Kensaki- Leather Cap.

[Seiza_Seizure]

Forgive me for sounding ignorant, I have recently had to replace on two shinais the Kensaki- Leather cap. On both Kensakis of each shinai, a tiny whole has appeared/developed and the bottom bamboo slat, (where contact is made) can be seen. If the hole was to get bigger, the slat could possibly protrude, and do some serious damage.This could be dangerous if one was to miss it in inspecting their shinai and continue using it during training without realizing. In the past I have checked my shinai for splints and ignored the leather bits (unless extremely obvious).
Now that I have discovered this on two of my shinais, I will inspect it with a fine tooth comb in future.

Anyway, the hassle is I have to replace and restring the darn thing again twice, and these are still relatively new shinais. No more then 4-6 months old. Care and maintenance is good practice I guess....
I do have trouble with Tenouchi on occasion, but this is ridculous. I mean two shinais in literally 3 weeks. Could this be the reason? How often have you had to replace a Kensaki, if ever you have.. Tell me it aint so.... please.

[Kingofmyrrh]

Terminology check:

the leather piece is sakigawa
the tip of the shinai is kensen or kissaki, but not kensaki (someone has misread saki/sen).

It does sound a bit too frequent, but then again, I know some teachers who say that you should expect to replace your leather parts three times for every shinai you use - although that's certainly out of the question for me, and I don't think they were envisaging such short time spans. Are you sure that you're tying them on correctly?

[Paikea]

I know some teachers who say that you should expect to replace your leather parts three times for every shinai you use...Really? I'd think it was the reverse. I've got lots of leather from new shinais that I've not used because the old ones are still going strong, and I've never blown out a sakigawa. On that problem, check the ends of the take (staves) for sharp edges and round them down if found.

[Seiza_Seizure]

On that problem, check the ends of the take (staves) for sharp edges and round them down if found.[/quote]

Thanks. I will try this next time around. That may well be the issue. I have never sanded the staves ends before. Hmmmmm I am a silly duffa:~>

[Kingofmyrrh]

Really? I'd think it was the reverse. I've got lots of leather from new shinais that I've not used because the old ones are still going strong, and I've never blown out a sakigawa. On that problem, check the ends of the take (staves) for sharp edges and round them down if found.
So would I - I didn`t claim to understand them!
Actually, I ruin sakigawa quite regularly. Most likely it`s down to my excessive tsuki habit.

[dotnet]

How often have you had to replace a Kensaki, if ever you have.. Tell me it aint so.... please.

For every shinai I usually buy an extra set with all leather parts. Both nakayui and sakigawa have ripped after some time but they lasted much longer than 3 weeks. I believe the leather quality makes a big difference. I got thick, long lasting sakigawa and soft, 'thread-like' leather sakigawa that fell apart fairly quickly.

The better leather was coarse on the outside and smooth inside.

Cheers,
dotnet