DIY "Tatami" with reeds experience.
Aug 27, 2023 1:30:11 GMT
Post by larason2 on Aug 27, 2023 1:30:11 GMT
Well, I decided I wanted to be part of the tameshigiri club, but the problem is coming up with appropriate materials for targets isn’t that easy around here. I could have done water bottles, jugs, or pool noodles, but those didn’t appeal to me that much. I wanted a real, or as close to real as I could get tatami mat to cut on. I'd read a few posts about using reeds to make targets for tameshigiri, so I decided to try it, as that's what we have around here. There aren't tons of pictures and reports of how using those goes, so I decided to report on it.
So this morning I drove out to a stand of reeds on the side of the road in the country. I took my flea market axe, and got to cutting them down. Some of them stand up to 7 feet or more high, so they are definitely long enough! It’s actually quite fun to do that, rather like a farming sim in real life! I cut my hand a few times on the reed fronds, so gloves are recommended. I just bent the reed over, and hacked at the base with the axe a few times. I had a cart to simplify moving them to my car. Manitoba is the land of lakes, so it’s not too hard to find reeds on the roadside! I harvested about 40 lbs worth in about an hour or so.
Once back home, I got to figuring out how to make a proper mat! I had seen a video online where someone was making a reed mat. In the video, they tied two long strands of twine around one reed, and they kept threading new reeds in between the twine, twisting after each one to keep it together. I chose a height that was somewhat arbitrary, based on the size of my reeds, but it ended up being 6 feet long! That’s a bit long, about 5 feet is more ideal. This process took a long time though, probably about an hour and a half for one mat (maybe if I wasn’t so lazy it would have been faster!). So I wouldn't recommend it.
For the second mat, I just threw half the reeds one way, and half the other way, and just wrapped them up. I tried a few different wraps, but found the best was one where I put a loop on the end of the twine, then used that to cinch the wrap, holding it in place by wrapping it around again the other way, then using a sort of overhand knot three times to keep it together. It was way faster, and it ended up about 5 feet long, which was a bit better. One problem though is I should have laid them out to distribute them a bit more, as one half of the bundle was basically one orientation, and the other half the other, so it was a bit lopsided! The other problem was that the bundle weighed 26 lbs, and was 8 inches wide! The other mat was 6 inches wide and 17 lbs! Given the average tatami is about 10 lbs, that made them all too big. So I cut them apart and rewrapped them into four x five foot long, 10 lb bundles, just laying them out to get the balance of reeds going one way and reeds going another.
A while ago, I made a tameshigiri spike out of scrap wood. I had some inexpensive elm on hand, which had sat in the wood shop probably for years because it was really warped, so I made the spike out of that, jointing/planing to make it square, then shaping it with a small spokeshave I have and sanding it. The frame was some whitewood/pine that I had lying around, with a flat piece with a hole carved into it to go on the spike. I thought about making the spike out of pine, but I don't think it would have been tough enough. I glued it with wood glue, and I just finished it quick with mineral oil. The spike worked great, but the bottom ends of the reed bundles were a bit too loose, so after a few seconds they would start to tip over. I just got some nylon rope and cinched the end really tight, and that solved the problem.
So that’s where it stands (pardon the pun). I was going to try some cutting today, but I was tired from all my harvesting and wrapping, and so is my brother in law, who wanted to do some tameshigiri with me. So maybe tomorrow we’ll try them out. When we do, I’ll post a video if I can and report back with how they did! So not part of the tameshigiri club yet, but hopefully soon!
Here's the stand where I did my harvesting. Looks like I was barely there!
Here's the spike/stand I made. This is before treating with mineral oil.
Here's the finished product. I used nylon for the cinch at the bottom because cotton twine has a tendency to break if you pull too hard! No way the nylon is going to break. It looks about the same width as rolled up tatami. Still have to decide if I should still soak it, since it's still so fresh. I'll report back with how it performs!
So this morning I drove out to a stand of reeds on the side of the road in the country. I took my flea market axe, and got to cutting them down. Some of them stand up to 7 feet or more high, so they are definitely long enough! It’s actually quite fun to do that, rather like a farming sim in real life! I cut my hand a few times on the reed fronds, so gloves are recommended. I just bent the reed over, and hacked at the base with the axe a few times. I had a cart to simplify moving them to my car. Manitoba is the land of lakes, so it’s not too hard to find reeds on the roadside! I harvested about 40 lbs worth in about an hour or so.
Once back home, I got to figuring out how to make a proper mat! I had seen a video online where someone was making a reed mat. In the video, they tied two long strands of twine around one reed, and they kept threading new reeds in between the twine, twisting after each one to keep it together. I chose a height that was somewhat arbitrary, based on the size of my reeds, but it ended up being 6 feet long! That’s a bit long, about 5 feet is more ideal. This process took a long time though, probably about an hour and a half for one mat (maybe if I wasn’t so lazy it would have been faster!). So I wouldn't recommend it.
For the second mat, I just threw half the reeds one way, and half the other way, and just wrapped them up. I tried a few different wraps, but found the best was one where I put a loop on the end of the twine, then used that to cinch the wrap, holding it in place by wrapping it around again the other way, then using a sort of overhand knot three times to keep it together. It was way faster, and it ended up about 5 feet long, which was a bit better. One problem though is I should have laid them out to distribute them a bit more, as one half of the bundle was basically one orientation, and the other half the other, so it was a bit lopsided! The other problem was that the bundle weighed 26 lbs, and was 8 inches wide! The other mat was 6 inches wide and 17 lbs! Given the average tatami is about 10 lbs, that made them all too big. So I cut them apart and rewrapped them into four x five foot long, 10 lb bundles, just laying them out to get the balance of reeds going one way and reeds going another.
A while ago, I made a tameshigiri spike out of scrap wood. I had some inexpensive elm on hand, which had sat in the wood shop probably for years because it was really warped, so I made the spike out of that, jointing/planing to make it square, then shaping it with a small spokeshave I have and sanding it. The frame was some whitewood/pine that I had lying around, with a flat piece with a hole carved into it to go on the spike. I thought about making the spike out of pine, but I don't think it would have been tough enough. I glued it with wood glue, and I just finished it quick with mineral oil. The spike worked great, but the bottom ends of the reed bundles were a bit too loose, so after a few seconds they would start to tip over. I just got some nylon rope and cinched the end really tight, and that solved the problem.
So that’s where it stands (pardon the pun). I was going to try some cutting today, but I was tired from all my harvesting and wrapping, and so is my brother in law, who wanted to do some tameshigiri with me. So maybe tomorrow we’ll try them out. When we do, I’ll post a video if I can and report back with how they did! So not part of the tameshigiri club yet, but hopefully soon!
Here's the stand where I did my harvesting. Looks like I was barely there!
Here's the spike/stand I made. This is before treating with mineral oil.
Here's the finished product. I used nylon for the cinch at the bottom because cotton twine has a tendency to break if you pull too hard! No way the nylon is going to break. It looks about the same width as rolled up tatami. Still have to decide if I should still soak it, since it's still so fresh. I'll report back with how it performs!
