DIY Nunchuck Ideas

DIY Nunchuck Ideas

You can call them Nunchakus or nunchucks….They are one of the most iconic weapon types from martial art films and television.

How many wanna-be Bruce Lee’s were spawned by that scene from Enter the Dragon where he kicks some serious bad guy ass with his trusty Nunchakus and haphaphazardly manufactured your own ‘chucks?

As you know these are considered weapons NOT toys….Learn how to diy your own nunchuck set in a material that will not cause physical harm so you can practice your moves, have a cool costume prop, or just have a new ice-breaker in the living room.

Make yourself a set of these really cool nunchucks…use them as decorative art pieces (like I’m doing) or tools to impress your kids with your best Bruce Lee moves! Kids today are very enraptured by ninja culture as you can see with popular movie and TV icons.

What Can You DIY Your Nunchucks Out Of?

There are a variety of different objects you can make your nunchuks from. They include wood, cardboard, foam, and PVC pipe.  We don’t want to use glass for the obvious reason, and for awhile I thought about using Sculpey, but thought better of it, as even though I am always lionizing the use of Sculpey, I don’t think it’s suited to this kind of project.

Glow sticks for example are a great tool to use – those disposable glow sticks that all the Raver kid’s use. You can get your hands on some of these and some nylon rope and have yourself a set of these in no time!

Coast Athletic Famous Foam Pool Noodles

Materials List

Suggestions that would be great nunchuck fodder include:

• 2 wood dowels of about 1″ in diameter
• One of those “pool noodles” kids play with – they’re made of foam and would produce an excellent toy version.
• Plastic or PVC tubes – at least 1″ in diameter and 10-12″ in length would work well.

In addition to the material of choice for the stick shaped part, you will also need a length of nylon rope. According to my research the appropriate length between the sticks is about 6″. You can also use chain if you’re skilled in that department.

Now me, I started to go in the direction of wood, but sometimes it’s a crapshoot when you’re going through scrap wood to find a “good” piece…much less 2 which you are going to need here.

If you are going to use wood, save yourself some trouble and just get a couple of precut rod shaped pieces.

Now me….I finally found something that worked great. I got 2 Voss water bottles…..exactly the kind I used to make this project right here! Whatdaya know, these really worked! If you can find something like those or another pair of skinny plastic tubes like that, you are set – Yay, you! Just be sure they can be safely drilled because we are going to go there in a moment.

Method

After peeling off the labels and I removed the caps we have to determine where to drill holes for the openings. I put them right in the center of the caps.

If you’re using foam, I have never attempted to drill through foam, so I don’t have any pointers there….I don’t think you really need to drill through it anyway. If you have plastic caps that fit over the foam pieces work on them instead.

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1/4-Inch Solid Braid Nylon Rope 50-FeetWooden Dowel Set – WOOD-1Glow Stick Straws 6/Pkg-Assorted Neon Colors

Now we need placeholders so we can thread the rope/chain through….My rope is too thick for little holes, so I am creating a loop from wire that will be big enough to thread the rope through. I twisted the wire on the other side of the cap so it will be secure.

Run the rope through the loops you have created….A 6″ gap will look the most authentic. Because sometimes ropes have the tendency to look a little frayed, or the ends show too much, I countered that by taking some more wire and wrapping it around the rope.

I think it also makes it look more unique, too.

Now that we have done the technical stuff…..are you ready to decorate your nunchuks?  It can just be a simple paint job if you made them out of wood, or with other materials, there are other things you can do.

 

I’m using some decorative washi tape around the caps and ends to embellish mine. I want to do something else, but I don’t have my hands on it at the moment…I want to fill these up with some of that clear acrylic vase filler stuff for grins.

How do you like my Ninja Turtles bedspread; it’s a family heirloom – apparently the Heros in a Half Shell have made a comeback. Enjoy! Start swinging!