Just curious, but how different is the weight difference between Teak and another popular kind of wood… lets say red oak?
Does it FEEL any different..?
Just wondering, since teak seems to be much more expensive than everything else, and if its just for the name then there is no point…
depends on how it’s finished. teak is used in furniture, hence the high cost. Based on the finishes of those that I’ves seen, it’s a very smooth dry feel to it
What is generally heavier, teak or red oak?
Does weigth even matter when comparing wooden dummies?
What about the bill/choon sao (which just so happens is the only kind of move like that, that I can actually pull off). I know you said it would be a “better” option, but would it still be too impractical? I generally do a bill/punch, then a choon (which basically works to me like a second bill sao…) then lop the elbow and begin roll punching…
I didn’t mean to sound that black and white … my position is that this is a technique that requires ome pretty good timing and judgement of what’s coming in. Misjudge it, best case you’re too far away to capitalise on the move, worst case .. BLOOEY!
IMO there are less sophisticated but higher percentage defenses. We still teach these combinations, and I get 'em in sparring now and then, but IMO they are a more advance technique. Don’t let me put you off them, though.
If there was a main point ot my post it was to try to move to the outside, but only if it’s an option from where you are. And that you have options on the inside as well.
Why learn multiple blocks and not just stick with say bil sao? Because each block has strengths and weaknesses. Bil sao works great if the guy is right in front of you and throws a haymaker, but if you’re standing at the bar and the guy on your left taps you on the shoulder and throws a sucker left hook, bil sao wont work. Here is where that bon to the inside (with a left wing arm, right wu sao) works beautifully. Jam that hook with the bon, larp his right wrist, and jerk it out to your right while you introduce his face to your left elbow. Turn to face him, larp his neck with your left and knee him in the face.
brithlor
I don’t know for sure but I’m guessing red oak is heavier. In the old days for jongs Yip Man would prefer himself and choose for his valued students a special wood I don’t know the name of. It was so dense that it would sink when placed in water (supposedly :))
Thanks for the clarification there Anerlich. So you DO believe there are practical applications to moves like that, but not for everything, otherwise what would be the point of things like tan/ bill saos etc.
Does the weight of the dummy really matter? I mean, if I made a HOLLOW dummy would my wing chun skill suffer because of that..?
PVC dummies are HOLLOW. They are OK for training ANGLE and POSTIONING.
I’ve often been surprised at how certain techniques that I thought would have no practical application have worked for me or other people when the right situation presented itself.
At the end of a very tough grading when I was a shuffling punching bag after sparring about ten fresh guys nonstop, the last guy just happend to step a certain way and I got him with the take down out of the seventh dummy set - it just worked perfectly.
A friend of mine used to practice jumping splits kicks - we kept telling him “that’ll never work” then one day we had a pretend brawl in a park for training, In the middle of a melee two guys just were in cretain positions and he managed to nail both of them with that kick. It might never work again in 100 years, but it worked that time.
If neither of us had had the faith to practice those techniques though, we wouldn’t have got them to work.
There’s a wrestling and jiu jitsu move called the guillotine by some, and the “twister” by others. It is insanely complex, takes 8 moves to set up, and requires you to relinqush some of the normal jiu jitsu positional controls during those moves to achieve it. Eddie Bravo submits BJJ black belt competitors with it regularly in competition.
Aren’t PVC dummies filled with concrete?
That makes sense what you’re saying Anerlich, however, if the friend of yours ONLY practiced that jumping kick, and it only worked 1/100 times then I would still rather forget all about that move and work on something that would be best for the other 99% of the time.
The PVC dummies I sell are hollow. The Warrior Dummies http://www.thewarrior.com/ are also hollow.
Do you sell wooden dummies also? On the web?
Brithlor
Yes, I have someone making PVC dummies with wooden arms and a wooden leg. They are made to the exact measurement of the Koo Sang dummies only the arm spacing has been corrected. Yip Man gave the plans for the first dummies made in HK to one of William Cheung’s brothers. When it was done Yip Man noticed a flaw in the arm spacing but he just left it like that. I have made the corrections on my dummies. I can email you a photo of one if you’d like. The guy that is making does it in his spare time. We are not mass producing them. So far he has made 3.
phil
when you say flaw in arm spacing do you mean the arms should be level, or do you mean the actualy space between them were wrong in the original plans?
if it’s the latter could you please explain more specifically? thanks.
EmptyCup
The arms were supposed to be level. It is the spacing between the arms that I was talking about.
what’s the correct spacing supposed to be then?
The measurements are on a drawing that I don’t have with me at the present.
level of arms on dummy
Originally posted by Phil Redmond
The arms were supposed to be level.
Bologna…
For someone who is considered an icon of a martial art dating 300 years, Yip Man made a lot of mistakes… Or that’s what you’d have us believe…
you mean to tell me he taught everybody different knife sets and footwork on PURPOSE!!! get outta here!!! 
Keng Geng
It’s amazing what people out of the loop will say without really knowing the truth. The plans for the FIRST dummy made in HK were given to William Cheung’s brother, who also was a student of Yip Man. I have learned WC from other student’s of Yip Man besides William Cheung. They ALL say the arms should be level. Think about it. Do you do the bong in SLT/SNT, CK, or Biu Jee at a different height on either side? Is the tan on the left lower that the tan on the right? No, you train both sides evenly. /this way you cover the left and right gates on the same level. The plans that Yip Man gave William Cheung’s brother had the arms level. Period. You train your way I’ll continue to train my way as I have for 33 years. I’ll post a link to a site unrelated to my lineage where the Sifu mentions that William Cheung’s brother got the paln for the first dummy in HK. No one was using a dummy in HK until then.
>>For someone who is considered an icon of a martial art dating 300 years, Yip Man made a lot of mistakes… Or that’s what you’d have us believe…<<
You obviously know little about Yip Man. He was known for telling people, “Yeah, that’s right” regardless of what they were doing.