Homemade training tools?

[Brian R. VanCise]

I enjoy making things and generally they turn out pretty good.
Last year I made some practice Shuko out of an old LEO leather
belt and plastic bolts and nuts & velcro. Believe it or not it turned out
great and very, very functional. The plastic bolts & nuts were sanded
down so that they only had nice round edges and were properly
spaced. I already had the belt, bolts & nuts, so it was simple and
only cost me around $5 to complete. Looks pretty good and is
compeltely functional. Hard to beat that. In the past I have made
Hanbo, Jo, Bo and several other items. Some were successful
and others were not. If you do not have the money and you have
the time making your own tools is great.

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetrainng.com

 

[Koinu]

I am planning on making a padded daisho. I have most of the materials, just need to get the appropriate sized shinais.

When we brought our house it had these ugly 8 foot wide Bamboo slat blinds . I took them down but being me could not throw them out to the dump so I stored them in the workshop. I am now in the process of making a Fukuro Hanbo , Bo , shinnai out of them. This might be an option for you if you can get hold of some of them. I have seen them new and they are not that expensive and come in all widths.

 

[Bigshadow]

When we brought our house it had these ugly 8 foot wide Bamboo slat blinds . I took them down but being me could not throw them out to the dump so I stored them in the workshop. I am now in the process of making a Fukuro Hanbo , Bo , shinnai out of them. This might be an option for you if you can get hold of some of them. I have seen them new and they are not that expensive and come in all widths.

I will have to look for some as I would like to make a padded bo as well. Much like Tim Bathurst's padded weapons. I would opt for buy some of his, but I think it would be more FUN to make my own.

 

[Shinkengata]

I make my hanbo from 3/4 inch Oak Dowels from Lowe's Home Improvement. I take them home, sand them down slightly, then apply several coats of Old English wood oil until they're decently saturated with it. I made one especially for my instructor as a gift, and i burned the Nin kanji in one end and his initials in the other end. He still as it, as far as i know.

I've also experimented with hickory axe handles for use as bokken. They work pretty well, but are more suited as a weapon all their own.