Bending dowel?

[Cloth Ears]

Hi.

I've finished a project (a small wine room) and have a few small bits and pieces left over. One is a piece of 38mm 'oak' dowel which is a bit over a metre long (1.2?). Having bought a small bokken for my nephew a while back, and knowing how strong and flexible this piece of wood is, I thought a piece of fun would be to try and make one. But it would need to have a small bend in it over the whole length (maybe 3 or 5cm) or it would look pretty weird.

Is it possible? I figure it's probably kiln dried, so it's not an easy thing to do. Would it be possible to soak it for a long period (I've seen what happens to vegetable matter after 6 months in my pool over winter) and then do a gentle bend and drying session? Or should I use it for something straight and go after a piece of green wood for this particular vanity project?

Thanks if you can offer any ideas. Time period is completely open ended - I can prepare it over years if it'll actually work!

Jont.

[cjbfisher]

You can go to Bunnings and buy a pre-bent piece.

[chemfish]

you might be able to steam bend it, most bokken are cut and carved from single pieces of timber from my understanding though not bent. Any reason you don't want it to be straight? straight is a legit choice.

[elanjacobs]

Steam bending kiln dried timber is not a problem, there are plenty of tutorials online for DIY steaming.

[ian]

will a piece of 38 mm oak dowel have the right weight distribution?

[chemfish]

Well it's about the right length and diameter and you can get bokken in white and red oak so I would assume timber selection should be more or less ok. You would just have to shape it correctly and get the curve correct (or you can just belt people with it as is, less sword like but I'm betting you would feel it all the same).

[thumbsucker]

Western oak is not the same thing as Japanese oak. Japanese oak is denser & tougher. A bokken from Western oak would implode against Japanese oak.

[GraemeCook]

Western oak is not the same thing as Japanese oak. Japanese oak is denser & tougher. A bokken from Western oak would implode against Japanese oak.


So true, thumbsucker

But the "oak" dowel might be made from "Tasmanian oak" - an oxymoron of a name - or some marketing genius might have thought some imported dowels looked like Tas oak, even though they were sourced from meranti or luan or some other tropical hardwood. All have vastly different properties from the japanese oaks (plural).

The plot thickens.


Cheers

Graeme

[Cloth Ears]

Thanks for the interesting replies. Interesting also equals useful. I was only interested as the piece itself is very flexible (to the limits of force I can apply to it). And at 38mm I doubt it would implode against anything I could hit it with - and certainly the bokken I've used are fairly tooth-picky in size compared to this piece.
However, if I was going to trim it down, I'd be looking to get the balance right so it could be used to practice. I wasn't actually intending on hitting anyone/anything with it (I don't think we get home invasions happening where I live). All about control and balance more than bruising...:-)
I'll see how I go. I can see a straight 'wooden sword' under the surface, waiting to be released. Just not sure if I have the skill to do it...

[thumbsucker]

Speaking as someone who has a decade worth of bokken training under my belt and who got his start woodworking making bokken a dowel will never make a good bokken.

Bokken have a curve just like a tachi / katana this curve increases the arcing motion of a cut contrasted with a whacking motion of a club. You will never form a suitable curve out of a dowel.

Secondly a dowel has a straight grain a blank for making a bokken should have the grain that curves in the direction of the curve of the bokken otherwise the first time you even lightly strike something the bokken will shatter at the short grain of the curve.

Then their is weight a bokken is not balanced the handle section has most of the weight. You need a timber that is dense with a high janka but is flexible high elasticity. Traditional timbers of choice where stuff like Japanese oak, European ash, Yew, Hickory, Osage orange, in Australia grey iron bark works and spotted gum if you get the right piece. However Australian timbers are to heavy hard and brittle to be effective.