyes of my sensei were not much more perceptive of errors in it).

*grovel*

[Karaken]

I just had the pleasure today of seing Kataoka sensei on Gainsville: he is awestriking. I was amazed at his timing and precision. He even blessed us with some Iai kata and in my untrained eyes they were flawless (and the eyes of my sensei were not much more perceptive of errors in it).

*grovel*

I wonder you've seen his highest gear.. Did you any have 5-6-7 dan senseis to keiko with him?

Center

[luckyb]

I wonder you've seen his highest gear.. Did you any have 5-6-7 dan senseis to keiko with him?

Center Unfortunately the 8th dan sensei from (Chief of, I think) Osaka Police department wasnt there, he had to cancel. I think he's been to the AJKF finals or the champion for the past few years. Dont quote me and please do correct me on this. It would've been an awesome treat to see him, and to see him keiko Kataoka sensei would've ROCKED.

[Karaken]

BTW, thanks everyone for your input.. Upon further inspection of fellow Kendoka's Kote Palms, I found out some horrible conditions of palm leather.
Some are a lot worse than mine and some didn't even have much leather left - mostly holes.. I guess cost is a inhibitor but also many of us own only one pair of kote so we can't practice while kote is being repaired. If it's sent to Japan or Korea, I'd assume it'll take minimum of 2-3 weeks. Also, some repair price is comparable to a price of ( 3-4-5 mm ) brand new kote.

Oh the ugly truth.. Center

[sminki]

BTW, thanks everyone for your input.. Upon further inspection of fellow Kendoka's Kote Palms, I found out some horrible conditions of palm leather.
Some are a lot worse than mine and some didn't even have much leather left - mostly holes.. I guess cost is a inhibitor but also many of us own only one pair of kote so we can't practice while kote is being repaired. If it's sent to Japan or Korea, I'd assume it'll take minimum of 2-3 weeks. Also, some repair price is comparable to a price of ( 3-4-5 mm ) brand new kote.

Oh the ugly truth.. Center

I just had one kote palm repaired from WooChang. W20,000 for the repair. The shipping back was W27,000 - literally more expensive than the repair itself. But that's okay. Had I had the entire pair repaired, it would've been W70,000 or so. For less than $70, the quality repair (mine came back like new, at least the palm and the adjoining areas) ain't bad.

Missed Tuesday practice too due to the flu. Whoa this was a bad one...

[Karaken]

I just had one kote palm repaired from WooChang. W20,000 for the repair. The shipping back was W27,000 - literally more expensive than the repair itself. But that's okay. Had I had the entire pair repaired, it would've been W70,000 or so. For less than $70, the quality repair (mine came back like new, at least the palm and the adjoining areas) ain't bad.

Missed Tuesday practice too due to the flu. Whoa this was a bad one...

Sminki, the website posts W22,000 for one kote repair ( W25,000 including domestic shipping ) - How did U get W20,000? Also W27,000 was shipping back but how much was your shipping to them? Was that the cheapest shipping method? ( Looking for cheapest way - have to pay twice :-( )
How long did it take from shipping it to them till getting it back?

Center

[sminki]

Sminki, the website posts W22,000 for one kote repair ( W25,000 including domestic shipping ) - How did U get W20,000? Also W27,000 was shipping back but how much was your shipping to them? Was that the cheapest shipping method? ( Looking for cheapest way - have to pay twice :-( )
How long did it take from shipping it to them till getting it back?

Center

I don't know about the website price. I have an existing relationship with Woochang as I buy my shinai/equipment,etc. from there everytime I'm in Korea. My shipping to Korea I believe was about $10. The entire turnaround time (including shipping time) was probably 3 weeks or so.

[slidercrank]

Both eguchi and e-bogu can fix your kote in the US. Why go all the way to Korea?

[sminki]

Both eguchi and e-bogu can fix your kote in the US. Why go all the way to Korea?

Existing relationship and lower cost (even with shipping). I don't know if prices have dropped, but they used to charge approximately $100 for kote repair. All my kote are tezashi from Woochang and it just feels better to send it back to the original craftsman for the repair.

[Kiki]

I was wondering: What if you DID live in a country without a bogu shop and it took weeks to ship etc.? So I asked Lisa from Eguchi USA and she said:

"We can possibly sell deer leather, fixing tread and needles specially made
for leather use. If you are interested we can find out price for each items
included shipping fee to Europe [etc]."

http://www.eguchi.net

However, it's always better to have a professional do it right.

IMHO For those of you in US or Canada: When Lisa mends my kote it takes her about 10-15 minutes and costs about $10.00. I don't see why, with proper planning you couldn't overnight on a Monday and have your kote back by Thursday or Friday.

[Karaken]

I was wondering: What if you DID live in a country without a bogu shop and it took weeks to ship etc.? So I asked Lisa from Eguchi USA and she said:

"We can possibly sell deer leather, fixing tread and needles specially made
for leather use. If you are interested we can find out price for each items
included shipping fee to Europe [etc]."

http://www.eguchi.net

However, it's always better to have a professional do it right.

IMHO For those of you in US or Canada: When Lisa mends my kote it takes her about 10-15 minutes and costs about $10.00. I don't see why, with proper planning you couldn't overnight on a Monday and have your kote back by Thursday or Friday.

But they told me it would be $95 to replace both palm.. What am I missing here?

Center

[slidercrank]

But they told me it would be $95 to replace both palm.. What am I missing here?

Center
2 different services. $10 is for hole-patching, each hole. Last summer I sent my pair of kote to eguchi. 1 hole in each kote. The total was $20 plus $5 for shipping.