Dono shurui ga ii desu ka?

[Hai_hai]

Onegai shimasu.
Could you list the bogu you have owned? Brand, model, cost? What is your opinion? List bogu you've seen others own that were really nice or really bad.
I am a beginner and do not have bogu. I see a couple of companies out there but do not know what is good or bad. I do not want to waste money (especially since they cost hundreds of dollars) on something that has disappointed someone else already.

Arigato gozaimasu.

[KATSUJIN]

Well....I own a 2.5mm bogu set with one xtra 2.5mm pair of kote, bought from kendoshop.com.....have seen very nice bogus,,which are owned by my senseis.....and the one owned by Ando sensei 8dan.....ooohhh....very nice feeling.....

[Raígma]

www.ninecircles.co.uk

I own the 2.5mm machine stitched bougu.
It´s quality is absolutely okay (though the black laque at the part
where mengane touches the men falls off, sensei said that´s okay and normal)
The rest is convincing.
Never had problems with it yet.
For this price the quality is great.

It´s england though......

[Pichit]

I use 2mm machine stitch deluxe from e-kendo which I think the quality is good compare to the money that I paid for and their service is quite good.

Hai hai, before decide which bogu to buy, I think that you should also consider about how long are you play kendo, because if you want to play kendo for 10 to 20 years or more buy expensive bogu should be very good idea as it last long.

[emitbrownne]

Originally posted by Raígma
www.ninecircles.co.uk

I own the 2.5mm machine stitched bougu.
It´s quality is absolutely okay (though the black laque at the part
where mengane touches the men falls off, sensei said that´s okay and normal)


Snap... I also own a 2.5 from nine circles... and the laque has been chipped off mine.
Grrrr....

Does anyone know a way of replacing/covering up this horror?

[Neil Gendzwill]

Cheap way - black magic marker
Expensive way - mail order some urushi laquer and repaint. Caution: urushi is poisonous. If you have allergies to poison oak or related plants, working with urushi could be fatal (it's a natural laquer made from plants related to poison oak). Note also that urushi takes forever (like, weeks depending on humidity) to dry.

[alexpollijr]

Acryllic black paint works nice

[KhawMengLee]

Yeh, the on my 4mm men it came of very fast but still doesn't effect the usability of the men. On my 3mm from Koei only a tiny chip has occured (smaller than the "O" on your keyboard). Normal though.

Leave it...gives the MEN a good "battle front/frontline" finish;)

[Raígma]

I thought so myself. =)

[KhawMengLee]

On the same topic of bogu...dude, once you wear it, you love it. Heh, I'm torn at the moment because of my second set(4mm from Moribudo and the new 3mm from Koei). Originally it was meant to be used for shiai and special occasions(didn't want to scratch it up) but after wearing it for a few sessions I can't stop using it...both feel great(of course the 3mm is better).

Still, I wince every time someone cracks a dou cut...:p

[AlexM]

Check out Sehyun.

I have their 250 machine stich (3mm) model and it's great (I actually had the men upgraded to titanium). The men fits me perfectly which is a great change from the rental bogu I've had to wear.
It may sound weird but it's also nice to have a choice of dou colour and stiching pattern (some companies only offer that with higher end models).

Their service is great too, very accomodating. Only drawback is that they don't take credit cards.

I only tried dealing with one other company for bogu: Tokyoman.com. I sent them an email in January, I'm still waiting for their reply.

[Pichit]

Alex

I think that tokyoman has 3 email address which I think that the one that they do reply is noblekendo@hotmail.com the other are for their Korean and Japanese Customer.

I did try to ask them a lot, but I got just 1 reply back.

[AlexM]

Originally posted by Pichit
Alex

I think that tokyoman has 3 email address which I think that the one that they do reply is noblekendo@hotmail.com the other are for their Korean and Japanese Customer.

I did try to ask them a lot, but I got just 1 reply back.

Yeah, I noticed that they have three different emails (I picked the first one I found). I don't mind really, if they don't want my business I couldn't care less.

[emitbrownne]

Originally posted by alexpollijr
Acryllic black paint works nice

Does this form of paint not chip off, or mark your oponents shinai?
I was considering using acrylics......

I was wondering about a more shock resistant paint, perhaps one with a latex/some other polymer base...

I'll try the acrylic though if it works for you :)
Cheers

[Lukas]

Hi!
I have 4mm machine Tozando set and it is very nice (so far, 4 months). The only thing is that it got cracks at the upper part of skin circle (the one which keeps mengane and MEN cloth together - anyone knows the name for that part??). I looked at my friends' MEN and they have simillar cracks, I guess it is normal after some time and a few REALLY strong MEN-cuts.
Anyway I like the quality and price was not bad. 4mm means that max stitching interval is 4mm but on men you have more dense stitch - nice thing.
I found that there are not too many people who buy Tozando bogu - or am I wrong?

Regards
Lukas

[Neil Gendzwill]

If you have cracks there which are in the material itself and not just paint cracks/chips, then it is broken and you have a safety issue. You should contact Tozando to get it repaired. If your men is fairly new, there should only be shipping charges to deal with.

[alexpollijr]

Originally posted by emitbrownne


Does this form of paint not chip off, or mark your oponents shinai?
I was considering using acrylics......

I was wondering about a more shock resistant paint, perhaps one with a latex/some other polymer base...

I'll try the acrylic though if it works for you :)
Cheers


Well, it does chip off after a while just like the original paint. But since you're going to buy a small can, you can just repaint from time to time (at least that's what I do).

There is another type of paint, I don't really know how exactly they're enhanced, maybe 'teflon' or something like it. They're more resilient but they don't look shiny as the original one.

So both work nice. But I believe acryllic is cheaper ;)

[stevemcgee99]

I would need to be convinced that there is urushi on cheaper (<$1000) bogu. My guess is paint. Look at the red part.

I would guess that looking for a flexible paint, like for automotive apps. could be ideal. Acrylic is pretty hard.

I have an Eguchi A3. Very satisfied, I've barely used mine but I see a couple of 2 and three year old sets in the dojo with virtually no wear on the laquer. I can say I've seen a few nice looking sets assembled in Korea that have the men laquer chip within a month- not on motodachi men, either. My set was 3/4mm, rretail $750. There is definately tighter stitching thsan that- but I think what matters is the quality of the futon, fabric and seams more than just how far apart the sewing machine runs are.

[Hai_hai]

If anyone is from Japan, what do bogu repair shops do with damaged lacquer?