BO Staff - another wood

[Bryan Alstat]

All;
I dabble in wood working and thought that making a Bo Staff from Syccamore (sp?) would be worth a try. So about a year ago I cut down 3 sapplings in a heavy stand of trees and let them dry for a year. The first staff I just stripped the bark off and gave it a try. I beat it against an oak tree for about 5 minutes and it held, then I grabbed it about the end and swung the 6 foot + staff like a bat as hard as I could against the tree. IT took three hard swings before it cracked. I am not a small guy - 6ft2in and over 200 lbs. I then took my second staff to my instructors dojo for more testing. I am having people use it and abuse it for feedback. So at this time I would recommend syccamore, for not only is it very strong, it is about a light as ash wood.

[Ron Mottern]

Do you bone your woods? If not, it may increase their strength a little (by compressing the wood) and keep them from splintering.

Best wood for a bokken I have ever found is loquat. I've never had one break and it's broken many others, including hickory, red oak, white oak and purple heart wood. I don't know if they make bo in loquat but if they do you can probably special order it here: www.bokkenshop.com.

Of course, that takes the fun out of making it yourself.

[Karl K. Wagner]

The sapwood of Sycamore is white to light yellow, while the heartwood is light to dark brown. It is
classified as moderate in weight, hardness, stiffness, shock resistance, strength in bending, endwise
compression and nail holding ability. It has a close texture, glues well and resists splitting due to
interlocked grain. It holds its shape well after steaming and machines well, but requires high speed cutter
heads to prevent chipping. It shrinks moderately in drying and is inclined to warp when flat sawn. It is
odorless, stain free and tasteless.

I pulled this info from a pdf downloaded from USFS. http://forestry.about.com/library/silvics/platan.pdf.

Hope this helps to support your findings.