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a kung fu fighting fan? and can anyone give some advice on how to stop the cloth from fraying?

i have very limited space to practice otherwise i would have gotten a bokken...

There is Tessen jutsu, but it's a Japanese martial art.
And I'm not sure how available it is outside the bujinkan.

I've often seen the fan paired with another weapon, usually a sword. The fan distracts, the sword does the work. One of the local tournament guys does a mean fan kata. He's kung-fu stylist, so I'm not too sure of the applications.

the ties on the side of my uniform always tear gonk

tessenjutsu is a good one they have videos that can help I look once and found some books as well.

Yes, duct tape will work, hon (Laren), but it will also ruin most of the flexibility of the fabric. Sewing a zigzag seam along the edge is a good idea, though. It will stop the fraying, for the most part (it depends on how hard you're working the fan) and will create, basically, a mildly decorative-looking fringe, particularly if you sew along a ribbon or something that makes it look more finished and "on-purpose". My firm recommendation otherwise, unless you'd rather just buy a new fan, is to replace the fabric. I hope you're good at detail work. wink