[Harry J. Fletcher]

For those of you who do cutting the prospect of using Tatami Omote will come to mind from time to time whether using a medieval sword or Japanese Katana for cutting. To get the real effect of tatami or Goza for short it must be soaked for twenty-four hours to get the effect of human flesh when cutting.

This soaking is what creates the real problem. For me my wife will not let me use her bathtub anymore for this purpose even though I cleaned and scoured it after the soaking process.. I thought about buying a long tub for outdoors but the prospect of mosquitoes and bugs plus storage and the general unsightlyness of the thing was a real putoff.

Then I had an idea. Why not get a PVC pipe of six inch diameter and five feet in length. This I did along with two end caps with expansion rubber plug seals that work with a wing nut that tightens the seal. See your local Home Depot or hardware store. I simply rolled up the Goza, stuffed it in the PVC pipe, stoppered one end, added water, and stoppered the other end and soaked for two days.

Today I drained the water and the Goza, prepared it for cutting and it worked perfectly. The soaking unit was stored in garage in a corner out of the way for use whenever I needed it.

[Vay Duong]

Doesn't that mean you only get to cut one mat at a time? I use a large fish tank, 50"X"16X18". Been working pretty well. I used outdoor plastic tubs before, but they bake in the sun and become brittle. Plus they warp out of shape. It is hard to find tubs of the right size. I usually 5-10 mats at a time. Mugen Dachi mats, which are only 30" long I think. Most other available mats are 48". I have not found a plastic tub longer than 36". I never checked onmline though.

[Harry J. Fletcher]

You must do a lot of cutting. Yes, I usually cut only one mat in a session. For soaking several mats as you do I guess that you could use several pipes but your fish tank seems to work for you so it sounds like a good solution too. The mats I bought are precut and one mat just fits the five foot section of pipe I use. The plastic tubs are too fragile, too short and way too expensive given their work life. Since I live in Texas my back yard gets the afternoon Texas sun and I am sure they wouldn't last long.

I bought a ten foot long PVC pipe for $8.00 and cut it in half so if I wanted to use the other section I could buy two more plugs which are only $5.00 each. This is still cheaper when you consider a tub I looked at in Walmart cost $18.00 or so. I thought about a metal tub from a Farm and Ranch store but they don't seem to stock them anymore around here.

How much cutting do you do in a session?

[Bill Grandy]

You can also use a trash can to soak them.

[Harry J. Fletcher]

As with a tub or trash can you can only soak part of the mat and have the problem of keeping it weighted down. With the PVC pipe I just stuff the rolled mat in one end, add water ( doesn't take much water either) and seal the end. The pipe is out of the way, is sealed, doesn't attract bugs or mosquitoes. With a trash can, I suppose one would have to use a lot of water and wrap the Goza in the can and then seal with the lid. What about keeping mat straight after the soaking? Or if the lid was left off and the mat was soaked straight it would be soaked only partially then it would have to rotated wouldn't it? Still it would work.

For me, my method works and for others what works for them...hey go for it! I like the idea of sharing suggestions and methods we use.

[Felix R.]