Making weapons

[MatsuShinshii]

Has anyone else made their own weapons for training?

Obviously we are talking mostly wooden weapons like Tuifa, Nunchaku, Rokushaku, Eku, escrima sticks and the like unless your skilled at blade or blacksmithing and welding.

I have made Tuifa from Osage Orange, Hickory and Red Oak. Nunchaku from Osage Orange and White Oak. Eku from Hickory and Osage Orange . A few long and recurve bows from Orange Osage and have made Kama, Yari, Tanto/Aikuchi, Rochin mainly from 52100, 5160, 1095, 1050, W2 and O1 steels.

Any other makers? Hobby or out of necessity due to poor quality in the manufacturers market?

Do you prefer hand made or manufactured?

[LLLEARNER]

I "made", assembled really, a hanbo out of a 3 ft section of galvanized pipe and endcaps from Home Depot. I use it for wrist strengthening and not for class.

I do have some white oak I want to make tanto out of. I just need the time.

I may try tonfa someday. But, I am not learning those now, and have a lot of other stuff going on.

[singularity6]

Living in an apartment with limited tools, and no place to put such things has put a tamper on me making anything. I do plan to make some wooden weapons (Bo, Jo, nunchucku, etc.) I think my biggest want is to make a self bow. I was thinking of cutting down a small ash tree from my friend's property, drying and shaping a bow out of it.

[Zaine]

I have made a number of wooden weapons for WMA. Steel is expensive, and though I have poly weapons they are useless when practicing things like point control. To date I have made a bearded ax, a shield, two Italian-style long swords, and a few rondel daggers. I enjoy the process of creating something, so I enjoy hand made. It also doesn't make me feel as bad when if I break them. For me, it is more of a hobby that I find very relaxing.

[MatsuShinshii]

I have made a number of wooden weapons for WMA. Steel is expensive, and though I have poly weapons they are useless when practicing things like point control. To date I have made a bearded ax, a shield, two Italian-style long swords, and a few rondel daggers. I enjoy the process of creating something, so I enjoy hand made. It also doesn't make me feel as bad when if I break them. For me, it is more of a hobby that I find very relaxing.

Sorry if I am confused but in one sentence you said steel is expensive but in another you said you have made a bearded axe, a sheild, long swords and daggers. Did you make them from wood. A bokken per-say? If out of steel, what type of steel did you use for these? High carbon between 1045 and 1095?

Steel is not that expensive. High carbon steel, at least in my opinion is cheap. Tool steels can be more expensive depending on what your look for and what you want it to do, but they may not be expensive if your trying to get the best performance for a given task out of them. It's more expensive if you use the wrong steel for the job and it fails. Example: 440 SS for a long blade. I cringe just thinking about it.

In fact depending on what your skills are and what tools you have or prefer you can forge or stock remove your weapons with minimal expense (files and sand paper). Forging maybe not so much if in residential neighborhoods. If you are in a residential area you not going to be able to heat treat either but you could send it out for HT for not a great deal of money.

[Tempest]

I definitely took that to mean that he has made wooden versions of those weapons.

Here is a link to some cool examples for comparison:

http://www.woodenswords.com/Award_Rudis_with_Engraving_s/1836.htm

Nowadays, the standard in WMA/HEMA is synthetics and steel, but for a long time we used wood as it was available and no one was making what we needed out of steel yet and a lot of people learned to make some interesting things out of wood.

I... do not like wooden weapons for anything but pell work, but they do have their place in that, and more importantly have a place in the history of WMA as a whole.

Also, what is meant by "steel is expensive" is that the specific training weapons we need to be able to practice at the highest levels, are VERY pricey compared to either synthetic or wooden versions.

Worth it, but VERY pricey.

Another link for you with an example:

http://castillearmory.com/all-products/mark-v-feder/

That is the feder that I use and it is on the inexpensive end.

[Zaine]

I have made a number of wooden weapons for WMA. Steel is expensive, and though I have poly weapons they are useless when practicing things like point control. To date I have made a bearded ax, a shield, two Italian-style long swords, and a few rondel daggers. I enjoy the process of creating something, so I enjoy hand made. It also doesn't make me feel as bad when if I break them. For me, it is more of a hobby that I find very relaxing.

Sorry if I am confused but in one sentence you said steel is expensive but in another you said you have made a bearded axe, a sheild, long swords and daggers. Did you make them from wood. A bokken per-say? If out of steel, what type of steel did you use for these? High carbon between 1045 and 1095?

Steel is not that expensive. High carbon steel, at least in my opinion is cheap. Tool steels can be more expensive depending on what your look for and what you want it to do, but they may not be expensive if your trying to get the best performance for a given task out of them. It's more expensive if you use the wrong steel for the job and it fails. Example: 440 SS for a long blade. I cringe just thinking about it.

In fact depending on what your skills are and what tools you have or prefer you can forge or stock remove your weapons with minimal expense (files and sand paper). Forging maybe not so much if in residential neighborhoods. If you are in a residential area you not going to be able to heat treat either but you could send it out for HT for not a great deal of money.

Sorry, I made them out of wood. I wish I could blacksmith, but I don't currently have the space to learn. Pre-done steel swords are expensive, at least for me, so I made a lot of wooden weapons for practicing things that the polys aren't well equipped for.

[sensei8]

In my JBB days, I most assuredly made many of my own Kobudo weapons. I wasn't the richest person as a teenager, but I made do with whatever I had at my disposal.

Necessity is the mother of all inventions...crude or not!!

My youth, and the vigor of it all.

[JazzKicker]

I've made bo's (bong, in Korean!) out of oak saplings, they have a nice shape and feel compared to the store-bought tapered ones. I made practice nunchaku out of PVC pipe.

I've made a few self bows, too, out of red oak, hickory, osage. That's a hobby topic for a whole 'nother forum! There's an art and a real learning curve to tillering a bow that won't break, starting with carefully choosing and drying a stave.

[MatsuShinshii]

I've made bo's (bong, in Korean!) out of oak saplings, they have a nice shape and feel compared to the store-bought tapered ones. I made practice nunchaku out of PVC pipe.

I've made a few self bows, too, out of red oak, hickory, osage. That's a hobby topic for a whole 'nother forum! There's an art and a real learning curve to tillering a bow that won't break, starting with carefully choosing and drying a stave.

To the bold, agreed!