Starting a Mook Jong project

So, I've been out of the game for a while, and I want to get back in. The closest wing chun school around is in my lineage, which is my sigung's sifu's school, about an hour drive away. He also will drill holes in a jong body for $50, and has been doing many of these. All I need to do is find an oak trunk.

A roommate suggested a tree cutting service. I called two. One will have some in a few weeks, and he said I can pick them up, no charge. Another has some, about $20 a trunk. It was unbelievable they were this easy to find, since the PVC versions are made due to expense most of the time. Even if I couldn't find a trunk from one of them, my parents have about two undeveloped acres, and I would have been able to cut down a sand pine if I really needed to. But, as we all know, pine is just a bad idea for a jong.

I then thought about going to a local school wood shop to ask about making the arms. I googled the area, and found the local senior center has a wood shop. I paid it a visit, and the guy in charge there not only agreed to help me make one no charge, but he said he had some ash wood that was perfect for the arms!

So now, so far, I have a complete wooden dummy, minus the leg, at the cost of cutting the holes. All I need to do is make a frame, which I'm sure I can get inexpensive materials at the hardware store. I found some pictures of what appear to be sturdy freestanding frames, so I don't have to bolt it into anything soon, since I am still a student and move about once a year. Once I am situated, I should be able to modify this frame for a good wall mounting.

I'm still undecided for a leg, if I want to go with a wooden or a metal one. It looks like I can make a metal one with around $10 of materials, but cutting and drilling into metal is a different story. I bet this guy would help me with a leg, provided I can find the wood for this, since there is quite a bit of wood with this piece.

I will post pictures as they come along.

Nick

In our school we dont use a frame. We mount them on Rims with tires.
train hard
tigerklaw

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There's a few reasons I am afraid of that:

One, I have seen some freestanding dummies, but my sifu said he's tried them, with some of the moves sent the dummy this way or that, like the neck pulling hand almost pulled the dummy onto him, while sometimes punching made it fall the other way. I'm sure the one he was trying wasn't a tire, though, so that will probably be sturdy enough.

Two, I hope to make this a little more aesthetically pleasant. That's nothing against the dummies in your school, but having one of those inside an apartment or home can be an eyesore, not to mention the fact that the rim would have to be spotless so as to not leave marks on the floor. A good school still has no reason to look pretty, just be functional for the training.

Three, I like the idea of an adjustable jong for different bridges: long, medium, and short. I need it to go up or down a few inches, depending on the workout. A freestanding dummy is a little more difficult to adjust.

However, this was a great suggestion, and I might still consider it. Thanks for it.

Nick

By the way, I should amend to the difference of freestanding dummy vs. the freestanding frame so I can avoid confusion. When I say freestanding frame, I mean a typical frame hanging the jong on it, but it has a wide base so it doesn't need to be mounted. The other freestanding jong I'm talking about is the style that has a flat piece under the body as a base.

Nick

UPDATE:

I just got back from the wood shop. The center arm has been turned on a lathe, and I have yet to cut the square part in the back. This is going to be a slow project, because the shop is only open until noon.

I found a log at a tree cutting service. I got it for $20. It's oak, 5', but it's eight inches on one side, and seven on the other. I don't mind the eight inches, because that's still wide enough. Seven is a little small, but I don't think that's going to matter much. I spent a little bit of time debarking it with an axe; I was told lathes were easy enough to turn a log like that, but I come to find out I need a special lathe, and I don't think I can find one that large. Nobody around has a draw knife, so I just took an axe and hacked away at the bark. It's still green, but I'm going to let it sit at least a few days to dry on the surface so I can grind and sand the thing smooth.

I found a good plan for a leg on the Kungfu Magazine site that pieces together some boards. Picture of the page below. Click for larger view.

The arms and leg are going to be cherry. The guy in charge at the wood shop said he has plenty of that wood and is more than happy to give me some for the project. I will post some pictures soon. I want to have a log of this project from beginning to end, but I forgot to take a picture of the log before debarking. Oh well, guess I can't remember everything.

Nick

I built one some time back with my brother...

Oak for the center log is probably overkill.. if you got it, props to you, but it's prolly just as good if not better to use softwood as it's gonna give a little and won't cost you near as much. I got a 6ft pine log for 9$.

Where you do want to use hardwoods is the arms. In our case the whole project started out with this 9ft section of round oak banister that was found in the trash.... worked out pretty well IMO.

We didn't get fancy with tapering down and fitting the arms. We kept them original size, placed the top ones one over the other, drill pilot holes, use a door-handle hole-cutting drill-attachment to go through the log, jam it in nice and tight, and you're good to go.

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I was going to pick up a sand pine when the road across the street from my apartment in Jacksonville was being widened, and they cut a crapload of trees down, but my sigung warned me that the sapiness from green pine is horrible for drills, and would need to be kiln dried. While HIS sifu says that doesn't matter to him, and he'd be cutting the holes for me, I just decided to go traditional for now. If this log gives me trouble, I can always start fresh with a new pine in my parents' backyard.

Cherry is a hardwood, even if it is on the bottom of the hardwood list. I'm getting it for free, so that's a bonus. Either way, since all of this is wood, and wood is pretty much free when you get it yourself, I can always fix something if anything breaks.

Nick

good luck nick

sounds like a great project

for the leg it might be usefull to look for a branch already in that shape

have seen this done on a few jongs that a friend of mine has made

makes life a bit easier

good find with the oak trunk

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PlumDragon did a thread about this a while ago, check it out y'all

“	Originally Posted By: Pope_Wingnut good luck nick sounds like a great project for the leg it might be usefull to look for a branch already in that shape have seen this done on a few jongs that a friend of mine has made makes life a bit easier good find with the oak trunk	”

I tried looking, but it's a bit hard, especially since most oaks in central Florida are mostly on someone's lawn. They are indigenous to Florida, but it seems that sand pines and sabal palms and palmettos drown out every other tree. I found one on the ground once, turned out to be completely rotten from the inside out.

Thanks for the info Mei, I'm gonna start looking right now. Well, as soon as DL comes back online and I can post this reply.

By the way, the first arm was screwed up when sawing the square back. The second arm came out near-perfect, so the third arm can only get better, and when I make the fourth arm to replace the first, this set will be a great one. The second one is the only one finished right now, and i just stared at it in awe all morning.

Nick

So the guy at the wood shop loaned me this ancient Black & Decker Heavy Duty Sander. It must've been 50 years old. It had a grinding wheel on it. I took it home, tested it, and even tried to see if the grinding wheel would work on my log. It didn't.

I went to Ace Hardware with it, got a sanding disc and a few grits of sand paper. Got the disc on, took it home, started it up, and touched the log. The dang thing broke down right then. I spent $20 on sanding materials to make them all useless for any other tool. Go figure.

The guy helping me said he thinks he knows what the problem is, and he's going to try to fix it. If he can't, I'll just take the sanding disc back, get a sanding drill bit, and borrow my dad's drill.

Mei Hua, any suggestions to doing this with a green log? Should I cut another one down and expect this one to crack eventually because it hasn't fully dried for a few years? I read somewhere that oak needs to dry for at least one year for every inch of thickness. I'm also going to take Plum Dragon's idea and grab a few more oak limbs to sit in the garage and dry, and probably shape them in a few years. Hell, I might even have my own lathe by then! Actually, can I turn them on the lathe while still green and let them dry while already shaped? Or do I need to let it dry fully to avoid cracking?

Nick

Aforementioned Plum post

Wooden Dummy Project

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2. Absorb what is useful
3. Reject what is useless
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So I ran into a few stitches:

The first one: I was kicked out of the wood shop. While I was working on drilling the log with the guy I was working with, the volunteering monitor that day blindsided me when I was left alone. He started screaming at me about using the equipment and "don't think about touching the equipment anymore." When the guy I was with came back, he defended me and told him to leave me alone, I'm his responsibility, etc. After that, the guy on my side said he quits volunteering at the wood shop since his guest keeps getting blindsided like this (this isn't the first time, but it's the biggest outburst to me). He doesn't even understand it; he said I might not be a part of the senior center, but I have respected that shop and used the tools safer than most of the members. So that was my first stitch. Plum, I might still have a lathe available to me, so don't lose all hope just yet.

So now is my second problem: I have to drill the log. I don't have a drill, so I borrowed my dad's. It burned out halfway through the second arm hole. Well, those drills are cheap I see, so I guess I can get him another one. But I think I need a heavier drill. Anyone have suggestions on what KIND of drill I'm looking for?

Besides these setbacks, I have finished the frame, the leg, and the arms, though one of the arms has to be sanded down on the square part. It's just going to take a little more time, now that I don't have a wood shop to work in.

Nick

The best drill for projects like that would be a Rotary Drill, but that's a $600-$1500 dollar piece of equipment.

Go with an Impact/Hammer Drill, it will allow for greater power and ease in drilling through such a thick piece of wood.
Get a drill that has a power cord, they are always higher voltage and power than cordless drills, which tend to run from 6-20 volts.
If you can only get a cordless drill, do not use one under 18 volts, it will not have the power and torque to work through and will burn out.

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Oh THAT'S how that works!

Thanks, I didn't know what an impact drill was and if I needed that when I saw them at the stores. Now I know.

Nick