Yup, it’s the time of the year when your bokken needs your attention again.
Here’s some tips from Claire (Sentrum Aikido) and Bjørn (Ås Aikido) on how to polish your bokken or any wooden sword in general.
1. The medium. You can use:
- Lemon oil. which is used on guitar fretboards (you can get it almost everywhere!). It is smooth and smells good, and is easy and quick to use!
- Linseed oil. It’s what I used this time and it worked itself perfect. It was the cheapest one I found but Winsor & Newton and other brands have very good quality linseed oil as well. However, be careful in that if you apply it too thickly or wait too long to wipe it off, it will become sticky and collect dust. Note that boiled linseed oil is more appropriate than the one I used. Link to the store: https://panduro.com/nb-no/s
- Camelia oil. Also a very common choice. You can find this and the lemon oil in health food stores, natural cosmetic shops and some pharmacies.
Fig. 1. The linseed oil I used. Purchased from Panduro hobby at Karl Johans gt. 4, 6.
2. The method.
- I applied the oil on kitchen paper and went through the sword until all of it was covered with a thin layer of oil. I rested it on some kitchen paper as well, so it wouldn’t dirty the walls but it’s not necessary.
- It took about 24hrs to dry fully.
- I repeated the process 3 times.
Fig. 2. The waxed bokken drying in my bathroom. A drier place is probably a better idea.
3. Final Tips.
- You don’t need to treat your jo/bokken more than 1-2 times a year. Preferably in the winter, Jan.-Feb., when the humidity is low.
- Remember that, although it might work in solo exercises, an unwaxed weapon can be dangerous when training with a partner, as it is more brittle and, therefore, more prone to breaking than a treated one. So, if you do bring your own weapons, make sure they are waxed.