# anyone makes a custom graphite bo staff?



## elronx (Sep 20, 2022)

for the love of got, there's no one in my country who makes them, please, can anyone direct me to someone who makes custom graphite bo staff?


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## isshinryuronin (Sep 20, 2022)

why do you want a graphite bo?


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 20, 2022)

isshinryuronin said:


> why do you want a graphite bo?


yeah that's my question as well.  I usually hear people complain about not finding a nice wooden bo.    This is the first time I've heard someone looking for a graphite bo and a custom one at that.


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## elronx (Sep 20, 2022)

isshinryuronin said:


> why do you want a graphite bo?


I want to achieve maximum speed.
I found nothing that compares to the graphite bo staff.


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## elronx (Sep 20, 2022)

JowGaWolf said:


> yeah that's my question as well.  I usually hear people complain about not finding a nice wooden bow.    This is the first time I've heard someone looking for a graphite bow and a custom one at that.


just to clarify, 
I'm looking for a bo staff
not a bow


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 20, 2022)

elronx said:


> I want to achieve maximum speed.
> I found nothing that compares to the graphite bo staff.


Are you into extreme martial arts?


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 20, 2022)

elronx said:


> just to clarify,
> I'm looking for a bo staff
> not a bow


Typo on my end. sorry about that


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 20, 2022)

He's looking for a pencil.


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 20, 2022)

Oily Dragon said:


> He's looking for a pencil.


I got my answer.  Makes sense to me. It reminds me that I don't do the cool martial arts lol.


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## isshinryuronin (Sep 20, 2022)

Graphite may be flexible and lightweight, much different than a bo made of oak or other hardwood.  It may be good for CMA or extreme performance staff techniques, but for Okinawan, Japanese and even old European style of staff fighting will leave something to be desired due to those same qualities.  I don't know about its resistance to the heavy impact staffs from those other styles are subjected to.  But if it's just speed you're after, plastic or aluminum would likely be much cheaper.

Have you used a graphite bo before, and if so, what kind of style did you employ it?


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 20, 2022)

isshinryuronin said:


> Graphite may be flexible and lightweight, much different than a bo made of oak or other hardwood.  It may be good for CMA or extreme performance staff techniques, but for Okinawan, Japanese and even old European style of staff fighting will leave something to be desired due to those same qualities.  I don't know about its resistance to the heavy impact staffs from those other styles are subjected to.  But if it's just speed you're after, plastic or aluminum would likely be much cheaper.
> 
> Have you used a graphite bo before, and if so, what kind of style did you employ it?


That type of staff is no good for impeccable of any kind.  Not good for CMA either.  My beginner staff form would break it as it requires that the practioner to hit the ground with the staff. It may even break as we often try to whip the end of the staff.  I'm assuming there's no flexibility with graphite.


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## Gyakuto (Sep 27, 2022)

Incidentally, bo _means_ staff so ‘bo staff’ is…a bit silly...’staff staff’!😀


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## isshinryuronin (Sep 27, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> Incidentally, bo _means_ staff so ‘bo staff’ is…a bit silly...’staff staff’!😀


I have mentioned this several times over the past few years.  Whenever I see "bo staff" I know the poster is (hopefully) not trained in karate/kobudo.    I also cringe when I hear "nunchucks."  

But to be fair, if I was trying to communicate with a professional in a field I was unfamiliar with, no doubt I would have some verbal slips.  But to avoid looking foolish I would be sure not to represent myself as someone knowledgeable in that field.  I would rather admit to ignorance than look foolish - sometimes a hard lesson to learn.


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## Gyakuto (Sep 27, 2022)

isshinryuronin said:


> I have mentioned this several times over the past few years.  Whenever I see "bo staff" I know the poster is (hopefully) not trained in karate/kobudo.    I also cringe when I hear "nunchucks."
> 
> But to be fair, if I was trying to communicate with a professional in a field I was unfamiliar with, no doubt I would have some verbal slips.  But to avoid looking foolish I would be sure not to represent myself as someone knowledgeable in that field.  I would rather admit to ignorance than look foolish - sometimes a hard lesson to learn.


Well, we all have to learn.

I’ve also heard nunchaku referred to as numb-chucks. I don’t correct them😈

My brother’s a GP and his non-medical wife refers to his ‘sphyg’ (sphygmomanometer) as his ‘sphinct‘(er). He has never corrected her in 30+ years of marriage and, with a derisory smile, somehow gets her to say it, when I visit. Bas**rd!


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 27, 2022)

I have said 'bo staff' to non-martial artists who give me a blank look when I say 'bo'.  I guess I could just say 'staff'.

In any case, I unfortunately do not know of any sources for bo made of anything except wood or bamboo.


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## drop bear (Sep 28, 2022)

Smai make them.









						GRAPHITE BO STAFF
					






					www.smai.com.au


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 28, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> Incidentally, bo _means_ staff so ‘bo staff’ is…a bit silly...’staff staff’!😀


"bo" (bang etc) can mean a number of different devices/weapons, but they must be made of mostly wood (because of Radical 75).

Walking stick, long staff, club, truncheon, etc.  Even a wooden crook qualifies.  The modern bo we all know is just a specific cut/length made popular with karate, bojutsu, etc.  These, if I'm not mistaken, are the original Chan Buddhist staff lengths (just under 2m, Shaolin staff circa 16th/17th century measured about eyebrow height).

The first time I heard someone say "bo staff is a double double", I had to check out the glyph.

So you can also look at it that way.  "Bo staff" as a qualifier equals "wooden pole that is a staff".  In the same way "jo staff" means wooden old man walking staff.


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## Gyakuto (Sep 28, 2022)

Oily Dragon said:


> "bo" (bang etc) can mean a number of different devices/weapons, but they must be made of mostly wood (because of Radical 75).
> 
> Walking stick, long staff, club, truncheon, etc.  Even a wooden crook qualifies.  The modern bo we all know is just a specific cut/length.
> 
> ...


Dude, we all looked at the glyphs 🙄😉 

How do Japanese bojutsuka or highly ranked Western practitioners refer to the Bo?


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 28, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> Dude, we all looked at the glyphs 🙄😉
> 
> How do Japanese bojutsuka or highly ranked Western practitioners refer to the Bo?


I'm talking about the strokes that make up the glyph for "bo".

Well they (bojutsuka etc) know the context for the kanji, so they don't need extra explanation.  You and I both know what "bo" looks like in the JMA world.

But if you're talking to a general audience about what "bo staff" means, it doesn't literally mean "staff staff".  It could, but doesn't have to (That's a specific interpretation by you (someone who knows what we're talking about).

For instance, if a highly ranked anyone showed me a "bo" made of steel, I'd tell them it's not a bo.

Japanese and Okinawan history are full of weapons that you and I wouldn't associate with "bo" but would have been called that by native speakers), because they were long, wooden pokey things.  Older "bo" were big heavy sticks, sometimes loaded with nails etc.  
Over time, one specific JMA weapon took over the colloquial usage.


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## Gyakuto (Sep 28, 2022)

Ah ok…so perhaps either ‘bo’ _or_ ‘staff’.

(I love the posters in this forum! So much knowledge)


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 28, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> Ah ok…so perhaps either ‘bo’ _or_ ‘staff’.
> 
> (I love the posters in this forum! So much knowledge)


Yeah, the best translation of "bo" in our context is really "wooden staff", the wood part being key because of Radical 75 (wood/tree).

Otherwise every 2m long staff would be called a bo, and I honestly don't think the name makes sense with any other material BUT...that.might not matter to people who just associate bo with a long staff weapon.

So yes I'm being pedantic about language, but I study Chinese writing so this is stuff I care about


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## Gyakuto (Sep 28, 2022)

Bo as in bokuto wooden sword! I get it. Moku (wood/timber) becomes boku become bo!


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 28, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> Bo as in bokuto wooden sword! I get it. Moku (wood/timber) becomes boku become bo!


Sure and if we go back to China, there are typically two hanzi for this kind of wooden staff weapon, for _bang_ (same hanzi as bo), but also _gun/gwan_ (loosely, 'wooden older brother").

But funny enough, that makes a bang (bo) in CMA a "wooden" younger brother", and sure enough, somebody drew this and uploaded it to Wiki.   Not sure this is accurate even, I've seen plenty of staff called "bang" taller than nut height, and that one in the pic is shorter than even a jo.  But what's important is the relative length...gun/gwan invokes that big brother motif.


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 28, 2022)

Lol just some comic relief I came across this morning.  Google and YouTube teaming up and spying on me again!

No hate intended but after we chatted today I could not stop laughing at this.

"Bo staff...kung fu...taolu".  In my head I hear "chop suey", if you get the joke.


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## Wing Woo Gar (Sep 28, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> Well, we all have to learn.
> 
> I’ve also heard nunchaku referred to as numb-chucks. I don’t correct them😈
> 
> My brother’s a GP and his non-medical wife refers to his ‘sphyg’ (sphygmomanometer) as his ‘sphinct‘(er). He has never corrected her in 30+ years of marriage and, with a derisory smile, somehow gets her to say it, when I visit. Bas**rd!


Like when people say irregardless?


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## Tony Dismukes (Sep 28, 2022)

isshinryuronin said:


> Whenever I see "bo staff" I know the poster is (hopefully) not trained in karate/kobudo.


I think it's largely a carry-over from speech. In writing you can see the difference between "bow" and "bo", but in speech they sound the same so it makes sense that some people would add "staff" to clarify the subject. Obviously not necessary when writing on a forum, but if someone has gotten in the habit of saying "bo staff" verbally then I understand why they might end up writing it.


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 28, 2022)

Oily Dragon said:


> Lol just some comic relief I came across this morning.  Google and YouTube teaming up and spying on me again!
> 
> No hate intended but after we chatted today I could not stop laughing at this.
> 
> "Bo staff...kung fu...taolu".  In my head I hear "chop suey", if you get the joke.


That one of the worst.  Went from CMA to Kata  so why not bo staff lol.  




Tony Dismukes said:


> I think it's largely a carry-over from speech. In writing you can see the difference between "bow" and "bo", but in speech they sound the same so it makes sense that some people would add "staff" to clarify the subject. Obviously not necessary when writing on a forum, but if someone has gotten in the habit of saying "bo staff" verbally then I understand why they might end up writing it.


For me the bo has always been something Japanese where the weapon is tapered on both ends.  A staff would be be different being that it isn't tapered on both ends.  I don't use both together but if I say bo I'm referring to Japanese and if I say staff then I'm referring to non Japanese.  I never heard a CMA practitioner refer to a staff as a Bo.  I only hear it from Karate and "Karate like" martial arts.  

If someone says Bo, do we think of Japanese staffs or Hema staffs?

The term Bo staff is hear to stay and we can probably thank Google search words and business for that.  If I were write an article on staff fighting then I would throw bo in the mix just so I can get the ranking.


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## Gyakuto (Sep 29, 2022)

Wing Woo Gar said:


> Like when people say irregardless?


Do they? 😄


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## Gyakuto (Sep 29, 2022)

Wing Woo Gar said:


> Like when people say irregardless?


(And ‘one fail swoop’, ‘it’s a doggy dog world’, ‘hunger pains’, ‘escape goat’, ‘do diligence’ and my most despised, ‘I could care less’😡)


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## Wing Woo Gar (Sep 29, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> (And ‘one fail swoop’, ‘it’s a doggy dog world’, ‘hunger pains’, ‘escape goat’, ‘do diligence’ and my most despised, ‘I could care less’😡)


’out in the boondogs’ ?


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## geezer (Oct 1, 2022)

Wing Woo Gar said:


> ’out in the boondogs’ ?


Yep, _Boon-dogs._ And you can take that for granite_._ Now about sayin' _bo staff_. I don't see why that's a problem. Irregardless, just last weekend I drove up past Picacho Peak to Table Mesa, ate pizza pie and practiced with my bo staff. I had such a good time, I'm not over-exaggerating when I say I'd repeat it all over again. The whole experience literally blew my mind.


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## Gyakuto (Oct 2, 2022)

geezer said:


> Yep, _Boon-dogs._ And you can take that for granite_._ Now about sayin' _bo staff_. I don't see why that's a problem. Irregardless, just last weekend I drove up past Picacho Peak to Table Mesa, ate pizza pie and practiced with my bo staff. I had such a good time, I'm not over-exaggerating when I say I'd repeat it all over again. The whole experience literally blew my mind.


😂

It’s not a problem just like there’s nothing _wrong_ with saying katana-sword, numb-chuk flails, baseball-ball, scalpel-knife. But I think part of the _apprenticeship_ of learning anything thoroughly includes learning the associated specialist language and terminology correctly. It inspires confidence in others and it shows serious scholarliness. When I was teaching anatomy, I used to tell the students to use anatomical jargon _in_ the dissection hall and out. So I’d encourage them to say the ‘dorsum of the hand’ rather than the ‘back of the hand’ or ‘laterally’ rather than ‘to the side’ especially when in the pub or at a party! Does it matter? Well, it _does_ sounds more professional and anatomists instantly know what you mean by the ‘mediolateral fossa of the pterygoid plate’ and being correct in the jargon is analogous to wearing a clean, well-ironed martial arts uniform or correct form in bowing to your teacher.


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## Oily Dragon (Oct 2, 2022)

I watched Toy Story 4 last night for the first time.

Little Bo Peep carries a shepherd's crook (bo, in Japanese).

Where did the "bo" come in that story??


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## Gyakuto (Oct 2, 2022)

Oily Dragon said:


> I watched Toy Story 4 last night for the first time.
> 
> Little Bo Peep carries a shepherd's crook (bo, in Japanese).
> 
> Where did the "bo" come in that story??


‘Peep’ is British/Greek slang for ‘people/person’. So this character is clearly a little ‘person’ who practises with a bo. Simplez😑


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## Oily Dragon (Oct 2, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> ‘Peep’ is British/Greek slang for ‘people/person’. So this character is clearly a little ‘person’ who practises with a bo. Simplez😑


She's a master at staff combat in the movie,.and does a scene with Keanu.

Never saw that coming!


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## Alan0354 (Oct 3, 2022)

Oily Dragon said:


> Sure and if we go back to China, there are typically two hanzi for this kind of wooden staff weapon, for _bang_ (same hanzi as bo), but also _gun/gwan_ (loosely, 'wooden older brother").
> 
> But funny enough, that makes a bang (bo) in CMA a "wooden" younger brother", and sure enough, somebody drew this and uploaded it to Wiki.   Not sure this is accurate even, I've seen plenty of staff called "bang" taller than nut height, and that one in the pic is shorter than even a jo.  But what's important is the relative length...gun/gwan invokes that big brother motif.
> 
> View attachment 28963


I guess my cane is the "bang"!!!

I have no idea about graphite stuff, I definitely prefer my fiber filled Nylon cane over any wood cane because it won't crack like wood. Though I heard Hickory is very good.


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## donald1 (Oct 7, 2022)

Gyakuto said:


> Incidentally, bo _means_ staff so ‘bo staff’ is…a bit silly...’staff staff’!😀


At this point its force of habit for me 

I could say rokushakubo which is 6 ft staff, but I like saying bo staff.

Is the plural for bo, bos? It looks so ugly! This is why I like saying bo staffs cause bos looks weird. Is there a better plural?


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## Hanshi (Oct 7, 2022)

My bo staff training was Okinawan because that's where the instructor learned all his martial arts.  The bo used there were 6', made of oak and rather heavy.  They were very difficult to spin as shown in the video plus I just wasn't good at spinning.  My instructor told of another practitioner with the preferred (or seems to be) slender & lighter bo who boasted of how fast his bo could be used and it's superior qualities.  My teacher then said to him, "okay, I'll let you strike me with your bo if you will let me strike you with mine".  The fellow declined the offer and retreated.  There is, of course, plenty of room for a variety of weapons and I never fault anyone's choice.


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## isshinryuronin (Oct 7, 2022)

Hanshi said:


> My bo staff training was Okinawan because that's where the instructor learned all his martial arts.  The bo used there were 6', made of oak and rather heavy.  They were very difficult to spin as shown in the video plus I just wasn't good at spinning.  My instructor told of another practitioner with the preferred (or seems to be) slender & lighter bo who boasted of how fast his bo could be used and it's superior qualities.  My teacher then said to him, "okay, I'll let you strike me with your bo if you will let me strike you with mine".  The fellow declined the offer and retreated.  There is, of course, plenty of room for a variety of weapons and I never fault anyone's choice.


You could also trade overhand blows with the other person blocking and see whose bo ends up in two pieces.




donald1 said:


> Is the plural for bo, bos? It looks so ugly! This is why I like saying bo staffs cause bos looks weird. Is there a better plural?


In Japanese, the noun is the same for singular and plural, like "sheep" in English.  So, "I have 2 bo."  But, since you're speaking in English, I guess saying, "I have 2 bo's" would be OK, too.


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