Synthetic Sticks

Hibuke

Hibuke

Joined
Mar 28, 2002
Messages
317
Hey all you guys,

My apologies if this has already been addressed, but I'm really keen on making a set of synthetic sticks. Having been fed up with the woods available here (ie non-existant without paying an arm and a leg for POS peeled rattan or exotic aussie hardwoods that may or may not work). Any idea where to start? I was fiddling with 550 Paracord and braded up a nice length of whip-like rope with 5 strands (4 strand round-braid, 1 for a centre core). A bit thin/narrow and a little floppy. I know G10 is Kelvar/Nylon suspended in Epoxy Resin, or something like that. Any idea if I soaked a similar, or thicker braided whip/rope (more strands maybe?) in epoxy resin would yield a functional fighting stick? Any different resins available? Here in Australia?

Any and all helpful comments would be much appreciated!

Much Thanks!
 
I've been using synthetic sticks for over a year now, and I love them, 2 other lads in the club also have them, so its slowly catching on. I made ours from 20mm round stock Nylon 66, its fairly easy to get hold of in the UK, its used normally as axels etc in machinery so I would have thought they would have the same stuff in Oz ( I buy mine from RS ),

I cut mine to 26 inches and they have about the same amount of 'give' as rattan, if you use longer sticks you can get 25mm round stock as well to stop it being too whippy, the only other thing I do is wrap one end in 2mm climbers cord to form a grip, though you could use squash racquet handle tape if you prefer, the main problem i have is that they will destroy everybody elses sticks very quickly, so you may get a few complaints

Neil
 
NeilX66 said:
I've been using synthetic sticks for over a year now, and I love them, 2 other lads in the club also have them, so its slowly catching on. I made ours from 20mm round stock Nylon 66, its fairly easy to get hold of in the UK, its used normally as axels etc in machinery so I would have thought they would have the same stuff in Oz ( I buy mine from RS ),

I cut mine to 26 inches and they have about the same amount of 'give' as rattan, if you use longer sticks you can get 25mm round stock as well to stop it being too whippy, the only other thing I do is wrap one end in 2mm climbers cord to form a grip, though you could use squash racquet handle tape if you prefer, the main problem i have is that they will destroy everybody elses sticks very quickly, so you may get a few complaints

Neil
Click to expand...

Niiiice. I'll have to try that out...

Is it solid rod or hollow shaft? Another physics-geek friend of mine suggested using those plumbers kneadable "instant metal" epoxy putty to stuff a PVC/Acrylic tube. He hypothesised that due to the heat generated, it'd fuse in some way to the plastic and would have a lesser chance of self-destructing into dangerous shrapnel... :eek:

I'll have to try 'em both out. What'dya wall think?
 
The stuff I use is solid rod, the 26 inch sticks come in at around 220 grams without the cord grip, and rattan was about 135 grams if I remember right, the stuff is cheap enough that you could get some and give it a try, (just over £10 for 2 meters in the UK)

Checked a few numbers on the material, it has a tensile strength of 75MPa (roughly 10,000 psi), so it would take a lot of force just to permanently bend it, let alone break it, its hardness is below most metal, so smacking the edge of a knife with it will dent it, but the same would happen to most woods as well, so I don't think you lose anything. I don't know how this would compare to using the instant metal epoxy, be interested to know the results

Neil
 
Hi,

How is the rebound and vibration with that stuff? I was thinking of using Acrylic Bulletproof rods or tubes.

Thanks,

Longshot
 
I tried the acrylic first, to be honest I found them a little to rigid, so most of the vibration carried through into the arm and it would ache like mad, its also a lot easier to lose control of as its much smoother than the nylon, and far more brittle making it difficult to drill / cut etc, also a fair bit heavier, though that may just be the type of acrylic I had

With the nylon I can do a full 2 hr training session, and can do full speed partner drills with my instructor, the vibration and rebound are about as close to rattan as I've been able to find, the slight elasticity in the rods has a similar dampening effect as the fibres in rattan, about the only thing I don't use them for is full contact sparring
 
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