Shinai Care

[Bayushi-Shoju]

Hello, one of the guys in my Kendo Class said to take the Shinai in the bathroom with me so the Moisture can keep the Wood from drying out. Do any of you have any ideas on how to care for the Shinai in that way? And how fast does the Shinai dry out? Is it a frequant thing? Thanks alot.
Jordan

[Bayushi-Shoju]

Oh i ment take it in the Bathroom wheni have a shower so the Moisture can help lol

[Jin-e]

hm, taking your shinai with you in the badroom? I would'nt do that. shinai-oil will do to keep your shinai in a good state

[Mr.Tvola]

Taking it to the bathroom may be to much :-) But the point is to keep it out of dry places (like near heating or stove or whatever you use) - it will increase its life span. You are right, "dry" shinai piece can be easily broken, it is common thing. Be sure to rotate the pieces regularly and as Jin-e said, use the shinai oil frequently.

[Bayushi-Shoju]

Taking it to the bathroom may be to much :-) But the point is to keep it out of dry places (like near heating or stove or whatever you use) - it will increase its life span. You are right, "dry" shinai piece can be easily broken, it is common thing. Be sure to rotate the pieces regularly and as Jin-e said, use the shinai oil frequently.

What kinda of oil should i use? And where can i get it from? Thanks alot.
Jordan

[KhawMengLee]

What kinda of oil should i use? And where can i get it from? Thanks alot.
Jordan

Olive or Veg oil works fine...I tend to mix with baby oil. 70 percent olive and 30 baby.

[tanueirin]

Testimonial
========
I can vouch for the efficacy of Mr Khaw's wondrous snake... er, I mean, shinai oil mixture. I paint it on with a large artist's brush and leave for about 3 days, then wipe off.

Warning: having the largest, cheapest bottle of baby oil as your only purchase in the supermarket leads to strange looks from other customers and the guy at the check-out.

[Jin-e]

I use candles to keep my shinai going (I'm out of shinai oil). and it works as well as the oil.

[Bayushi-Shoju]

I use candles to keep my shinai going (I'm out of shinai oil). and it works as well as the oil.

Hmm so many choices, thanks alot guys. help is greatly apreciated.
Jordan

[Shambler]

I use candles to keep my shinai going (I'm out of shinai oil). and it works as well as the oil.

You're not keeping it aflame, are you?

[Soliber]

If you want to give your shinai a propre treatment, do the following: first off, you have to remove all the leather parts, so there's nothing left beside the bamboo part itself.
Number your bamboo laths if they aren't stuck together at the handle, to be able to put them back together. Every shinai is balanced to perfection, so if you position the laths in any other manner than the original one, you could and probably will end up destroying your shinai.
Then take a piece of kitchen paper (any soft and easy torn paper will do actually, you could also use toilet paper for that matter), and rub it between the shinai laths, on the grooves, from the top towards the handle, to check if there aren't any splinters. If your piece of paper gets stuck, you've obviously encountered a splinter. To remove it, take a piece of sandpaper (the very mild/soft kind, ussually in dark-grey) and rub over the splinter from the side of the handle to the side of the top; if you do it the other way around, you can end up making the splinter bigger! Then repeat to proces on the other grooves, and if you encounter any other splinters, rub them off with sandpaper aswell. This is essential since a splinter can spring off during a training and be shot right into someones eye! Also WARNING!: make sure, you fold the paper a couple of times so you don't end up having the splinter in your finger, because those splinters are so tiny, you can't get them out with a pair of tweezers, and the wound will surely ulcerate!
Then take some oil. You can decide which kind, but the ones I've used are salad oil and bamboo oil (normaly available at a more specialized hardware shop, probably by the garden accesory's). Bamboo oil does excist, so if you don't find it, ask around. Rub the insides of the bamboo laths in with the oil, untill the oil is no long absorbed by the laths. Then use what's left to rub in the outside of the laths. Let the bamboo parts dry, and wait untill its absolutely dry! Otherwise you'r going to have some problems with the assembly of the leather parts, because they will keep sliding away...
Then just reassemble your shinai, and make sure all the leather parts are on the old places, and also make sure you tighten the shinai-cords as hard as you can, without breaking it offcourse

[souljah]

How often should you oil the shinai?

[Sentunim]

I have a crack on one of my shinai slats in this shape:

|.....|
|___|
|.....|
|.....|

Or an H shape. What should I do with it? By the way, I just got it from the dojo and havent used it yet.

*(.s represent a space with no crack, just there to keep the | from just forming || instead of the wide |......|)

[xvikingx]

How often should you oil the shinai?

Depends on the climat where you live and how fast the bamboo dries out.

[xvikingx]

Sentunim,

Next time you go to class show it to your sensei or a higher ranking student. I am sure they will know just what to do.