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[JamesD25]

I just had some Temashiwari boards cut at the local Home Depot. Got em home and broke a few to find out they are still very green and full of sap making them very flexible and difficult to break. They also tend to splinter much worse then I was expecting.

Does anyone know how long it will take these boards to dry out/cure? Can I do anything to speed up the process?

[ksan]

You can leave out in the sun, in front of a heater or just "bake" them in your oven.

[Deaken]

Give them a week and they'll be fine. Store them somewhere warm and dry and not stacked to gether so they can each dry out individually. I usualy get my breaking materials 2 weeks before a demo to make suer they are all dry and ready.

[Tameshigiri]

Good post.
And for sure we will have many differents way to see the technical part of tameshiwari.
We have as a dojo rule to buy and cut the boards same day, just a few hours before tameshiwari.
Fresh, green and smeling good.

OSU.

[ashiharakaicho]

Originally Posted by Tameshigiri

We have as a dojo rule to buy and cut the boards same day, just a few hours before tameshiwari. Fresh, green and smeling good. OSU.

That is a killer - reminds me when Sosai Oyama could not break a board due to the grain - one must be cognisant of all those things when letting students do tameshiwari - grain, type of wood, dried out, etc.

Can prevent lots of pain and even embarrassment.

Learnt our lesson with roof tiles -we have here a reinforced tile with steel rods - you get hurt trying to break those ones. Other types splinter and you will get cut - so knowing which ones to chose is an art. Same with wood.

[SteveK]

Another really good trick is when you put two or more together - have the grains running at right angles, have seen that bring some people unstuck LOL :-)

[ashiharakaicho]

Osu,

Greenboards and all - the qualifying criteria for knockdown tournaments - so imagine out of 64 fighters only 3 or 4 manage to break the minimum 3. It is then dropped to 2 boards and then only another 10 manage to break.

So what do you do - you "break" the rules because if you disqualify the competitors that did not break, then you end up with no tournament.

I think that the old unified IKO learnt their lesson with green boards at that time. On another note, I rarely see breaking in the various offshoots now as it is most probably too expensive.

In Ashihara in S.A., we have not done any tameshiwari as a tournament requirement.

[Chakuriki]

Green baords remind me of a demo I did for 'speech class' in college. I knew at that point atht three boards was easy enough and so I put two down on the block and "wham" my hand bounced back...No break. ( either my hand nor the wood )...Figured out quickly the boards were still very green.

Incidentally, I got an A on the speech because the teacher felt I handled a "failed prop" very well...

OSU!

[ashiharakaicho]

Originally Posted by Chakuriki

Incidentally, I got an A on the speech because the teacher felt I handled a "failed prop" very well...OSU!

Yeaah! Way to go - that is what makes the difference in a "failed" attempt - how well one can work around it.

Did a Atama uchi (head breaking) stunt on one demo years ago - wood didn't want to break and my forehead was bleeding so I asked the corwads, as you can see this is stubborn wood, so I hope you don't mind? Well, they were satisfied at the other parts of the demo so didn't mind at all.

The were the few times when things went awry - like being cut with a sword and blood spurting and just wrapping the hand and finishing off when you want to cry and run to the doctor ...

[Chakuriki]

I believe that happened to Soshu Oyama after a sword demo...You're in good company! :-)

[JamesD25]

I admire those capable of doing the head breaks, but I just can't convince myself it's a good idea. I've seen the video from the Fighting Black Kings movie where the guy drives the nail with his forehead then breaks the board. Amazing!!! Gives me a headache just to watch it though.

[ashiharakaicho]

Originally Posted by Chakuriki

I believe that happened to Soshu Oyama after a sword demo...You're in good company! :-)

Well, in retrospect, I realise now how silly I was in doing some of those stuff - but it was coming from a "No Pain, No Gain -Strongest Karate" background that made one not think of the future. The declining hair rate exposed some extra brain cells allowing me to think more clearer, so now I am wiser ... But pleased that I can be regarded with such an august personality.

That is where I learnt all the things - trying to imitate what karateka like Soshu Oyama and others did in their demonstrations ...

Originally Posted by JamesD25

I admire those capable of doing the head breaks, but I just can't convince myself it's a good idea. I've seen the video from the Fighting Black Kings movie where the guy drives the nail with his forehead then breaks the board. Amazing!!! Gives me a headache just to watch it though.

I now totally agree with you - that was amazing - some mean stuff those guys did in demo's.