Kendo Shinai Stick

choosing shinai (kendo) and eskrima sticks?

i will be purchasing my own shinai quite soon and theres is a shop near my location. the only thing is that the shinai r all placed in a compartment. i was just wondering how i should select my shinai e.g general things to look for and not individual needs…also ive already purchased my own escrima sticks which r made of unskinned, fire hardened? , with scorpion designs on them but all i based my selection of them were, approxiamately the same length, weight, and the quality of the design and wood grain…haha if there r other things to look for then that would be nice to know…
also caring for them maintenence etc…
thanks
the designs are actually burnt on so its not carved into it…any suggestions for shinai?

On choosing rattan for Filipino martial arts, i tend to stay away from designs because if you use both ends of the stick, it will tend to fray and unravel faster cause the skin is carved.
When choosing a stick make sure it is not fire hardened that it is so light and dark, that means it is brittle for there is no moisture.
Also when choosing a stick, the more ‘nodes’ (the rings around the stick) there are the more long lasting it will be, it will take longer to fray.

Added:

Unfortunately it is the same if the logo is burned in. Even though your stick is sealed with varnish or clear finish, with heavy use it will still fray(I am assuming you are using your sticks for training regularly). That’s when you need hockey tape to delay the fraying,but all sticks are not indestructible and you will eventually need a new one.
If you don’t like this you may like synthetic sticks like DURATTAN or Cold steel brand Eskrima sticks,both will last you for years. But most eskrimadors don’t like this sticks (they get slippery,noisy, or fray other rattan sticks easily, etc).
I am sorry but i do not have any experience in shinai’s. I am a member of Martialtalk and this forum have many members who are more experienced than me in this matter. Here is the link, http://martialtalk.com/
Good luck to you and hope you find the truth.

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