Black sword of mystery.

Thin but very strong hard wood, coated with thin 5mm hard foam. This product surprised my club and I when we received it. The overall quality of the item is very good. With a nice strong textured foam grip, a well fitted and functional tsuba, with a hard foam coated "blade". The blade using a smoother non textured foam.

The thing that surprised us though, was that the bokken was overall, actually heavier than our normal full oak bokkens. After taking a moment between ourselves to try them out, we found that the foam did very little to actually pad the blows. Striking them against each other resulted in the foam splitting in small gashes along the blade, which although the tough foam did not seem to have any risk of ripping further, made it clear that these weren't well suited for sparing. The illusion of padding, if anything, actually lured us into false sense of security and a more dangerous sparring session than without the foam.

Which leaves this product an oddity to us. Well crafted, but ill suited to what most would assume it's purpose to be. As a solo training weapon, this foam bokken remains valid, with a good weight and very nice grip. It would even look fine on display next to other bokkens, due to it's sleek looks, provided the foam is not allowed to take any gashes from impacts. I would especially recommend against considering this as a training weapon for younger members, as we had first intended. The lighter foam swords are much more suitable.

In the end, I have actually removed the upper foam from mine, sanded and then polished the wooden blade inside. Essentially a textured grip on a narrow bokkon. The end result is a curious "wooden katana" looking item, which I quite like despite it's unusual origins, and still use as a conventional bokken.