Board Breaking

[nube]

The other night I was watching some board breaking on a local access station.
The boards looked like pieces of pine. Can anyone tell me the dimensions used for board breaking?
Is there a difference in the thickness dimension for rank?

 

[Zepp]

Pine boards are typically 1 inch thick. They're usually cut almost square, but not quite, because you want to make sure you don't accidentally line them up cross-grained. My instructor usually brings us boards that are cut 12" x 11" X 1".

Rank isn't usually an issue in board breaks. The confidence of the breaker in his own skill is what determines how many boards he or she breaks.

Now, despite that, some styles require board breaks for promotions. To become a 1st dan, I was required to break 3 boards with any one technique of my choice (I chose sidekick). To be promoted to 2nd dan (which is a ways off for me) I'll have to break 4 boards twice, once with a hand technique and once with a foot technique (4 is no problem for my sidekick, I need to work on my punch or forearm smash a bit).

Some people may choose thicker boards or denser substances for fancy trick breaks, but I've never heard of that stuff being required for promotions.

Anything else?

 

[Damian Mavis]

Every school is different but in ITF we usually use the same type of boards. But then there is a difference in Country too... in Canada you buy 1 inch thick, foot by a foot common or knotty pine boards but they come out 3/4 of an inch thick from the cutting. Some schools do lots of breaking and some do none. I come from a heavy breaking type background so we do lots of board breaking when we get the chance (like testings etc..) The more boards you put together to break the harder they are obviously so that is usually what you want to do when you go up in rank.. add more boards.

This is shameless self promotion but if you want to see examples of board breaking you can check mine out at my website..look under photos and then "Mr. Mavis showing off"

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

 

[nube]

So most schools use 1X12X11 pine boards and stack up more than one as you get better at breaking them?
Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[Zepp]

Originally posted by nube
So most schools use 1X12X11 pine boards and stack up more than one as you get better at breaking them?
Am I understanding this correctly?

Not most. That's just the way our schools do it. Some schools may not do breaking at all. I believe the ones that do break boards usually try to get boards that are about 1 inch thick though. Doing a single board break on anything thinner is just too easy.

 

[nube]

Is there a lot of difference between breaking these pine boards and using the rebreakable ones?

 

[Elfan]

"rebreakable boards?" You mean like those funky plastic lego like thingys?

 

[yilisifu]

The rebreakable boards are actually pretty good (if you purchase the heavy-duty ones). In the long run, they're a lot cheaper, too. Pine gets expensive after a while.

 

[Zepp]

I've never used the rebreakable boards personally, but I've never heard good things about them either.

 

[yilisifu]

I've had students use them for many years. They actually hold up very well and can last for a long time but with humdreds of breaks, they eventually wear out. The heavy-duty ones are the best. Give them a try.