I want a makiwara, but as a poor college student surviving on Oodles of Noodles, purchasing an expensive one is out of the picture right now.

In comes ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Makiwara-Clapper-Str...1QQcmdZViewItem

Anyone ever used or have experience with this type? Worth the money or no?

Well if money is tight then you could build one. I don't know much about Makiwara I used to use a well mounted one years ago and it was ok.

It's upside-down in the pic...and no, ours was hand-built.

here are a couple of url's but just do a search and you will get many hits of building your own. the first one is my old dojo.

usf how to build a makiwara

24 fighting chickens, building a makiwara

imo it feels more gratifying to build your own. you can also make a portable makiwara very easy. get yourself a canvas empty bag about 24" by 24" all the way around. fill with sand or what ever you want to soften the blows. make sure the bag has rings on each corner, if not make your own but make sure that they are metal rings. run rope through the rings or bungy cord. you can attach to a tree and wack away. i also made a small one that i could take anywhere, i took a wooden stick fairly thick, wrapped cured straw around it, used duck tape to hold the straw in place. i would smack my 2 knuckles on it at the office, stuck in traffic or just about anywhere for conditioning. good luck and have fun.

mike

I own and use one of these. It was a gift, and I was skeptical, but it works OK for a wall mounted makiwara. Personally I prefer the kind on a post. This one is tough to mount on a post though...there's metal screw brackets on back that tend to bend after a lot of use, so I ended up permanently mounting it onto a larger board, then onto the wall.

I'm not too knowledgeable about the use of makiwara, but are they safe?

Hitting a hard object certainly can't be safe?

I've always been taught to do pushups on my knuckles to condition my knuckles and wrist.

Correct me if I'm wrong

nelsdogg
you wrote
(I'm not too knowledgeable about the use of makiwara, but are they safe?)

are they safe? hmmm, not a doctor so i cannot answer for the medical side. i never knew anyone to break there knuckles on a makiwara but i have seen people sprang there wrists from not hitting the makiwara correctly. which is one of the points of why we hit a makiwara to perfect our punching technique. will you skin bleed and get cut up from hitting a makiwara alot? yes. can you get deformity out of it? yes. take a look at bruce lee's knuckes in some of his pictures all 4 of his knuckles are deformed. i used a makiwara for years ended up with what looks like swollen knuckles but that's it and no arthritis. so i think they are safe

you wrote
(I've always been taught to do pushups on my knuckles to condition my knuckles and wrist.)

you are correct and builds good back and chest muscles too.


mike

I've used that type of maki' but it was thicker, meaning it had more sections, this one doesn't look all that thick so I should think it would be alright if your using it to start out on makiwara training, I just dont think it's quite right if you've dove makiwara traing for quite a while.

the trick is that you must not overload any of these 'devices' for safety - comprendo!

But build or buy a proper one,

www.makiwarapost.co.uk

is very good kit or advice.

This is a proper makiwara, just not a traditional one.

These ones are best as portable makiwara or if you have nowhere you can put cement into the ground.

I have read a ferw articles in various magazines and it is this type of makiwara that ii favoured by some JKD schools.