History of the Nunchaku

The nunchaku (Japanese: ヌンチャク Hepburn: nunchaku?, often “nunchuks “, “num-chuk”, “danger sticks”, “juan-tuo”, “chuka sticks’”[1] or “chainsticks” in English) is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks connected at one end by …

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Blonde Cocobolo Nunchaku

Blonde Cocobolo Nunchaku

This pair was a special cut from the master block of cocobolo we used.  The oils have set out the great colors in the wood grain.  These are not stained.  The lighter pulp wood looks blonde next to the fiery red in the dark cocobolo grains.  I have number of other cocobolo in the store now but this one we are listing alone in the store. This is why I’ve decided to call it Blonde Cocobolo Nunchaku.

Stop  by the shop to check them all out.

Coming up on the next round we will be cutting blood wood and will be featuring the return of the Lignum Vitae (ironwood)nunchaku.

Lignum Vitae (Genuine) is an exotic wood native to the tropical regions of the Americas. It is a very hard, dense, and heavy wood, with a fine texture. The heartwood color ranges from a dark greenish brown to black. Lignum Vitae is excellent for wood turning, as well as being used for bearings, bushings, some marine applications, and mallet heads. It has an oily to waxy character and takes a high polish.

Nunchaku Practice Moves

Nunchaku Practice Moves The best policy is to study your forms given to you by your instructor.  There are some moves that can be practiced on the side to improve your over all mastery of …

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Martial Arts: Your First Real Weapon

Your First Real Weapon

Martial Arts Jo staffMost martial artist start out with the three most common weapons.  jo staff, nunchaku and a sword associated with their respective styles.  Aside from the sword of course,  many of the traditional weapons are based form farm tools that people had around.  Most people were not allowed to own weapons so they developed skills using the things they had on hand.

A staff is as simple as it gets.  It’s a 5 to 6 foot pole.  It can be a broom, or a hockey stick or a long piece of cocobolo wood.  While the later would be the best for effect, anything will do.  you can buy good poles from just about anyone, great ones however are harder to find.

A sword is something that you have to explore separately as there are many kinds and many styles.  You can buy a $49 dragon sword based on something from a movie or you can sell your first born to a warlord and commission a $200,000 dollar sword.  That and everything in between, bottom line, you get what you pay for.  Your movie sword no matter how cool, will be ok for one cut in one fight.  It’s not combat steel and it is made of plastic and tin.swords

Nunchaku are a bit different.  Bruce Lee made them popular.  They can be found in many forms from a foam “nerf” like thing, to metal, to plastic with prism reflectors.  While you can get the basic concept with any of these, many of a modern mass produced models made of plastic would not be very effective in real life.  My first set was purchased online from some Asian martial arts outlet store.  My instructor had told us we would be using traditional Chinese roped octagon shaped nunchaku, so that is what I tried to buy.  What arrived in the mail a few days later can only be summed up as a an awful waste of $19 dollars.  I’ve never really even used them.  They were too fat, stained so they got tacky when you start to sweat, they were unstrung.  It too me all day to figure out how to string them up. Basically looked like what they were, cheap.  I’ve been making nunchaku for people ever since that day.  I nunchaku we make fit in your hands.  They are cut from beautiful hardwoods and they are oiled, polished and strung.  They are not for demonstration, they are for real.  They are for study in real martial arts classes on the topic of nunchaku.  They are also just like the ones that were fashioned from farm equipment 2000 year ago.

The concept is simple.  Learning a real weapon in martial arts means taking a serious attitude about what you plan to learn and how well you will be able to sue your skills should the need ever rise.

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