i use homemade wooden nunchuks.  i just buy the bearings and take it to the carpenter who made most of my furnitures.  he always have a lot of stumps that he can carve to fit the bearings, takes about 2 minutes, and he only charges couple of donuts for it. 

I was doing some nunchuck forms in one of my old dojangs and I have a set of foamy ones and even those hurt sometimes when you hit the tips of your fingers. Yes, I know that sounds kinda sissy but its true!

Sissy?

No...  even the warriors of old, used training weapons whenever possible.

Frankly, I wouldn't be caught dead with anything BUT training weapons in my hands, except in the rare cases that none exist for the weapon I'm working with.

Unless you are very well trained with a weapon, it's exceedingly easy to hurt yourself, or someone else with it.  And if you have a catastrophic weapons failure, (and it happens folks), all bets are off as to the outcome.

So, machismo has no place in weapons training.  PERIOD. 

Weapons aren't a 'Look at my legendary testosterone count' item.  They deserve the utmost respect.  If you fail to show that respect at ALL times, and instill that same sense of unastainable respect for the weapons in the minds of students and onlookers...  the weapon is very liable to make you pay for that oversight sooner or later, and the payment is usually VERY expensive.

Every time I look at a creative/extreme forms performance, and the individual chucks their weapon skyward... it's all I can do, not to jump up and knock them on their rear end, and give them the absolute mother-of-all-buttchewings.  Very few people are so well trained, that they can pull crap like that, without it being a reckless and stupid risk. 

To that end, I treat 'training weapons' with the same regard I treat 'the real deal'.  I require students around me to do likewise.  If they do not, I will not train with them.

For that reason, I do not agree with the idea of teaching weapons to anyone below the rank of black belt.  I also do not agree with allowing minor children to learn weapons, EXCEPT under adult black belt supervision, AFTER the student has reached black belt and proven that they're able to follow instructions and show due regard for the implications that weapons training entails.

Everytime I've worked around students with weapons, my instructor always required training weapons to be treated like the real deal, and for certain safety protocols to ALWAYS be adhered to.  Doing so is just good common sense.  Requiring that, is good common sense.  The most important aspect of weapons training is ATTITUDE. 

If it's not a 'safety attitude', then a weapons in the hand of a person with such a deficiency is like putting a deadly cobra in their care.  Someone WILL get bit before it's over.

I use padded ssahng jeal bongs (Korean term for nunchuckus).  I use padded bahng ma ee's (basically escrima sticks). 

I use those because I am NOT trained to an expert level with them. 
I use those because there's no compelling reason to use 'live' weapons, when the padded ones will permit training to be completed satisfactorily. 
I use those, because they'll give onlookers a better chance of avoiding injury, if I fumble the weapon and accidentally send it flying.  (A case of 'butterfingers' can happen to anyone.)
I use those, to minimize my risk of self-injury, during my learning.  They still whack hard enough to hurt if I mess up.  Pain's a sufficient indicator of a mistake.  Injury doesn't have to accompany the pain to get the message across that I messed up.

Someone asked me not long ago how padded the training weapons are.

I've seen boards broken with them, when weilded by properly enlightened hands.  So padded or not... they're still nothing to play games with.

Whether training weapons, or the real thing... my advice is to treat them with the utmost respect... inspect them before every use... replace them if they have some age on em, or if they feel worn/defective...  and only use them in prescribed manners, with safety of self, and safety of others always the priority.

Padded training weapons DO have a different feel than non-training weapons.  Otherwise, they basically work the same as non-training weapons.  If you're transitioning from the padded numbers to the real deal, you should obviously tread with due caution, and take your time getting used to the newer weapon before you 'ramp up' to full performance speed and intensity.