Boken : wood

[Yann]

Could anyone give good advices about the different types of wood for a bokken ?

What is the best ? Why ?
What do you think of Oak ? Ebony ? Others ?

I like black bokken (personnal choice), would you advise buying an ebony bokken (which seems to be far much expensive) ?

Thank you everybody for your personnal comments. :happy:

[Taisaburo]

Although I have never used a Ebony Bokken. I have used a White Oak, they last forever. A dojo I used to attend let me use one of theirs that was 20 years old, and it was a Batto-do dojo so it was used in Kumitachis, therefore, was exposed to a lot of wear and tear.

[joekc6nlx]

My bokken is black, but I'm sure it's just painted over oak. I've used sandpaper to roughen the grip on it, and I can see the original color of the oak under it.

Ebony might be all right for a bokken, but in my opinion, the expense isn't worth it, unless you plan to use it just as a room decoration. I haven't compared weight of oak vs. ebony, or brittleness, either, so can't form an opinion on that.

[joekc6nlx]

I did a quick Google on exotic hardwoods. Ebony is quite expensive, and if you're going to use it for a bokken, you're probably going to want the top grade, Grade A.

A block of ebony for carving/turning would cost about $90.00 US, and I don't know the equivalent in Euros.

[Yann]

My bokken is the same as yours, joekc6nlx : black painted over oak I guess. But it now looks ... "very tired"... :P

[MikeW]

I have used white oak, red oak and sunuke wood for my bokuto over the years. I personally like the sunuke best. It is dense and wears pretty well (as well as looking good), but the white oak wears very well also. I do use oil on my bokuto once in a while and I think that helps it last longer by preventing it from becoming brittle.

[PatientDaruma]

Ebony is tough, heavy, and highly resistent to cracking or chipping even under wear. If you're willing to pay for it, it makes a good bokken. Personally, in my frugality, I'd go with white oak.

[crabbi]

I have two bokken which I use for Kendo.

One is White Oak (about 1 year old) and the other is Red Oak (about 25 years old).

The White Oak one is fine, and a bit lighter than the older one.

The Red Oak one was looking a bit rough... the finish was chipped (from Aikido practice)... so I sanded off all of the varnish and soaked it in Lemon Oil... this has breated new life into it and it looks great...

Basically, look after the bokken and it will last for ages...

I also have a set of Purpleheart Bokken from Aikiwood.com... they are absolutely gorgeous but I can't bring myself to use them for training !!! (Pathetic I know...)

An ebony bokken would be nice to have, but I think that they are a bit expensive for the amount one uses them in Kendo...

[R A Sosnowski]

For any contact work, stick to Japanese "white oak" or hickory.

For suburi, just about anything.

A good place to start is here: Seidokai Wooden Training Weapons (http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_bokuto.htm) (go about 3/4th's down the page; more links at the bottom).

[Maro]

A nice little "Home Improvement" project can be done on the Red Oak Bokken.

A friend and myself were not too enamoured of our Red Bokken. We sanded them back to the natural wood colour. My friend liked Black like yourself, he painted his with Black floor Laquer.

I kept mine natural but we both did the next step:

6 Coats of floor Laquer. Each coat left to dry for two days. The finish is very smooth but incredibly hard wearing. Mine has taken hard hits and is not dented.

As a plus, it's also increased the weight by a few 100g.

:grin:

[stuartwilson]

There a many woods you would not want to use as they would be likely to splinter. Real African ebony has gotten very rare and expensive. There are bokken of wood referred to as ebony, but for the prices I have seen, it can't be African.

Exotic woods are fun. I have a bokken made of cocobolo and it's beautiful. I would never want it damaged and therefore don't use it for paired kata.

If you lightly sand a white oak bokken, you can stain it black and re-finish it. It won't have the grain of ebony, but it will look pretty good. I have heard, and agree, that a urethane or other varnish finish for a bokken would have undesirable characteristics for a bokken, especially the tsuka, so you would want to use an oil finish.

Below is an example of a tung oil compatible black stain. It is not a tint for the finish oil, but something that acutally penetrates the wood.

http://www.garrettwade.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=101718&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=12395&iSubCat=12392&iProductID=101718

[shinai_swinger]

I've carved a bokken from Macassar Ebony, and was quite pleased with it. Macassar is VERY hard, and very heavy. It is a banded dark brown, almost black in places. Once it's been finished with a few coats of oil and some steel wool, it looks amazing, and it should last forever. It isn't quite as hard as African Ebony, but it is fairly easily available in sizes big enough to make a bokken. I haven't seen a piece of African Ebony large enough for a bokken in my local shops in a looong time.

One of the biggest challenges of making a bokken from an exotic hardwood is finding a piece where the grain doesn't go all wonky halfway down the board. Also, the dust from many exotics is a strong irritant, so if you are going to sand and refinish it (which eventually, you probably will), you should do it somewhere ventilated and/or wear a mask.

[Maro]

.

If you lightly sand a white oak bokken, you can stain it black and re-finish it. It won't have the grain of ebony, but it will look pretty good. I have heard, and agree, that a urethane or other varnish finish for a bokken would have undesirable characteristics for a bokken, especially the tsuka, so you would want to use an oil finish.


I forgot to add that my Tsuka is bare wood. Nothing on it but sweat.

The Laquer does not crack.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Here's a couple of useful links from Kim Taylor: bokken bashing (http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_taylorcol_0603.html) and buying/making a bokuto (http://www.uoguelph.ca/~kataylor/bokuto.htm).

[DCPan]

Could anyone give good advices about the different types of wood for a bokken ?

I've used red oak, white oak, sunuke, biwa, macassar ebony and dymondwood by kingfisher.

My personal favorite is sunuke because it is dense yet springy...so it feels good when there is contact. I also like the way it changes color in the light, depending on how far you stand away from it (if you take off the factory finish and oil it yourself).

Ebony is too stiff for kata practice in my personal opinion...I find the shock to be hard on the joints.

Biwa is nice too, if you like a softer contact.

If color is your concern, just oil stain it.

The thing is, even with the same kind of wood, each one would still feel different depending on which part of the tree it comes from.

I have three different sunuke bokken, and they feel very different.

Ideally, I would say hand pick one...you can always go through the select at a taikai if not at a shop of somesort...when you mail order, you never know what you are going to get.

FWIW.

[Newbie]

Mine's red oak but I've always been told white oak is best.

[jarrett]

Try these guys out, www.bokkenshop.com (http://www.bokkenshop.com).

I have one of their deluxe bokken. It's heavier that the standard oak ones and very well balanced.

[ScottUK]

To repeat others' advice - go see Kim Taylor. I thinking of treating myself to a pair of his Ipe bokuto. A nice wood for contact work.

http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_bokuto.htm

[Yann]

Thanks everybody for all the advices. I now feel more at ease will the "wood topic". :)

[Paikea]

To repeat others' advice - go see Kim Taylor. I thinking of treating myself to a pair of his Ipe bokuto. A nice wood for contact work.

http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_bokuto.htmThe ipe is wonderful. Used Taylor-senseis instructions to make my own and it's hefty, strong as hell and makes an almost musical "tonk" sound.

[bklynjames]

I had recently received my new Iwama Bokken from kingfisher woodworks and I'm extremely pleased. The bokken is made from appalacian Hickorey (Hardest of the soft woods) and was hand carved. The bokken was somewhat expensive, but when I received it I was blown away. Even my teached was impressed and he's been teaching Aiki-ken for over 30yrs.

So what did I do next, I ordered a Jo from the same place...

[SheBear]

anyone have (or used) ironwood? They're more expnsive than oak, but a lot less cheaper than ebony, but near as tough. You wouldn't need any tougher.

[ScottUK]

I tried out a friend's lignum vitae (ironwood) kodachi and it was bloody heavy. I'd hate to think what an odachi would weigh... it may be tough, but I bet it is too cumbersome for general use.

Bokuto are consumables. They get damaged and then replaced - no need for unbreakable super-tough bokuto.

[Nichiren]

so far i have had 3 bokkens one i bought (japanese red oak) lasted for over 8 years before it died last year :cry:

i made on out of NA red oak ... that one lasted me a month :P
For the past year i have been using my hickory bokken. I have to say its great, the wood has a great feel for contact work and is just light enough to be useful for extended training sessions. and most of all no matter what the punishment i have put it through nothing has done more then a slight dent.

so if your planing to buy one i would have to say go for japanese white oak ... definately the best, then japanese red oak is a good second choice.

stay away from NA oak bokkens there is too much space in the grain of the wood compared to the japanese ones, this makes the bokken much weaker for contact practice.

now if your planing on making one i would go with hickory witch is as close as you can get to japanese white oak in density and resistance. ( but only if you are very patient and have good tools; this stuff is hard as rock :P)

if you really want to have a dark bokken just go with some wood dye, i did it once and it gave a nice finish and color but now i prefer just plain finish with oil. :)

[Neil Gendzwill]

I tried out a friend's lignum vitae (ironwood) kodachi and it was bloody heavy. I don't think LV is the same as ironwood. At any rate, it's very hard to get pieces of it big enough for bokken these days.

[tattooedasshole]

I tried out a friend's lignum vitae (ironwood) kodachi and it was bloody heavy. I'd hate to think what an odachi would weigh... it may be tough, but I bet it is too cumbersome for general use.

Bokuto are consumables. They get damaged and then replaced - no need for unbreakable super-tough bokuto.
One of my sensei has a bokuto made from Brazilian ironwood. The damn thing is very, VERY, heavy. However, it is also the best looking bokuto i've seen. Dark, dark grey, looks almost black form a distance, beautiful tight grain.

[ScottUK]

I don't think LV is the same as ironwood. At any rate, it's very hard to get pieces of it big enough for bokken these days.There are a number of woods known as Ironwood, but LV is the most common, IIRC.

http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/lignumvitae.php

[Neil Gendzwill]

Cool resource! Now I want a bokken made of Snakewood (http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/snakewood.php). At only $CDN300/bf, should be cheap, right? That's 20 times the cost of the Bloodwood (http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/bloodwood.php) my current daisho is made of.

[ScottUK]

I have a big lump of wenge that I, er, liberated from the oppressors (i.e. work) and intend to get carving one of the days... unless I can talk Paikea into doing it for me. :)

[Paikea]

I have a big lump of wenge that I, er, liberated from the oppressors (i.e. work) and intend to get carving one of the days... unless I can talk Paikea into doing it for me. :)Sure, right after I get those damn tsubas made.

I could send you pictures of how to do the job, but Taylor sensei's instructions are an excellent starting point.

[SheBear]

I tried out a friend's lignum vitae (ironwood) kodachi and it was bloody heavy. I'd hate to think what an odachi would weigh... it may be tough, but I bet it is too cumbersome for general use.

Bokuto are consumables. They get damaged and then replaced - no need for unbreakable super-tough bokuto.

they're heavier than oak, yes, but not cumbersome. I have one.

[ScottUK]

Sure, right after I get those damn tsubas made.I'll be doing zimmerframe kendo by then... :)

[Paikea]

I'll be doing zimmerframe kendo by then... :)I am taking a bit of vacation soon, to lock myself in the shop (among other things). Perhaps there is a chance...