I actually bought two of these babies about a year and half ago now. The bokkens were so friggin' awesome - I kid you not. These two were some of the best I've seen. However, during heavy sparring sessions we dented them hard - nothing too horrible though. In the end, I ended up breaking mine into 3 pieces - even when broken it was still of use in sparring - oddly enough.. My buddy still has his - beautiful piece of work I still say. However, I broke mine after an endurance session by myself and hit several trees in a row - after the 17 tree - the last one of course - it splintered in two. Go figure ;D - great product, suffered through all of those hits at max force and lasted long. Also - the shipping was kick ass - I STILL remember that bit even.. :) www.karatedopot.com still kicks ass.