Are breaking boards/bats purpose-made?

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

Has anyone else compared wooden materials used in breaking (shiwari)? Many martial arts supplies stores sell wood boards or baseball bats specifically for breaking. Are these boards and bats any different than those that can be bought at a hardware or sporting goods store? Are they made of different wood or have they been treated through any special process ?

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

The only difference I've seen in boards is the type of wood. Balsa is a lot easier to break than pine.

Our instructors just go to the hardware or lumber yards to buy big pine boards, then cut them up on table saws.

What are the bats made of? I think ash was replaced by maple due to the ash borer infestations we've seen over the years... Either way, both woods are tough to break.
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5th Geup Jidokwan Tae Kwon Do/Hap Ki Do

(Never officially tested in aikido, iaido or kendo)

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

It seemed to make sense that soft woods like pine would be more common and also cheaper because of the boards and bats are not meant last as regular bats used to play with or boards to used build durable structures. Using denser wooden items made of maple or ash does not sound like a common thing either and people who could do it or have done are probably not easy to find.

DWx · Black Belt

Not sure about bats, but for boards we just go to the timber merchants and ask them to cut us 12" X 12" X 1" pine and then plane it flat.

Then we buy London bricks, blocks, tiles etc. from the local builder's yards.

Never heard of people doing balsa? Can't imagine it would pose much of a challenge.
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"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

Judging by the pungent, yet not unpleasant smell, of freshly smashed boards and broken bats, they are all most likely of the pine family of woods. The bats also feel quite light, but there hasn’t been a chance to compare one with a regular baseball bat. Holding one of each could confirm this.

MatsuShinshii · Black Belt

Not sure about bats as I have never had the privilege of using this for Tameshiwari.

I buy scraps from the lumber mill (hardwood like hard maple, hickory, oak, ash, pine, etc.) and have it planned to 1" or 1-1/4" (true) and cut to 12" x 12". It's cheaper than buying it from the hardware store or lumber yards because it is throw away scrap that would be chewed up and sold for other purposes.
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The person who succeeds is not the one who holds back, fearing failure, nor the one who never fails-but the one who moves on in spite of failure.
Charles R. Swindoll

sensei8 · KF Sensei

I'm in the USA, so, I go to either Lowe's and/or Home Depot to purchase 12' stock pine boards in the width/thickness, and have them cut the boards to my required lengths.

As far as bats go. Well, to break a bat to me is sacrileges because bats are for baseball, and not for the MA. When a bat breaks, it better be during a baseball game!!

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**Proof is on the floor!!!

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ9Hklg6TOg
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5th Geup Jidokwan Tae Kwon Do/Hap Ki Do

(Never officially tested in aikido, iaido or kendo)

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

The speed of a baseball thrown by a professional athlete is much greater than the speed at which a skilled karate practitioner can move a limb. Bats made of hard woods such as maple or ash are also denser and harder to shatter unless they are defective.

The one thing that is the same and shown in the video is that the bat was broken in exactly the same spot that is aimed for when bats are broken in karate. Usually with a roundhouse(mawashi) kick done with the instep near the ankle. The kick is aimed at the bat’s handle slightly higher than where a player holds the bat to hit a ball.

OneKickWonder · Purple Belt

I've never come across bats for breaking. Sounds silly. Reminds me of this.

https://youtu.be/kvTxH11O2HU

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