Sparring weapons

Andrew Green did a nice article on padded weapons here:

http://innovativema.ca/forum/view.php?pg=sparstick

We have several padded sticks through out the house. My hubby and I trained for a short while in stick fighting before we had kids. We just bought ours after my husband tried to make a set. I think he would have had better luck if he had instructions for it. Our instructor told us (in a heavy Filipino accent) "It's just plastic tube cover in stuff used for outside faucet and tape. That's it. It's easy to make." Apparently he didn't know my husband too well. That thing was so hard from the MANY layers of duct tape that I would rather have been hit by the rattan stick.

Casey

I originally posted this in the weapons section but thought it best to post again here:

I've had this question in my mind for quite a while...

Take a length of PVC (sturdy but flexible) & insert a dowel (rigid but brittle). Use an adhesive of some kind to keep dowel from flying out. Take some coarse-grain sandpaper to to rough-up the surface for grip.

If someone has done this, let me know if it worked.

thanks

I have seen people use PVC as a stick. Not very good because is cracks and splinters. I have never heard of anyone inserting a dowel rod. It would have to be a perfect fit so that its not rattling around... not sure what the end result would be like.

I was thinking maybe that spray/aerosol foam/insulation - you know, the kind that expands & hardens?

Anyone tried this?

The grips we have on our rattan sticks was made a a friend my husband had in the navy. It was just string wrapped around in the same manner the navy wraps the hand rails. I'll post a picture of them (it's really kind of neat).

Casey

Shot with DSC-P200 at 2007-08-17

Casey

I personally don't like training with padded weapons. There's something about getting whopped on the head or hand with wood that makes you try to be more careful in the future. I guess the closest thing I use to a padded weapon is a shinai. But those suckers can STING! I had welts and bruises all over me after my last testing. Brown belts and above have to go through this test of stamina and endurance while doing a kata. You get punched, kicked, and beat with a bamboo shinai. I remember one guy's feeting getting slid back several inches on the carpet from a HARD punch to his solar-plexus.

Me personally, it doesn't bother me getting hit while doing weapons sparring. (To a certain extent of course) I'm NOT about to go at it freestyle with a hardwood bokken. So, a softer material IS prefferable, but I would rather spar with something that does hurt and leave a mark if I make a mistake and get hit.

But, to each his or her own....