Makiwara

[scohen.mma]

Hey all, I'd really love to have my own Makiwara! I don't want to buy one because I feel it's just too expensive, and when I was 12 I made my own bow with arrows (it worked horribly). So I'd like to take on the challenge of making a Makiwara for my Karate.

If anyone could give me specifics on what I need and a good way to set it up, that's be great. What kind if wood should I use? What kind of rope? As many details as possible would be super appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[yamesu]

At first you probably don't need anything more than a pine fence paling and some soft nylon rope. Just drive the paling into the ground and wrap the striking surface with rope.

A little more complex, but this tutorial explains a more detailed design:

[andym]

If you can't get hold of any 'softer' type rope. Been there. I used a hammer to 'tenderize' the surface,. After i'd fitted it.

[tallgeese]

A very long time ago I did this sort of thing. The best one I ever built was constructed as follows:

Start with a 2x6, I suggest making it on a piece about 8-10 in in length. This way, you can hand hold it or mount it with the spare wood you'll have on either side.

Take a bike tire inner tube. Tack it down with a heavy duty fastener to what will be the back of the board (non striking surface)

Wrap it in a single layer, pulled taught at each wrap, around the board. Leave a couple of inches at each end. We'll get to that later.

Once that's down, Wrap a layer of hemp rope around the board in the same manner, completely covering the inner tube. make sure it lays flat and even. Similarly, tack this down.

From here, you're pretty much ready to go. Wrap a strip of athletic tape around the tack down spots if you want. It's really immaterial.

Now, if you're so inclined, you can drop a couple of holes in both ends (in the board sticking out) This will allow you to lag it to a wall, a tree, what every you like.

The whole thing ran me less than 10 bucks and was better than most of the commercial models I saw.

On a similar note, I've also used 2x4's and cut closed cell foam to fit and tight duck taped a couple of layers to them. Laged them to studs and used them to trap/ strike/ kick (and or knee)

This also worked pretty good and hand the benefit of working really well in residential construction.

Good luck! Let us know what you end up doing.

[Wastelander]

We have used oak for ours at the dojo, and I used it for mine at home, and it works quite well. We do the leaf spring design, with varying lengths of boards backing each other. If you use 1x6 oak boards, then you should only need two (one about 10" shorter than the other), but if you use 1x4 oak boards, you will probably need three or four. How you are going to mount the makiwara also matters--are you bolting it to the floor, or the wall, or burying it? As far as the pad goes, I've seen a wide variety of materials used. I used manilla rope that I bunched up, then wrapped up, singed off the "hairs" with a lighter, then soaked it in water and flattened it with a mallet. At the dojo, we have the standard Shureido leather pads, although I can also make leather pads. I know a guy who uses old firehoses, another who uses rubber bushings, and another who uses old towels.