Samurai War Club! Making a Kanabō for Metatron: Kodama Woodworks Episode 5
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Thanks for watching ☺ I recently had the privilege to make a kanabō for one of my favorite youtubers, the Metatron. I tried to get it as historically accurate as possible, but there was an unfortunate lack of information about these. So, I hope it came out acceptably close. Please feel free to comment any questions you may have. Also, please feel free to visit my Facebook page "Kodama Woodworks" / eliotchildressniftyman
You can find the Metatron’s channel here: / @metatronyt
U-Drive Screws www.mcmaster.c...
Also, in case you’re curious about the weapons dynamics charts near the end, these videos explain it very well: • Medieval Review - Docu...
Music
Heavy Interlude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Folk Round by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
the secret is to find a whole tree not lumber... that is slow grown with little water; this makes the densest wood and these trees are selected by weapon makers.
In Portugal there is holm oak or quercus ilex, using blanks
As the African drum makers say "a nice dry one"
@@weareallbeingwatched4602 I’ve seen some chew pieces of the wood to be sure. Some true advocates of nature.
@@niswii the retro mohs hardness scale - "biting the gold".
Man, I would love to own one of those weapons. Looks beautifully crafted as well. Great job I have to say.
I love woodworking. I love weapons. Can’t wait to get back from Korea and try this out. Thanks a lot for the video
Nicely done sir! Remember, with handle or grips, you should be able to fold your fingers around the handle, for a secure grip. This is how they made them, so you did not lose your grip on the weapon. Very nice!
It’s so beautiful and you did a awesome job on the hexagonal/octagonal shape
Looks awesome! The craftsmanship is fantastic!
A joy to watch, craftsmanship at its finest.
Julian Carmichael thank you :)
Did the Metatron ever thank you for this piece of beautiful craftsmanship? I don't recall seeing him post a video about it even though I'm sure he said he wanted a Kanabo.
He made a short patreon video about it saying he would make a dedicated video but I have yet to see that. Last I heard him mention it was a passing comment that he owned a kanabo but that it was a bit unwieldy, which doesn't surprise me but also makes me worried he's using it like a baseball bat rather than a weapon. It felt ok to me when swung while slipping the hands, but if held with your hands static it was a bit heavy.
@@EliotChildressit looks wieldy to me
@@EliotChildressdid he at least pay you for it?!
@EliotChildress Metatron tends to do his research, certainly, but this is also a pretty obscure topic, as there are no Ryuha that I'm aware of, which contain formal techniques for the kanabo. From what I do know of its (speculated) use, the strikes were mainly downward, using gravity for propulsion and the ground to arrest the enertia... not unlike what you do with a sledgehammer. It was also commonly used very much like a battering ram, apparently. And there is a Kukishin Ryu bojutsu technique, which is almost certainly derivative of a kanabo technique, where the shoulder is used as a fulcrum. Anyway, I hope this message finds you well, and is not overly redundant. On youtube, I focus on shurikenjutsu, but I am versed in bugei as a whole, and figured you might not mind me chiming in. 👍👍
Beautiful piece.
Don't worry all that much about accuracy- Kanabo and Tetsubo measure anywhere from foot long little clubs to seven foot polearms.
Cool,
My tribe (Makah) tribe has a War Club Design and it's made form the jaw bone of a whale. I'm working on a Documentary on Native American weapons and warfare. I have an introductory video on my page that shows the design.
But surely not all your tribes clubs utilised whale bone?? How many whales would they cull per year.?
Dude, that's an awesome lineage! So hyped for that video! I've never heard of any people's using whale bond for a weapon!! Any chance you could link the video when it's done?
Charlie Bowen you gotta remember that back in the day these tribes probably didn’t exist in large numbers, and that out of those tribesmen not all of them were warriors, and of those warriors only some would have used those clubs.
@@charliebowen5071 enough
whaling is fun
A weapon fit for Yamato himself!
The historical examples wiki shows were crude pipes with spikes drawn out. That makes more sense as a weapon. Friction fitting them on and having the spikes attached to steel eliminates a whole lot of weak points. The diy examples on TH-cam most have the studs ripped out as soon as it hits something.
I watched this a few weeks ago and decided to make a kanabo of my own. However, because I'm equal parts a miser and a masochist, I've been doing it with nothing but a rasp. Thanks for the inspiration!
I'd love to see the final result. Have fun and I wish you luck with the tedium :)
Thanks! I started on the 20th and I've put somewhere around 30 hours into it so far, but I believe I'm almost done. If you're serious about seeing the final result, how shall I go about that?
@@Urdarbrunn I have no idea haha. I'm still not very good at this whole youtube thing. But if you post it to instagram or something similar I can check it out through a link. I think it'd be kind of fun to create galleries of peoples' works to inspire even more people.
@@EliotChildress Sounds like a great idea, I can probably dump it into imgur and post it when it's done. Until then, take care.
@@Urdarbrunn Did you ever finish it? If yes, can we see?
Thanks for the tip on the nail screws from McMaster 👍🏻
Amazingly well done, both the end product, and the quality of the video production.
Looks great! Can’t wait to try this myself.
the metatronions are with you
Yes we are !!!
Super cool. Also the only one ive seen built so far that i would find worthy to call battle ready instead of decorative like most modern weapon replicas.
Thanks! I spent days researching dimensions but they are few and far between. But I did my best while working from what I could find. I may have gone a bit far in terms of strength but it’s definitely not too weak lol.
should have done 108 studs for that buddha cred
excellent Work, I love the carving.
My heart sank for him when he said he had to let it go and send it away. Definitely the mark of someone working with love for an art c:
slevin1157 if I could keep everything I make I 100% would. It’s hard to let go of some things, but these videos are how I keep them around.
I looked up pictures of the kanabo on pininterest. It shown variety in the design. Some were obviously made to be more agile like a baseball bat while others were super thick and bulky. From what I noticed is the studs' spacing with each other and clustering were more dense. There were some kanabos with an added feature where a metal sheet was placed on each side of the blunt face. It was hammered and nailed in by the studs. This gave it more protection and durability to the wood. Not all of them had this. (I think metal was very expensive back then. This would explain why not all of the versions we see have the metal sheet or were flat out made out of metal entirely.) Some versions had the studs to be poking out more predominately. Some were either blunt sharp studs like you see on a morning star mace or were rounded. Both seem to indicate they nails were very pronounced and protruding outward from the weapon as a common feature.
I think the shape of this weapon is fine. I think the studs should be more numerous or perhaps more dense in spacing. The studs might need to be more poking out. I can understand why this was not done for your weapon. I don't think they make a lot of stuff that can be sued for a historically accurate kanabo. This would cause it to be more difficult to find stuff to make one or maybe doing some homemade style metal shaping to produce the studs or blunt spikes. Considering I think the original samurai and soldiers had go through similar situations where they make do with what they got around, afford, or what the best of their abilities can create this is accurate in my opinion. I can see a person out there in the past making studs like this and giving them a grouping like this. I would give it a pass.
Pininterest
Beeing 4 years late, I got two thoughts:
a) I'd prefer to get a handle with more grip to it. You may wanna lose a lot of force, if the club is rotating in your hands at the moment of impact.
b) There are nails for historical shoe making. They are basically tiny iron pyramids with a pin at the base to nail them into the sole. Roman soldiers shoes had them. Ask the Metatron!
But, just two minor thoughts. I'm totally in love with your club right now!
❤ awesome job!
Dude this is so awesome!
man i would love for you to make another one. a taller one with strips of metal and the studs. would also love to see you make a gunstock war club. i recently made myself one and i think you would love it.
A custom made flintlock with engraved everything was on my list before I moved to japan... sadly now it’s just a project I’ll never get to do...
Damn this video goes crazy
Masterpiece, excelente. Saludos desde la lejana Argentina
2 questions: How does hickory fare in making a weapon like this?
Also have you ever made anything from American burr oak which grows in the Midwest and Plains states?
Woodworking is such an underrated profession.
Hickory is one of the best for things like this. It’s very good at handling impact which is why they use it for ax handles a lot of the time.
Holy cow I want one of these!
Great videos bro
There are so many varieties of Kanabos, like both wood and metal that you mentioned, they can be tapered or not, sharp or blunt. The way you want it to be is pretty much your (and weapon makers') call. However I am sure it's illegal to own a Kanabo with sharp mace points nowadays, so either stubbed Kanabo or just flat is the only thing that can be owned legally in most states.
I found a pecan stick and it looks like a club and it made me think what can i make and then your video was in my recommended and i was like it's fate and I'm 50% done and i love playing with it
Glad to hear it! Hope you enjoy every minute of the process.
@@EliotChildress oh i am it's small too maybe a foot but I'm loving this project
Dude I had no idea my grandma was a ninja! I mean, she had like four of those things on her bed holding up curtains! Joking joking only joking! Great job and I enjoyed the bit of Japanese history.
Sup homie. You badass kickass Japanese war club maker you.
Whoah, The Metatron is a lucky guy. Envious of your shop bro, no I've build 👍
Amazing
Can you make them in Cherrywood and how much???
I totally want one! What’s it gonna cost me to get just the turned blank? No carving .no u screws. Not even the bumps on the handle. Just the octagon and a round handle?
I would make one of those but with Obsidian blades like an Aztec Macuahuitl
Artillery nails.
We use those to mount type plates to machines
knutzzl Rampspoetnikov well that’s a much cooler sounding name than what I found. I’m gonna start calling them that.
Incredible wood working skills! We need to resurrect vocational training in the United States rather than pushing now unaffordable colleges and universities that do not prepare students for the harsh realities of life post-graduation including being in debt for $100K plus.
Whats the measuremets/sizes?
Like from the starting block to finish?
@@ReasonbyNight I don’t fully remember but probably about 3 to 2.5 inches square stock that was maybe 4.5 feet long.
@@EliotChildress Thank you!
It's a Paul Bunyan sized baseball bat. Gives new meaning to the words "grand slam" however, I'd like to have one, you know for the Zombie apocalypse and all that.
how big was this Kanabo, id love to make my own as im also a wood turner and im also a martial artist so this would be an amazing project to work on
I think it was like five feet. I don’t really remember… I just looked at old pictures and woodblock prints to get an estimate. I’ve only seen one in real life but it was in a shrine so pictures weren’t allowed. From what I remember it was about that long. Hope you enjoy the project. Good luck 👍
@@EliotChildress thank you so much I hope you have a great new year
I’m using some higher Janka stuff for mine.
What diameter are the U drive screw heads on this project?
Plannng on making a quauhololli( mexica club) but with a hibrid of kanabo woth cilindrical buddy and a ball head at the end and thanks for this video
How did you get the beech wood? I’m trying to make one of my own yet cannot find a size comparable to yours.
It’s two boards glued together.
Thank-you.
So if I wanted to increase the weight of something like this could I put a metal core in the center of it? Or would that cause some issues with durability?
I don’t really think it needs the extra weight, it packs quite the punch as is, but…. If you feel like it, I would cut a groove down the center of both pieces before gluing into a square and epoxy some all thread in there. Then just for extra protection and added weight add a metal hoop at the top to keep that part from splitting. But i’d be sure to make the rod extend into the handle part too or else it might crack in half at the end of the handle.
Otimo video, ficou realmente muito linda
obrigado :)
What were the dimensions of the wood you used & the size of the nail-screws?
Oh man, you made me dig through some old emails for that info haha. But they were 18-8 stainless steel, size 12. 1/2 inch long. I think item number 91654A291. But honestly I’d just recommend going with whatever size your gut tells you. As for the wood I don’t have any record of that but maybe 2.5x2.5 inches or 3x3 inches.
What size where the screws you used?
I was kind of skeptical from the thumbnail. After watching I have to congratulate you on your job. I know you did your research. Is there a reason you didn't make a tapered one other than it being easier not to? Great job no criticism intended!
Where did you get the beechwood?
I like that !
Great job dude!
Do you have any of the Kanabo’s for sale ?
A lot of work there
Where did you get your beech wood from? Was the square stock made by gluing 2 pieces together? What was the measurements of the square stock before cutting? What measurements did you use to cut the piece down to an equilateral octagon?
Sorry for the late reply, I've been away from the channel for a bit. But I got my wood from Hughes Hardwood in Rancho Cordova, CA. And yes it was made by gluing two pieces together but I made sure to orient the grain so that eventual warping would press the edges of the joint together. And to be honest I don't remember any of the measurements. I cut off a test piece and kept adjusting my fence until I got it right. Hope that helps.
How did you make the hex shape on the damage part of the weapon?
It was actually an octagon so pretty easy. Just cut some 45 degree bevels on the table saw. I think the process would be similar for a hexagon though. Just at different angles. Cut one, rotate, cut the next
@@EliotChildress ty
Would u ever make one and sell it?????? And maybe a heavier one
What's the measurements on the screws that you used?
Looks like Osage which is interlocked and very strong.
How much do you charge for these. I would like to buy one.
it looks great, now you got smash some poor sap's head to see if it works
I know I'm super late to the game but where did you get your lumber from? I'm desperate to find it out in my area.
Alexander Evans I’m from the Sacramento area and got it at Hughes hardwood. It was almost an hour drive but worth it to find the right stuff. I’d recommend a deep dive google search or ask at your local hardware store where to go for nice stuff. Somebody might know something or at least point you in the right direction. There’s also online ordering if it comes to that but I’ve never tried it. Slightly tempted to do online now though since my move to hyper rural japan. Hardwood lumber is pretty rare out here.
Could you do a tupi-borduna? It's a weapon of the brazillian natives
Tell me please what are you hammering in 8:38? How it's calling?
They are called U drive screws. They are basically hammer-in screws. They are linked in the description. I wish they were a bit more spike shaped rather than domed on the top, but I couldn’t find anything like that. Oh well.
what's the name of these screws?
Would there be any benefit to inserting threaded tubing so that you could use different styles of bolt heads? Or would the tubing be weaker than plain wood?
I considered it, and I don't think there would be strength difference in regards to the wood itself. My concern was the need to retighten the spikes all the time like I remember having to for my track/field cleats.
How big is the piece of beech you used at the start?
It was about 4’6” and I think like 2.5”-3” square in cross section. It was made of two pieces glued together with the arcs of the end grain facing away from each other to keep it more stable.
@@EliotChildress Cheers lad. Also, how long did you make the rounded handle before you did the carving? Is it half and half?
@@beardednortherner64 I can’t remember exactly but looking at the weapons dynamics chart I made it looks to be between 60/40 and 50/50. But not 50/50 exactly. If you want the real measurements you’d have to ask the metatron since he has it now.
Not understand why they would put metal Stubbs in making the hole for it would weeken it and they wouldn't cause any damage to someone when you hit them either??
Thanks for the question. I must admit my studs are not 100% accurate because they SHOULD be sharper. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any without paying a blacksmith to custom make them. But even as is, they do have a job. The main reason is for anti armor. The studs allow the force to be concentrated on a smaller and harder area so that it has more chance of imparting that force into the hard armor. It’s the same idea as a spiked mace head medieval knights would use. Simple wood would have a greater chance of deforming around the armor, damaging itself in the process. The holes do technically weaken the wood but it’s still plenty strong and some of the antique ones used metal banding to add more strength and keep the wood from splitting.
I want to buy one from you because no one sells them or makes them and I’ve done training with them for a while but I want to get my own 😅
You have not trained with a kanabo!
*ah yeah shugoki time*
How long did this take you to make?
Excluding the decorations, about half a day. Including, maybe a week including designing the carving.
White Oak would work.
May i asked What Size u screws you used? Please?
I used the 18-8 Stainless Steel ones. Size 12, 1/2" long. They were $9.85 for a pack of 100. Product number: 91654A291
THANK YOU
very cool just subbed. what did you finish it with? an oil or a lacquer?
Thank you :) As for the finish it was General Finishes Seal A Cell and then Arm R Seal. Most historical Kanabous were lacquered so I didn't feel weird about using that. But my personal preference for wooden weapons is oil. I just like the way it feels and is what I use on my Bokken and Jo.
Aki oni I like that
What modifications did you do to that lathe?
Pack AR223 I had to make a plywood extension for the table that I clamped on to the main bit. (Didn’t want to drill and tap the metal) It actually worked really well and was surprisingly stable. And the circular holding bit with wheels to keep the piece from flexing while I cut it. But the second thing is pretty typical and idk if I’d call it a modification as much as just an accessory.
I want One!
I just want to say how absolutely terifying these things look and how i could see it 100% being able to chop down an armored samurai
Beautif ul weapon.👍👍👍
What size u-drive screws did you use?
Oh man, you made me dig through some emails haha. But they were 18-8 stainless steel, size 12. 1/2 inch long. I think item number 91654A291. But honestly I’d just recommend going with whatever size your gut tells you.
Thank you for your reply. (I was trawling the net yesterday for these in the UK and I finally found some in size 12.)
This may sound uneducated but I have no clue about woodworking, is that a wood lathe you got?
Thanks for asking. I’m always happy to answer any and all questions.
Yep it’s a lathe. I had to make an extension for it and also add a stabilizer in the middle to work on this piece though. Otherwise the wood would flex from the pressure of the tools.
we, in industry call them "riv-nuts"
Has it been tested?
I swung it around a lot and it worked really well if you let your hands slide up and down the handle rather than thinking of it as a club with a fixed grip. But as for hitting, the best I can do is say I firmly believe it’d take you out on one swing but since I was sending it off I couldn’t actually hit stuff. You’d have to ask the metatron how it is when you hit stuff.
Hey what size screws did you use ?
I used the 18-8 Stainless Steel ones. Size 12, 1/2" long. They were $9.85 for a pack of 100. Product number: 91654A291
Thanks so much
You didn't bash anything.
Dr. Bombay I know... I wish I had... but it wasn’t mine to destroy since I was giving it away :(
Mortem Kanabo IRL be like:
Do you sell these?
If I could I would. But I moved to japan and had to start over from scratch. Maybe in a couple years when I save up enough for a lathe.
@@EliotChildress I understand thanks! Good luck over there.
Would be interesting to design a walking stick with that general style.
visually it looks awesome, tho if used, it would split like nothing. id add several metal rings, specialy top and botom, and i would leave handle rough for beter grip.
I completely agree that rings would be a great addition that I probably should've added. Honestly, I heavily considered adding some but some weird combination of doubting my ability to do it well and a desire to keep the weight down convinced me not to. However, I have complete faith in the wood staying together as is. It's a massive piece with carefully chosen grain, so I'm not worried. If anything I'd say it'd would likely split the way baseball bats do, which adding rings wouldn't remedy.
Can you make me want but smaller size appreciate it thank you
Oni demon club
金棒いいですなぁ！金棒とは日本の妖怪の鬼が持っている武器ですな
「鬼に金棒」という言葉があるぐらいです
ほしいw
me need club
For Honor Shogoki's weapon
GoogleTristinTheFox N Gamer agust iuriai :D?