Repairing men, tare and dou.

[AlexM]

Hello

In my capacity as "equipment manager" (my official title is Lord of the Western Kingdom of Equipment) at my club, I have been asked to assess what we need in terms of repairs.

However, aside from kote, I have no idea what can be repaired and what should be consigned to the scrap heap (well anything unsafe should be consigned to garbage, but you know what I mean )

So I have a few questions:

Is it possible to reinforce the leather on an aging men? Say with a few leather patches? Does one have to send it to a specialist (i.e. overseas)?

Is it possible to have tare-himo (???) replaced?

Is there anything to be done with an old broken dou?

Keep in mind that these are not "sentimental pieces": If repariring the old stuff costs more than just buying new stuff ... the old stuff gets chucked.

Thanks for any answers.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Is it possible to reinforce the leather on an aging men? Say with a few leather patches? Does one have to send it to a specialist (i.e. overseas)?

Yes, in fact one easy way to rejuvenate a tired men is to cover the top part (where shinai contact is made) with a piece of nice stiff leather. Use glue and stitch the edges.

Is it possible to have tare-himo (???) replaced?

Just found this out yesterday - yes, you can order replacements. However if you're doing a few, it's probably cheaper and just as good to do it yourself. Just buy some appropriate material and stitch those suckers up (or contract it out if you're not so handy with a machine).

Is there anything to be done with an old broken dou?

Eh ... nothing really that I know of. Maybe someone else knows how. Take-doh can be repaired by replacing staves but that's probably too expensive.

Basically, for old bogu if you can't do it yourself it's probably not worth it. If you've got an expensive set, yeah pop for the shipping and repair costs but for club equipment? I don't think so.

[lucian]

Hello Alex

I know Tare himo can be replaced, most bougu suppliers would sell it you, or you could just get some #5000 cotton and fold it and run it though a sowing machine and boil it in dye

If you’re are lazy like me I would just buy a new one, then fix it in place



If you are good at stitching it should be easy; either, unstitch the leather and then secure the himo and then stitch the leather on again

That might be the more secure way but more time consuming

Depending on age and amount of stitching holding it in place, you might have to replace the leather too or do it the cheaper way use cotton instead



Tare’s do not offer much protection anyway, my sexy new tare looked stiff enough to deflect even the most determined of accidental ball bursting attacks

But alas no… sigh painful memories



I am unsure about men patching, I tried stitching one of my old men’s and I broke 3 needles stitching the border and stabbed my self with a scalpel, but I am accident-prone

Doing leather patches on some parts could be very tricky, I am unsure if it would offer any protection to the user



Someone else might be able to come up with better options, but it might be a good idea to take photo’s and email/send them to Japan for an estimate on repairs

That might give you a better idea of what to scrap and what to attempt to repair or to send away for repair



Personally I would not risk repairing something as important as a men that some one else will use,



All I know that can be done on a dou is leather borders and loops, obviously new mune’s can be bought but probable cheaper to buy a new dou

I have heard bamboo dou’s can have slats replaced and the finish re-applied, but doubt you would be doing that for none sentimental pieces of kit

If it’s a fibre dou and in pieces I would just chuck it; if its cracked I would try gluing it will polly-cement and use it on a target dummy



I will stop my incessant babbling now and let some give you real advice

[Raiza]

Tare’s do not offer much protection anyway, my sexy new tare looked stiff enough to deflect even the most determined of accidental ball bursting attacks

Best line I've heard here in a while. Thanks, man.

[AlexM]

Thanks for the advice guys. I forgot to mention some things though:

This is for the "loan" bogu we have.

Also, I can't sow and have no interest in spending days trying to repair 10 sets of bogu... And besides, the Athletic Center would be handling it the costs.

Any idea who might have the skill to do this kind of thing? (without actually sending it to Japan, Korea or Caifornia to get it fixed) I'm thinking sport equipment repair places, leather goods artisans, shoe makers (they work with leather).

Some of the "wear and tear" on the men actually also occurs where the men flaps get bent to meet the shoulders.

Thanks for the advice (and anyone else's). I know at least have an idea of how I could describe the repairs to be made on this stuff.

[slidercrank]

There is another way. Go to: http://www.bogubag.com/Bogu/Repair/repair.html and at the bottom you will see several "Dr. Mendo" kits for bogu repair.

There are white or brown leather patches (DR-1W and -1BR, respectively) for kote leather palm patching, and several different blue patches (DR-1N, -2N and -3N) for different areas of kote, men and tare patches. All patches are applied with an iron. The diagram on the page shows which kit is to be used on which area of the bogu.

I've used DR-1BR on my kote. It took 2 tries to get the hang of maneurvering a hot steaming iron around the kote palm. The instruction said to iron the patch over a damp tenugui. I've improved upon it by first stuffing the kote with a tenugui. It provided a firm backing when I pressed down with the iron.

At $5 per kit, this is an economical and easy way to attempt bogu repair.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Look for shops that specialize in repairing leather or heavy fabric, luggage and that sort of thing. We have a place in town called the Awl Shoppe that various people have had their kote patched at. You might ask any hockey-playing friends where they go to get their gloves repaired.