Proper rope for makiwara

[cheesefrysamurai]

Does anyone know what rope to use for a makiwara

Thanks

[sensei8]

Mine are hemp. Not for everyone. I use to use a rope made from cotton.

[Harkon72]

Traditionally it's Rice straw rope. I use rigging hemp.

[sensei8]

Traditionally it's Rice straw rope. I use rigging hemp.

I don't know of any supplier in the USA, that doesn't mean they don't exist, that has Rice straw rope, I'd like to try it myself if I can ever find one.

[SteyrAUG]

Honestly, I know rope is traditional and all that, but my favorite makiwara I ever used that produced the best results was an 18" 2x4 mounted to a 6 foot 2x4 (4 feet above ground, 2 feet below and cemented in place) which had a 3 foot 2x4 attached at the bottom.

So that means the top 18" was two 2x4s and the bottom 3 feet were two 2x4s screwed together. The top 18" section was then wrapped with a heavy bath towel that was folded over lengthwise and then wrapped around the boards about 3 times and tied into place.

You could really lay into it and get a good flex on the center 18" single 2x4 section and this developed really nice penetrating punches. Also didn't take long before you were feeling that board even though it was under about 6 layers of heavy bath towel but it didn't wipe out your knuckles so you could work on it a long time.

I really need to make another one.

[Wastelander]

Traditionally, they were made with rice straw rope. There are a couple places that seem to sell pre-wrapped rice straw rope makiwara pads in the UK, but that's it. I did find a supplier in China willing to ship rope anywhere, but it's very expensive. I made mine out of manilla rope, although hemp would have been softer.

[sensei8]

Honestly, I know rope is traditional and all that, but my favorite makiwara I ever used that produced the best results was an 18" 2x4 mounted to a 6 foot 2x4 (4 feet above ground, 2 feet below and cemented in place) which had a 3 foot 2x4 attached at the bottom.

So that means the top 18" was two 2x4s and the bottom 3 feet were two 2x4s screwed together. The top 18" section was then wrapped with a heavy bath towel that was folded over lengthwise and then wrapped around the boards about 3 times and tied into place.

You could really lay into it and get a good flex on the center 18" single 2x4 section and this developed really nice penetrating punches. Also didn't take long before you were feeling that board even though it was under about 6 layers of heavy bath towel but it didn't wipe out your knuckles so you could work on it a long time.

I really need to make another one.

Yeah, I can see that the 6 layers of heavy bath towel would work out pretty good. I think I just might try it, thanks, cool idea!!

[Roninkai]

Just use Jute ropes (manila rope) and you can buy them from Amazon. Once I made a Zori sandal with the rice straws as a makiwara board before and it work fine for me until I got the Jute ropes.

[sensei8]

Just use Jute ropes (manila rope) and you can buy them from Amazon. Once I made a Zori sandal with the rice straws as a makiwara board before and it work fine for me until I got the Jute ropes.

Sounds doable...thanks, might look into that. I'm a hemp proponent, so, if those items suggested meet my current expectations, I'd consider switching.

[Zaine]

For beginners, my first teacher would take some funoodle and cut a square out of it. He would wrap that in canvas (so it wouldn't curl) and then attach it to a post for us to start out with. We would then move up to the rope. It's a pretty cool idea.