Custom Bokuto

[Andrew Dicenso]

Recently I've been looking to replace my white oak bokuto with saya that I normally use. While white or red oak are both good woods to make bokuto out of they eventually wear down and start to splinter and crack. I went on an internet quest to find online bokuto sellers that would give more of a choice in customization of length, style and wood composition of the sword. My search has yielded two pretty cool new sites that offer a wide variety of choices, or at least much more than we are used to having. The first website, "Blizniak's Bokken" is run out of New York and offers some of the most impressive choices I've yet seen. The website specializes in exotic hardwood bokken and even offers a composite "Dymondwood" material. A nifty feature of the site is that it allow you to use it's "Build a Bokken" feature to fully customize your sword. In addition they offer laminated bokken that allow you to combine up to three different wood types in one sword for a unique look and composition. They even offer Argentine Lignum Vitae which is essentially the hardest wood there is(they don't use other varieties of Lignum Vitae due to its endangered status). I just ordered a bubinga wood bokuto, and it should be interesting to test it out when it arrives.

http://www.exoticbokken.com/exoticbokken/order.html

The next site I found was bokkenshop.com, which offers a wide selection of bokuto in both standard and deluxe editions as well as suburito, stylized(bokuto made for specific sword styles) bokuto, lacquered bokuto and a myriad of accessories. They also allow for complete customization. Some of their bokuto seem outrageously priced but there are some good quality ones that are affordable as well. This company is based in Japan.

http://bokkenshop.com/eng/about.html

Both of these sites are seem like great resources if you're looking for something a little more tailored to your needs.

[dave lorrez]

A friend of mine is getting his stuff over here : http://www.koryubokken.com/shop/ Just not sure where they're located.

[Andrew Dicenso]

Interesting. I'll have to look into that in the future, if there was someone who could actually make custom bokuto in Tucson it would definitely cut down on shipping and such, not to mention contact with the maker would be easier.

As for now my new bokuto is scheduled to arrive on the 2nd, and so far the service seems pretty good. The owner personally emailed me a tracking number a day after I ordered the product and it seems to be moving along nicely.

Making a bokuto sounds like it would be an excellent project, and I do have a woodworking shop at my house. Might be a feasbile summer project to look at.

[rawnshah]

Richard in the KDK class mentioned that someone in Oracle will actually make a custom one for you exactly as you want it. I've seen his custom one and it was quite decent. Don't know who the person is though. Ask sensei Monica or Bianca to get Richard's contact info.