[QUOTE=t_niehoff;937245]And therein lies your problem.[/QUOTE]
i guess the answer is to…
a) not trust anyone
or
b) think that you know everything about MA training
i talked to my sijo about this. the way we train our dummy is not for power generation etc, so the dummy does not have to be indestructible. i evaluated what he said and came to my own conclusion :o. shocking.
humor me for those of you who would know…what types of places carry this type of pipe? sanjuro said industrial supplies…what section of the phone book is taht in?
Wood is better but PVC is not useless as a training device. Something is better than nothing. And as to a certain sound boxers and other fighting disciplines hit very hard without using a “wooden” dummy. Being able to hit hard and fast is more valuable than what sound you make.
8" sch80 PVC pipe with .500" wall thickness is 8.522 lbs per foot so a 6ft piece would be 51.132 lbs.
Mine is made of culvert pipe. I measured it today and it is 12 inches in diameter. I cut it off to 6 feet in length, and it weighs close to 200 pounds. It is over 3/4 inch thick and super hard. I used a hole saw to make the holes for the oak arms, but I also have pvc arms and leg. I have dis-assembled it and am in the process of moving it now. I never pay attention to the sound anyway, but then I do not consider that to be of any consiquence. Sound can be misleading, and it does not aid in your application. The dummy is merely an aid to train when you don't want to use a real human. For obvious reasons. But that is just me. I have never fell to tradition. It is ok I suppose, but it has never dictated to me which route to take. I might be wrong about this, but I think mine might still be around when my grand children are my age.
I have set it up to represent a man of 6 feet. When I am in stance the face is up much higher than my own face. I have noticed that most dummies are shorter then the person using it. I find that this is rather unrealistic compared to most situations I have been involved in.
If you are buying one for a school, or you just want a wooden dummy, wood looks good and it is very functional. But if you are only interested in pure functionality then a pvc dummy will get the job done.