Why is Cocobolo so Expensive?

The Rare Preferred Hardwood of the Martial Arts world. Why is Cocobolo so Expensive?

12 inch Tapered Cocobolo Traditional Octagon

Cocobolo Dalbergia retusa is the long sought after hardwood in martial arts.  It is in the family of the Rosewoods Dalbergia nigra. In part it is very popular because of it’s weight and density but also because of the beautiful colors and patterns that appear in the wood’s grain.  With this wood however it is not the demand that is the problem as much as it is the supply.  So Why is Cocobolo so Expensive? The first price point that drives it up is being able to find it.  The second is how much it costs once you have located something you can use.  Unlike red oak or ash, cocobolo is a medium to small sized tree that has fewer straight branches.  It is much harder to mill and even harder to get good undamaged straight boards so you can work with them.  Hardwoods of this nature eat through expensive cutting bits in weeks, where as the same bit would last a lifetime with normal woods.  The last price point that adds more to the final cost is how hard it is to work with.  The first problem; the saw dust is poisonous to humans.  Don’t get me wrong, all saw dust is bad for people and use of a mask is the general practice, but with cocobolo it is down right hurtful.  It is much like getting poison ivy on the inside of your lungs.  Not fun.  So we use suits and masks and it’s hot and miserable doing so.

In the end it’s always worth it but much more time and work go into things made of cocobolo.  It’s a rare wood loved by all the martial arts.  The time may also be coming when cocobolo is gone from the planet.  I wonder what those cocobolo nunchaku would be worth then? At USA Nunchaku Co. We hunt down cocobolo every week to use in our wood shop so we can bring you great nunchaku pieces.  It’s a time honored hardwood in the martial arts world, but don’t forget all the other great woods we have available.


Other Choices

While cocobolo is a great hardwood, there are others that will also serve the same purpose.  We encourage our nunchaku users to try out different weight hardwoods and test out some of the many other exotic hardwood options we provide. Most of our customers will wind up with nunchaku they use privately and nunchaku they use in class for strikes and contact with other weapons which spare the more expensive nunchaku from harm. As always, if you have more questions about any of our nunchaku please feel free to contact us and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

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.

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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