![]() It absorbs impact as well as any weapon I’ve ever used. It dents very slightly with hard impact, but does not feather into splinters. The wood is relatively light in weight, but dense and very fibrous. It is one of the most unique and enjoyable wood weapons I’ve ever used. One of my students took a thick limb, pruned from a family tree, dried it for about six months with the cut ends sealed to minimize cracking and carved it into a bokken. The wood can be beautiful, ranging in color from a creamy white with streaks and figures of beautiful pink, brown and dark red. Because of its value in this regard (and it is one of the longest lived trees in the world), it is rarely turned into lumber. Carob is mostly cultivated for its pods, which are used to make edibles, similar to chocolate. Specific gravity (dry): 0.95- 1.04 g / cm 3Ĭarob (Ceratonia siliqua) – Carob is a small hardwood tree, up to about fifteen meters in height, mostly found in the countries bordering the Mediterranean.HERE is article with a lot of details regarding the science concerning cornelian cherry.Īs far as my experience, this weapon feels better in the hands, both in cutting and impact, than any other weapon I have ever used. It is clear, however, that it is remarkably resistant to shock, with high impact strength, good vibration damping and stiff in a very good way. ![]() The bokken, though, did quickly become ‘dimpled.’ I will have to see if, over time, the weapon feathers into splinters, or is otherwise weakened by the denting. The dents, so far, do not break at the edges. However, with fairly hard impact, the hickory bokken I use is absolutely unmarked, whereas the Cornus Mas dents. According to the numbers, it is superior in every parameter to hickory, and in fact, feels remarkably different in the hands. It reminds me, in many ways, of hornbeam, though all of its numbers regarding strength and flexibility are superior. When the weapon is struck, there is considerable vibration near the point of contact, but paradoxically, that shock is not transferred into the hands. It has a remarkable heft: slightly heavier than Japanese oak, it has an alive feel (in contrast to the dull feeling of ipe, for example). In normal use a bokuto would last me ¾ months, against a good kashi bokuto.” “For our incredibly heavy impact it is just not strong enough: it dents, then splinters. On the other hand, I received this report from a practitioner of Kashima Shin-ryu, a system that has very powerful strikes of weapon upon weapon, among the most powerful I’ve ever seen in any ryu. He’s probably the hardest striker in the dojo, and his impact hickory bokken put a couple light dents into it while actively trying to break it. It’s actually impressive, given how light the wood feels, particularly compared to jatoba.” It was a draw – only minor denting, and no cracks – and this was only a cutoff, roughly the length of a bokken (and much thinner at the tip).” ALSO “I let one of the yudansha go to town on a reject bokuto of black locust. It is light in weight, like hickory – perhaps even lighter.Īnother informant states: “I decided to try the “Bokken Bashing” method, and take a cutoff scrap to a very large, very old tree in my backyard. The weapon had dents from very hard usage, but no splintering. Feels similar to kashi when struck, but it is although it looks nothing like it. It is alive (more so than jotoba) and quite tough. Warning: The bark is poisonous, so debark before milling. Therefore, it is imperative to get fine/straight-grained wood. The properties of black locust and osage orange are similar to hickory, except that hickory isn’t very stable (shrinks and swells a lot with moisture).” It is hard to get lumber from the black locust tree, due to a very gnarly grain, knots, and open cavities in the wood. One commentator wrote: “The physical properties of black locust are nearly identical to purpleheart. It can be a remarkably attractive wood, with green and yellow coloration. When harvested young, these problems are minimized. It is one of the hardest woods in North America, but it is prone to splitting and has frequent knots. For example, using a black locust bokuto against a verawood bokuto would be foolish.īlack Locust (False acacia) – common in the Eastern United States, considered an invasive species in parts of Europe. ![]() NOTE: Wood weapons must have roughly similar qualities to train, one against the other.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |