Welcome
Bernard Saligné is a manufacturer of bokken , jo, and related japanese wooden weapons , located in Dordogne France.
He is a martial art practitioner for twenty years , and his passion for woodworking is still older.
All the equipments presented in these pages are made by him. He works and carves wood in a traditional way, by using specifics wood tools. Some weapons are completely hand worked, only finished with cutting tools and not sanded. Concave and convex planes, spokshaves, chisels, contribute to reveal the specific characters and qualities of each wood, in order to provide you the best quality of Bokken and jo.
Bernard Saligne has been engaged in the manufacture of wooden weapons for international martial art seminars, and different federations of Japanese sword schools.
In order to answer the different requests, several woods are proposed to
manufacture your material:
Native woods like hornbeam, ash-olive wood, evergreen-oak... (according to availability).
Exotic wood like jatoba (web site photo )with FSC label.
Two different completions are proposed:
Standard completion:
Weapons are initially fashioned with electric wood tools , then hand worked and the final shaping is made with sandpaper.
It is a manufacturing process which allows to make small series while preserving the handcrafted quality. They are signed then oiled
Koryu completion:
Weapons are completely hand cut. All is made with planes, wood chisels... without the use of machine cut and without sandpapering. Weapons have an authentic look like in feudal times. Each wooden weapon is different from another.The little smooth facets left by the planes contribute to the feeling of an “alive” bokken. They are signed then oiled.
Thank you for your visit.
I whish you a productive practice in the way you have chosen.
Bernard Saligné