How to Care for your Bokken

With Red Oak bokken, there's really not much you can do once it starts chipping or splintering. Just throw that thing away. Don't waste your time trying to sand it down or re-finish it.

For a White Oak or Hickory bokken, you should count on maintaining it on a regular basis. If you use your bokken weekly with moderate use, maintaining your bokken at least once a month should be plenty. Sand the whole thing down with light sandpaper. You just want to lightly smooth out some of the bumps. A good, well-used bokken will have lots of small, subtle dents. This is a good thing! It shows that the wood is flexible enough to absorb shock, yet strong enough not to crack. Plus, it actually makes the wood a bit stronger because the cellular structure is becoming denser with each impact.

After you do a light sanding (you don't want to take off too much material), you should treat the wood with some oil or wax. Oil is a more common and durable choice. Use Teak oil, Tung oil, or Watco Danish Oil (they're pretty much the same thing and won't hurt either White Oak or Hickory). However, Teak oil and Watco Danish Oil are preferred because the mixtures have a low viscosity and can penetrate the wood more easily.

(NOTE: There's no need to ever paint or heavily lacquer your bokken. Paint will chip and could fly into your eye. Lacquer can make the blade too slippery and feel strange.)

Quick maintenance version:

When applying oil, rub in a thin coat. Wait 15 min. Remove and excess and let this dry overnight. Finally, buff out with a cloth.

Longer maintenance version:

Apply oil liberally with a brush or roller. Let it soak in for 30 min. Add another coat and let soak for 15 more min. Wipe off the excess oil and let dry for 8-10 hours.

Different brands of oil have different instructions, but basically, add a coat or two, let it soak in for awhile, then wipe off the excess. That's it! That's all you really need to do (or can do) to care for your bokken. A good bokken with good care will last you for years.

Of course, if you're doing full-force, full-contact strikes with your bokken (which can be very dangerous!) you risk shortening the life of your bokken. If this is the kind of training you want to do, consider a Kendo shinai instead. It's much more impact resilient, but less like a "real" sword than a bokken is. Train safe!

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