Training knife

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bjalongi

Joined
Oct 23, 2006
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I wanted to practice wrapping ito, so I made another wood blade for my son a few days ago. (The only toys he plays with on a daily basis are the wood swords/knives I make him...:))

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It turned out so well, that I decided to start making a series of them. My plan is offer them in sets of three sizes and include a matching wooden wall rack for hanging them in a dojo. I think there is market out there for quality training knives for martial artists. Ebay has a gaggle of cheap rubber training knives, but none with traditional japanese cord wraps.

What do you guys think? Too cheezy? {I know it's not steel} However, they are easy for me to make, and I have a ton of oak and walnut. The main purpose of making more is to practice cord wrapping and charge enough to recoup my costs.
 
Hi, cool training knife.

It's good for some training work, but keep in mind that it's a lot easier to break a rib or crack a hand with something like this over rubber. You've also got to worry about splitting/cracking in training. I completely think there's a place for it, but it's not going to replace rubber trainers.

If it's cord wrapped, I think the resin coat is a little too shiny. Before the resin dries, you can blot it with a clean (pre-washed) towel to make it a little dull. I also like to use CA instead of resin to harden and it doesn't leave a shine. Just a little info, hope it's helpful.
 
I for one only use wooden trainers. Batto-do sparring is done using boken. The key to sucessfull training is to feel like your in a life or death situation every second you train. Wooden weapons add heavily to this feeling. The main thing is to have them built well. Getting hit because you failed to block is one thing but having a weapon splinter or break on you is no help. Alot of dojos use knife trainers for simulated attacks on an unarmed karateka. For that type of training thickness is not crucial nor is materials. If you are making any for contact sparring I would research other user boken and note there thickness, then torture test yours before selling any. Personaly I only buy Lignum Vitae or Kashi, but know oak is used in many bokuto. If you make more, post some pics. Wrap looks good BTW.

Dustin
 
The Wrap looks great nice and tight.

the shineyness doesnt really appeal to my eye but it looks like quality job
 
I personally like wooden training knives for my Jujitsu class while most of my other training partners prefer wood. I have made my own Kasper Companion trainer and I prefer it as the blade will not bend under pressure so it takes the "Oh the blade would have done this..." out of the analysis portion.
 
the spine is ~1/2" thick. It's made from aged oak - over three years. It's going to be really tough to break this guy. Also, that's dark brown leather under the wraps.

I added an extra coat of epoxy, hence the shiny look. I gave the first coat a dull finish, like they usually have. But I wanted to add some extra strength, since my kid is only 11 and he's tough on everything. Future trainers will have a dull finish.

I have made boken out of oak that's the same thickness and they are very hard to break.
 
If you want to get into boken making, check out some of the suppliers and see what they use. The wood you used looks pretty, but I don't think a sensei would allow anything that coarse grained for any contact sparing.For kendoka kata practice, it might be fine. Try tight grain white oak,hickory,or ipe. The resined handle is overcoated ( might as well be a plastic handle). Either use no resin (best choice) or a light coat of VERY thin resin - just enough to soak in and set the ito.
For your son to play Samurai, that one should work fine.
Stacy
 
I recommend hickory for durability, although a half inch of oak isn't exactly easy to break.

How long is that?
 
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