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Thread: Big Wooden Cross In Front Yard...Yay Or Nay...?

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    Big Wooden Cross In Front Yard...Yay Or Nay...?

    One of the best things about the housing market having turned to shit is I no longer care about if something I do will make my house less marketable. So if I want to have a training pagoda in my backyard I build one.

    As my next project, I'm thinking about building a sword cross (also known as a ken makiwara). Basically it is a 6 foot high wooden fence post bisected about 18" from the top by a 3 foot 2x4 which results in a wooden cross.

    The purpose of such a device is as a training aid for wooden swords (Bokken in classical Japanese fencing). If anyone has seen the Spartacus series on Starz they use the same thing and it is a common training aid in many ancient cultures.

    It is also a great way to develop strong sword technique and a great workout. As a bonus if the neighbors are being loud late at night I can go beat a wooden cross with a wooden sword and it tends to send a message of mild annoyance at their shenanigans. This is of course a very minor consideration.

    But I'm not completely sure I want a 6 foot wooden cross in my front yard. There is obviously the KKK connotation and I don't want anyone thinking I'm in the Klan or being persecuted by the Klan. I normally could care less what people think but I try not to do things that might put my house on everyone's radar. Alternatively I don't want a bunch of people to assume I'm some born again deeply religious individual.

    But I really do miss the kind of training where you can go pretty much all out with powerful strikes and full speed combinations of strikes against a target that offers resistance.

    And before somebody asks, the backyard is not an option, I have too much going on back there already.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

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    Could you perhaps make a moveable base for it, so you could set it up while training, and remove it afterwards? That way, the only time it would be visible is when you're smacking the hell out of it, and at that point, who's going to make snide comments?
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    Paint it red and inscribe it with gold kanji.

    If you're really concerned, move something out of the backyard to the front to act as a distraction, like the nude sunbathing area
    INSIDE PLAN OF BOX
    1. ROAD-RUNNER LIFTS GLASS OF WATER- PULLING UP MATCH
    2. MATCH SCRATCHES ON MATCH-BOX
    3. MATCH LIGHTS FUSE TO TNT
    4. BOOM!
    5. HA-HA!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by LHS View Post
    Could you perhaps make a moveable base for it, so you could set it up while training, and remove it afterwards? That way, the only time it would be visible is when you're smacking the hell out of it, and at that point, who's going to make snide comments?

    Not really something that lends itself to a portable model. Will probably be in a one foot by one foot cement pad and 2 feet into the ground. Otherwise you are just gonna constantly knock it over.

    Quote Originally Posted by MistWolf View Post
    Paint it red and inscribe it with gold kanji.
    No sense in trying to make it pretty, it won't stay that way. Maybe I'll just hang a coiled hose on it when not in use.
    Last edited by SteyrAUG; 08-15-11 at 23:56.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

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    Would a Wicker Man type effigy work in lieu of a cross, for training purposes?
    Last edited by GermanSynergy; 08-15-11 at 23:56.
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    Quote Originally Posted by GermanSynergy View Post
    Would a Wicker Man type effigy work in lieu of a cross, for training purposes?
    Wouldn't last 5 minutes and not enough resistance to develop powerful strikes. With a training cross the Bokken become disposable. I'm gonna knock out a dozen or so for use on the cross so I don't break my nice ones. While you don't go Babe Ruth with them, eventually after enough impacts they will crack and split.
    Last edited by SteyrAUG; 08-16-11 at 00:00.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

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    Go the whole nine yards and buy a real pell instead. You would get much better sword technique from a moving base pell than with a fixed pell and you will save your elbow and shoulders into your late 50's and 60's with a moving pell. Also, proper technique of your sword swing and foot placement is very important for the power of your swing and the accuracy of your strike.

    Yes I was in SCA and yes, I have done mostly dueling; never any big battles like Estrella or anything like that.

    ETA: Here is a site that shows different kinds of pells.

    http://www.woodenswords.com/Pell/ubiquitous_pell.htm
    Last edited by nimdabew; 08-16-11 at 00:16.
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    hang a sign on it when you're not using it saying 'here lies chestnut, the bestest horse a man could have. 1994-2011'.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SteyrAUG View Post
    Not really something that lends itself to a portable model. Will probably be in a one foot by one foot cement pad and 2 feet into the ground. Otherwise you are just gonna constantly knock it over.



    No sense in trying to make it pretty, it won't stay that way. Maybe I'll just hang a coiled hose on it when not in use.
    Not to make it pretty, but so it doesn't look like it's a religious cross
    INSIDE PLAN OF BOX
    1. ROAD-RUNNER LIFTS GLASS OF WATER- PULLING UP MATCH
    2. MATCH SCRATCHES ON MATCH-BOX
    3. MATCH LIGHTS FUSE TO TNT
    4. BOOM!
    5. HA-HA!!

    -WILE E. COYOTE, AUTHOR OF "EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW IN LIFE, I LEARNED FROM GOLDBERG & MURPHY"

    http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n289/SgtSongDog/AR%20Carbine/DSC_0114.jpg
    I am American

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    Quote Originally Posted by nimdabew View Post
    Go the whole nine yards and buy a real pell instead. You would get much better sword technique from a moving base pell than with a fixed pell and you will save your elbow and shoulders into your late 50's and 60's with a moving pell. Also, proper technique of your sword swing and foot placement is very important for the power of your swing and the accuracy of your strike.

    Yes I was in SCA and yes, I have done mostly dueling; never any big battles like Estrella or anything like that.

    ETA: Here is a site that shows different kinds of pells.

    http://www.woodenswords.com/Pell/ubiquitous_pell.htm
    I understand the advantages of the moving base but I want a fixed. I know enough not to baseball bat a fixed post. I've done enough training on fixed post crosses in the past to not have any detrimental effects. I did dig the suspended tire target, not sure I want one in my front yard though.

    Quote Originally Posted by militarymoron View Post
    hang a sign on it when you're not using it saying 'here lies chestnut, the bestest horse a man could have. 1994-2011'.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

    كافر

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