Who makes a good bo that doesn't cost the world?

[clfsean]

You can get waxwood cheaper than that if you shop around.

 

[HG1]

I go to a rattan & bamboo furniture supply store. Cheap & lots to choose from.

 

[goodwrench_mc]

You get what you pay for - and you should only pay once

Take a look at this product
http://www.durattan.com/
Both the staff and sticks take full strength hits and won't break

And this one
http://www.bostaff.com/
Will build you anything you want out of most any type of wood

 

[Ken Morgan]

Not as inexpensive as you’d like, and I admit it’s my Sensei’s shop but all weapons I’ve bought from him are still in one piece and going strong ten+ years out.
http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_karate.htm

 

[chinto]

Good advice on the linseed oil, but I would strongly advise someone to use boiled linseed oil instead of "regular" linseed oil. Otherwise, one could die of old age before the regular linseed oil cures itself to hardness.

Boiled linseed oil contains catalysts that greatly speed up the process of curing (hardening).

hmm I thought i mentioned that you should only use boiled linseed oil... did I forget to do that? if so I do apologize!
If you use anything but boiled linseed oil in a linseed oil it will be sticky for ever!!!! bad thing!

 

[chinto]

On another note, has anyone else noticed, that the cheap bo's coming from the usual wholesale sources (Century, AWMA, et al) have been looking really bad lately?

It seems that most of them arriving are already warped, and those that aren't horribly warped are horribly lop-sided.

Once we get our next shipment of bo's (good quality from a really awesome craftsman), I'm going to use these junk bo's as bashing targets, much like the same way Japanese Sword Arts practitioners use straw mats and pool noodles for tameshigiri.

If you want the real advice i would give on a bo/kun is this: Go and buy a shuriedo bo and be happy! you pick up one and a cheep one and the difference is night and day! the Shuriedo bo feels like it wants to hit something and the other does not feel as good! also the wood is top notch and hand split out then turned. If I need a weapon in the house besides a fire arm or blade its my shuriedo bo that I grab! ( on by the way a staff is in a lot of ways a better weapon then a sword... lots of swordsman in the asia, and also in europe, found out that even in full armor they were not able to survive an encounter with a staff.