Whats what for Weapon material

[SnakeStrike77]

Hello All! I’d first like to say how much I’ve enjoyed this site. I am very new to the martial arts world so I was very eager to read the information and opinions on this site. I very much appreciate the respect used in everyone’s response, and opinions. So let me just say thanks in advance!

As the topic reads I’d like to get a pulse check on your feelings about the material used in martial arts weapons. I’ve been told certain materials are better suited for specific purposes, while others can cover a variety. Just to give you an idea. I practice nunchaku, and Bo. I am still a beginner at these so my nunchaku’s are wood, but with a foam cover. My personal Bo is Graphite (xmas gift from my mother in law). Graphite, Ash, Maple, Hardwood, Whitewax, Lotus? What are your thoughts? Thank you again.

[joesteph]

I practice nunchaku, and Bo. I am still a beginner at these so my nunchaku’s are wood, but with a foam cover.

Although I didn't have formal nunchaku training when I was younger, I had a friend who introduced me to them. He favored string over chain, and that's what I worked with. It hit my elbows more times than I care to remember, so I learned the hard way; I can see you're saving your elbows grief by having foam-covered wood.

I never did practice with the bo, but with the shorter staff, the jo. I liked it, finding I could practice for fun from movements in a book. I could get away with nunchaku indoors, but the jo meant the backyard.

I still have the nunchaku, my favorites being a pair made of rosewood. I also have two jo staffs. I'm saving them for the future, hoping my sons will like to try them someday.

And welcome to KarateForums!

[JohnC]

As with most things, it depends on what you're going to do with it. If you're going to use it for combat purposes, you want a wood that is fairly resilient while still being hard and tough. Red Oak has worked well for me for both nunchaku and bo.

Another attribute is weight. You want something that has enough weight to do damage but is still light enough for you to handle (one problem with using teak or ironwood is how heavy the weapon becomes).

Lastly, you want something that won't splinter or chip on contact (a problem with rattan) and can be easily lightly oiled so that it doesn't dry out and crack (wood weapons must also be maintained unless your in the use a few times then throw it away and get a new one school of kobudo ).

As with Joesteph, I also have a rosewood jo that has stood up fairly well.

For tournament / sport purposes the above probably isn't very useful as the objectives are different.

Hope this helps.

[bushido_man96]

If I am buying an Eastern style wooden weapon, I'd go with the red oak, or just plain oak (I'd like to have and use an oak quarterstaff, of the Medieval European variety). Rattan is a good material too, for sticks.

[ryukasagi]

I'm using oak for my escrima sticks, seems to work well.

[SnakeStrike77]

Awesome feedback! Thanks everyone. I appreciate it! In our dojo we start with the foam covered wood chucks, but once we're trained we can more or less use what we want.

What was anyone's read on the graphite? I'm only doing Bo Forms for now and the Bo is great for that, but nothing I'd want to use in combat because it has a clear coat finish. From what I've read it will never warp which is good. I also understand it to be a fairly new material in martial arts. Thanks again for the feedback!

[bushido_man96]

Aren't graphite weapons mainly for show?

[SnakeStrike77]

From what I understood you are correct bushido_man96, but I have heard of choreographed fights for show at tournaments and demos of sword, spear or naginata (spelling) vs. weapons traditionally wood. The normally wooden weapons were metal of some sort in these demos. I got this impression due to the noise made on contact with the edged weapons. I might have made the incorrect assumption that these were graphite?

[bushido_man96]

I thought that the main idea behind using a graphite bo was because it was lighter and faster, thus easier to twirl and such.

[KarateEd]

When I was younger (and training in TSD) I used a pine dowel/curtain rod for training with the bow. It really wasn't that good because it was too large in diameter, but it was homemade and, thus, cheap.

For nunchaku I like wooden (oak) ones connected with string. I work some Vaseline into the strings at the point where it enters the wooden section. This seems to decrease the wear of the strings.

I don't have any experience with graphite weapons.