I'll ask the TN office to look into it.
When I used to make swords, we hired this carpenter who was living out of his van for a spell. He had a lathe in his van and would shape handle blanks for us at $5 a pop, which was cheaper than we could do and saved a lot of time. Unfortunately, he went his way eventually.
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
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My Shaolin connect told me last week that it will take about two weeks to finish up a new batch. We're ordering twice as many as last time. I'm not sure how long it will take to get them from China to here however. Last time, it hit a delay because of our China's quality control manager. I'll keep you updated.
@Blacktiger - when they come in, contact sales@martialartsmart.com about ordering. That office is actually in TN and I can't really speak for them on this.
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart
Designed by me.
Bodhidharma Cane
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart
Looks great! Now how reliable is martial arts mart going to be about keeping them in stock? And how do we get them over on the sister company tiger claw? As a school owner I'd have to charge $40 buying them from martial arts mart just to make anything and I refuse to do that to my students.
The Tamo Canes that we had earlier were made by folk craftsmen from the Shaolin area. We sold out of them a lot faster than we anticipated, and restocking was challenging because we weren't working with a professional manufacturing company. Those makers were common folk. I designed these new Tamo Canes upon an old cane I got at Shaolin in '95, as well as several other examples I've seen over the years. They are manufactured by one of the companies that manufactures tonfa for us, so we know that they can deliver consistent quality.
As of now, these are strictly MartialArtsMart.com products. If we move enough units in a reasonable period, these will become a Tiger Claw product, but that might not be for a while. While MAM and TC are connected, they are separate companies. We'll often test market products for TC through MAM. We'll also sell items irregular items there, products that are not stable enough for TC. For TC, sales must be both brisk and reliable.
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart
I appreciate the info.
what!!!!??!?!? another new cane?!?!
this one looks so much better than the first batch.....i miss the one that I used when I was training with shifu shi de shan...i want one like that again.....=(
The first batch were cheap, yet charming in a folksy way. These new ones are made by one of our martial arts manufacturing companies, so the quality will be a lot more consistent. Also, I've had them design them a little on the long side to accommodate taller practitioners. It's easy to trim of the end if you want them shorter.
And of course, we offer master kits - three, in fact.
Bodhidharma Cane and Instructional Bodhidharma Cane & Shaolin Tonfa DVD
Tonfa and Instructional Bodhidharma Cane & Shaolin Tonfa DVD
Bodhidharma Cane, Tonfa and Instructional Bodhidharma Cane & Shaolin Tonfa DVD
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart
can I trade in my first one for the new one?....lol...it came apart on me while i was performing...I knew i should of reinforced it with some glue..but I got lazy and didnt "prep" my weapon...my fault...lol
maybe one day when i get some spare money I will order this new one!
It looks pretty good gene! A lot better than most in DengFeng!
A lot of times the GuaiZhang break at the join between the cane and the handle.... But this is a lot more common if you practice the dui lian. There isn't really a good solution except to custom build a super tough one. I know a guy here who had one made completely out of metal! It was awesome. It was kind of a coppery-goldy hue. But I don't think there is a large market for that.
Gene, is there any plan to build an actual Shaolin Tonfa (Shuang Guai)?
I guess it is a bit too rare a weapon. Although the standard Tonfa would work well enough for the stand alone forms, it is not so useful in the Dui Lian (two man sets, like Shuang Guai Po Qiang). The actual ones are like miniature versions of the GuaiZhang, and have the hook protruding out the bottom of the handle. This is used to hook the opponents weapon and move it, just like a hook hand. Unfortunately a regular Tonfa just can't be used in this way. But to be honest these are hard enough to find in DengFeng, it is a rare weapon these days. I hope it gains in popularity because it is awesome.
Come on, now Pk_StyLeZ. How hard is it to repair a cane? Besides, we sold those folk-made canes for less than $20. That's less than a KFC Family Meal Deal.
RDH: I was toying with making a metal one too, back when I had access to a metal lathe. It was a crude manual lathe and would have taken days, so I never made any progress on it.
As for doing the shuang guai, that is a dream of mine, but at this stage, it's way too obscure to be marketable. At one point, I was hoping you could cut down the shafts of these canes, but that doesn't give the proper balance as shuang guai shafts flair slightly. One of the nice things about this video is that it includes both methods, so there's some cross-over to karate/open market, as some of those folk are interested the possible roots of their methods. That was completely intentional, of course. However, as we carry so many tonfa already, it'll be a while before a significant enough following for the Chinese version emerges to warrant creating a new product.
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart