Sometime ago I decided to improve my punches and strengthen my knuckles at the same time. After a quick look online I found out that I need a Makiwara – a padded wooden board mostly used in Karate. Original Makiwara is a large wooden board buried in the ground but i found some room versions of them as well for sale. I could not find exactly what i needed – they were either too small or too large and required floor mounting – so I’ve decided to build one myself:
DIY Wall Mounted Makiwara
The construction is very simple, required almost no tools and materials were off the shelf from local Home Depot. The board is mounted to the wall and extends from it only 5 inches yet allows board to bend in when punched. It produces good solid sound when hit. The tension can be adjusted by varying the length of the large piece or by hitting it higher or lower. The padding is cheap rope wrapped around the board and is quite rough – I am still using a towel hanging over it, but I hope that with regular practice I will be able to hit it bare handed.
Materials list:
- 5×1 by 12 ft pine board
- 50 ft of 3/8 in sisal rope (or any other padding material)
- long screws, wood glue, long staples
Construction:
- Cut the board in the following lengths: 4 ft, 3 ft, 2 ft, 1 ft x 3. You can get it done right in Home Depot
- Wrap the rope around one end of 4 ft board. Use staples at the start and the end of the rope.
- Align boards and pre-drill for the screws
- Glue the 4′ board to the 2′ board for better stiffness
- Screw 3′ board to the wall on a stud. The 3′ board should disperse load on the sheet rock and prevent damage
- Screw the rest of the boards. you might need to do this in several steps depending on the screw lengths
Makiwara - dimensions
Makiwara - bottom
Here are the details of the punching area. Click on the image to enlarge:
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Makiwara - top
So that’s all there’s to it. Few words of warning: make sure you know what you are doing and start easy as you can injure your hand very easy – I was so excited when I built it I was hitting it with all I got until the skin came of off my knuckle. Now it wasn’t anything bad but it prevented me from doing anymore punches until it healed up which took about 3 weeks. So be forewarned.
I hope you find this info useful.
Aleksey
Tags: diy, makiwara, martial arts
ABieneman's Blog 
April 15, 2010 at 10:22 am |
[…] after finishing his Makiwara punching bag, [Abieneman] wired and programmed an Arduino to an accelerometer to find out just how much […]
April 15, 2010 at 11:00 am |
[…] after finishing his Makiwara punching bag, [Abieneman] wired and programmed an Arduino to an accelerometer to find out just how much […]
April 15, 2010 at 6:41 pm |
Do you live at a house or apartment? I’m wondering how would my neighbors react to the sound generated by this thing. Does bend to the point where it hits the wall?
April 15, 2010 at 8:48 pm |
The board does not touch the wall when i punch it (you might be stronger than me). It did originally when it had only one short board in the middle so i added two more. I will try to get some meaurements on the noise levels shortly. I live in the house and this is an internal wall – it’s actually mounted on the side of the closet, so there’s even more space and walls between the board and the living space.
June 22, 2010 at 4:30 am |
[…] DIY Wall Mounted Makiwara « ABieneman's Blog […]
July 30, 2010 at 2:58 pm |
I trained with a Japanese JKA Instructor and he had a similar arrangement bolted to the dojo floor. The makiwaras had canvas covered pads on them from a karate supply store. I think the sisal rope is too severe. The board is a training device not an ego toy. It’s purpose is to improve stance, body connection, focus on target and a lot of other things along the way. It is meant to be a slow…. steady process. Concentrate on correct form and just barely hitting the board. Try to be aware of your body when you strike the board,making sure all —parts are tense on impact,arms, legs, hips, both hands, etc. Slowly over months all these areas will be stronger and more co-ordinated and the punches will become stronger as a side benefit.
September 29, 2010 at 5:19 pm |
Thank you for your sage advice
July 30, 2010 at 3:22 pm |
Update:
After about 3 months of on and off training i’ve finally been able to hit the board with no towel padding. Sisal rope is indeed very rough but on the other hand it provides a clear indicator and satisfaction that my skin and knuckles have strengthened.
Also, the bottom of the board started to peel of the wall when being hit, so extra few screws on the bottom would be beneficial.
August 19, 2010 at 4:19 pm |
Hello,
I’m curious about the makiwara. Is it still hanging on the wall? Is it stable enough or does break away from the wall even with extra screws at the bottom. I made my first one but it snapped in the ground. I planning to copy yours (thanks for idea) but put 5 degree taper board 1″ thick so that extends towards you as your train with it.
What you have any suggestions/improvements if you were to make another one.
All the Best
Jonnie
August 19, 2010 at 4:40 pm |
Hi Jonnie,
Makiwara is still hanging. I didn’t put any extra scows yet since it comes away from the wall less than quarter of an inch. Interesting idea about putting the board at the incline – are you trying to make the top of the board extend farther from the wall or is there another reason? I am still not hitting my board hard since it still hurts so ip don’t think io will break may board any time soon. Also, from what i read makiwara training is not about the force but rather form, concentration and strengthening of wrist and I still have long way to go.
Let me know how your project works out.
September 29, 2010 at 5:15 pm |
I really like this Makiwara project.
also, Florida Karate Accademy
March 9, 2011 at 9:26 am |
Brian Dubberley emailed me recently his take on this project:
https://abieneman.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/re-my-take-on-your-mak-board/
September 1, 2011 at 2:57 pm |
Hi,Ive been practicing karate for about 7 months and am now an orange belt.My Teacher Reccomended getting a makiwara but i couldnt find one to put in my room and at my schoool workshop class i have to make something,so i asked the teacher if i could make this,showed him the page and everything and then i made it and got an A,so thanks,i passed my class and i have a gret makiwara for my room
May 31, 2012 at 12:19 pm |
[…] Fighter) * Build your own makiwara (24 Fighting Chickens) * Building a makiwara (Mike Oliveri) * DIY Wall Mounted Makiwara (Bieneman’s Blog) * Kicking contraption (Ron Kowsakowski) * How To: Make Your Own Kakiya […]
August 26, 2012 at 5:25 pm |
I’ve just built one using this model and works great. A couple of changes: since I’m in the Caribbean I used treated wood. I installed it in a roofed terrace but still is outside. I also had to use concrete screws since I was anchoring it to a cement wall. Works great!
September 1, 2012 at 1:50 pm |
Hello,
Like this idea so much I made my own one today out of an old sturdy pallet. Had to scale it down slightly as longest planks were a little short of 4ft. I installed it in my garage and it works a treat. Thank you for posting this!
May 11, 2013 at 12:49 am |
Consider wrapping hands and going for speed, bruise between knuckles takes LONG time to heal. Respectfully submitted
April 28, 2014 at 9:28 pm |
The safest way to hit a rope makiwara is not “twisting” type blows which will tear off skin but straight vertical hits with the 2 large knuckles. I’ve trained that way for about 40 years and can strike pretty much anything without pain/damage. By the way, thats a terric looking makiwara you built…..well done!
July 1, 2014 at 8:49 am |
Hey Aleksey,
Is there a video showcasing the Makiwara and how it handles?
I really appreciate it.
July 1, 2014 at 5:20 pm |
you can see it a bit in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aISsu5k85mQ
July 2, 2014 at 8:17 am
Thank you. This is amazing. I’ll definitely make a makiwara like that. The accelerator sensor, I can do without haha
June 11, 2015 at 1:29 pm |
I tried out you design, got it all done, hit it and busted the wall behind it and pulled it out from the bottom of the wall.
I motified your design a bit and dropped it down to the floor to get screws in the base plate, which made it more secure.
Thank you for the idea.
September 15, 2017 at 9:53 am |
Thank you for this awesome design, Aleksey. My son is going to love this.
January 11, 2020 at 10:56 pm |
Awesome job! I’m nitpicking, but the only thing I would add is the striking board should be tapered if possible – thicker at the base than the top. This does require some power tools and some woodworking knowledge/skill.
Other than that awesome job. I might have to build one indoors since the winters in MI aren’t ideal for outdoor striking.
April 2, 2020 at 2:26 pm |
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