Pretty sweet, just be aware that if you whack it against hard things, dowels will sometimes break and splinter. Wear protective gear, just in case.

It shouldn’t, as long as the grain was straight and tight, but I have seen it happen a few times over the years with dowels being used. They’ll do fine as hanbo, but when you start whittling them down, you find any weaknesses pretty quick when you make contact.

But it’s way cheaper as long as you’re using it for poo and giggles, or with straight sword techniques.

Oak does okay, imo, but some folks swear it’s too prone to splintering with extended use unless the grain is super tight. I’ve never had problems with oak myself, the last boken I bought was oak and I wore it the hell out before I gave it away. And that’s what I’ve always used as a hanbo, an oak dowel. Never have broken personally, but I’ve seen it happen.