What is important when buying a Bokken?

[Hogosha]

Thank you for feedback, My Bokken has arrived and it isa little different than what I expected (For the better).

I will train with it long and hard to fully understand it though, I have to get used to its weighting.

are you training yourself?

[Taku-Shimazu]

I have already been trained for a while, but I am not using a Bokken as my "Best" weapon. I am trained best in Tonfa.

[Yabyahoo]

Allright, I just had my first bokkens, one of hardwood, one ninja bokken(straight) and one Foam bokken with a wooden centre...

Me and a friend of mine (who practices Aikijustu (The Lip)) were doing a little practice, he taught me some simple basics....

Then we started doing some other things, like blocking etc, and *SNAP*....

We both looked at eachother, thinking :" no way...who's one is it, yours or mine?".

Well it was mine , so now I'm trying to return it, just mailed the guy, and I'm waiting for his reply at the moment...

[Hogosha]

well i've said it before i'll say it again, stay away from HARDWOOD.

[Yabyahoo]

What's up with that then?

[Hogosha]

Hardwood is very weak for fighting, if your gonna fight with your bokken get white oak.

[Grenadier]

Hardwood is very weak for fighting, if your gonna fight with your bokken get white oak.

"Hardwood" is a bit too generic of a term, and as Hogosha stated, many of the "hardwoods" out there are not suitable for any real contact work, since their grain patterns might not be dense enough, are too soft, or even possibly TOO hard.

A softer "hardwood," as expected, is going to get crushed, when making contact with a harder wood. On the flip side of the coin, though, many of the woods that are too hard, will not flex, and can crack / splinter. The key here is finding a wood that is both strong, and yet can still flex somewhat. The hardest woods that are perfect for smaller wooden weapons, such as bloodwood, can be poor choices for longer weapons, such as bokken, jo, or bo, especially since such woods could possibly warp in weapons of that length.

Something like Asian white oak is considered fine for contact bokken, and is about the "average" to which other woods should be compared. It's certainly better than the average red oak. White oak, though, isn't going to be as good as something like a good piece of hickory wood, purpleheart, or Brazilian cherry.

Given that bokken made from hickory aren't much more expensive than white oak, and better for contact work, it would be a better choice, in terms of sheer practicality, and long-term economics.

[Sauzin]

Besides white oak is a type of hardwood. I agree with the above post. Hickory is awesome. Purpleheart, Brazilian cherry, Rosewoods, high qulaity red oak, and even Philippine (macassar) ebony would make good bokens in my experiance. Japanese white oak is good, but when you say white oak, most people think the wide grained and very brittle stuff that is sold here in the states. Not the same stuff, if it is white oak it needs to be specifically Japanese white oak also called shiro kashi.

[Taku-Shimazu]

Hardwood is very weak for fighting, if your gonna fight with your bokken get white oak.

Well I only studied woodwork for 2 years in high school but isn't oak a hardwood?

[Grenadier]

Hardwood is very weak for fighting, if your gonna fight with your bokken get white oak.

Well I only studied woodwork for 2 years in high school but isn't oak a hardwood?

I believe the poster you were quoting, was referring to how many vendors will advertise their bokken as being made out of "hardwood" without telling you specifically what kind of wood it is. There are so many kinds of wood that are classified as "hardwood," that it would be difficult to guess which one they are using, without seeing it in person.

In many cases, the so-called "hardwood" isn't a good choice for the weapon, and could break too easily, especially when the price tag is in the single digits.