- Joined
- Nov 17, 1998
- Messages
- 3,296
Check out Bob's Bokkens for some nicely finished hickory sticks.
http://www.bobsbokkens.bigstep.com/
http://www.bobsbokkens.bigstep.com/
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Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Hickory Sticks
- Thread starter K Williams
- Start date
Kelvin-
STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!! i already have enough sticks made of various exotics and hardwoods- enough to make a bridge out of (and it would be a rather strong and colorful bridge at that!).
what, do you work for my credit card company??
ps- still enjoying the kamagong stick from Kris Cutlery. and you're right, it's not a stick that you want to power up with cause it really takes over with a good swing!
STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!! i already have enough sticks made of various exotics and hardwoods- enough to make a bridge out of (and it would be a rather strong and colorful bridge at that!).
what, do you work for my credit card company??
ps- still enjoying the kamagong stick from Kris Cutlery. and you're right, it's not a stick that you want to power up with cause it really takes over with a good swing!
- Joined
- Nov 17, 1998
- Messages
- 3,296
KELT,
I know exactly what you mean. I have to cut back on all these FMA related purchases.
Kelvin
I know exactly what you mean. I have to cut back on all these FMA related purchases.
Kelvin
Does anyone regularly use hardwood sticks?
Has anyone made their own?
My instructor, of long ago, was interested enough in my purple heart sticks to ask for one (but only one, for some reason). He said they were bone breakers as opposed to the rattan which his teacher used as their training sticks for they would mostly bruise and break the skin. He got me to thinking about the construction of sticks by asking if I had turned it on a lathe, when I told him it had been shaped with a draw knife he was satisfied.
That stick did break, like a broom stick. Though the break ran diagonal to the stick it was caused by shear parrallel to the grain rather than perpendicular; the grain ran out and the fibers slid past one another under stress.
Traditional craftsmen realize the weakness of using sawn (ripped) boards in applications where they will come under great stress, as sticks do. How the material is converted is as important a choice as what the material is.
I have taken to riving (splitting) out the blanks for my sticks rather than using sawn stock. This helps to ensure that the grain will run true from one end of the stick to the other.
Does anyone else have similar experience?
My instructor seemed well versed in this, though I could not understand what he meant until I became a traditional woodworker some years later. He was a philipean and may have been closer to traditional crafts than many of us who are from american cities. Kuntawaman, does any of this strike a cord?
He was very interested in the strengths of native lumber and his interest provoked my own.
I have made a number of sticks of maple, hickory and white oak. The maple were very brash and all failed rather quickly, probably within a few months, if I am remembering right. They broke in half, the broken fibers were very short, indicating, to me, that they were weak in shear perpendicular to the grain.
The hickory lasted a couple few years, the failure which killed them was a combination of shear perpendicular and parallel to the grain. Eventualy it's mate broke in much the same way, leaving a stick of full length but of only half the thickness half way up. I don't have the stick to look back on and refresh my memory.
My final sticks (the ones I kept) are split from the flair of a white oak butt log, I don't know which species of white oak (not chestnut oak though). They are about ten years old and show no real signs of failure. they have some checking on one end but that was present in the blank when I formed them. I did not trim off the checked ends for I was more interested in the length than in eliminating the checking. They have not seemed to grow any since they were shaped. They are oval and have a slight curve, due to the flair in the log.
Any similar experiences?
For those of you who use hardwood sticks what is their application? Do you use them in training?
My instructor treated the sticks like blades but spoke of seeing a match in his homeland where a man was struck, full force, in the head with a lead pipe. His point in the story was that though he had seen that many times, this man was the only one he saw get up. So he did see people use sticks that were capable of killing. But how common was this?
Has anyone made their own?
My instructor, of long ago, was interested enough in my purple heart sticks to ask for one (but only one, for some reason). He said they were bone breakers as opposed to the rattan which his teacher used as their training sticks for they would mostly bruise and break the skin. He got me to thinking about the construction of sticks by asking if I had turned it on a lathe, when I told him it had been shaped with a draw knife he was satisfied.
That stick did break, like a broom stick. Though the break ran diagonal to the stick it was caused by shear parrallel to the grain rather than perpendicular; the grain ran out and the fibers slid past one another under stress.
Traditional craftsmen realize the weakness of using sawn (ripped) boards in applications where they will come under great stress, as sticks do. How the material is converted is as important a choice as what the material is.
I have taken to riving (splitting) out the blanks for my sticks rather than using sawn stock. This helps to ensure that the grain will run true from one end of the stick to the other.
Does anyone else have similar experience?
My instructor seemed well versed in this, though I could not understand what he meant until I became a traditional woodworker some years later. He was a philipean and may have been closer to traditional crafts than many of us who are from american cities. Kuntawaman, does any of this strike a cord?
He was very interested in the strengths of native lumber and his interest provoked my own.
I have made a number of sticks of maple, hickory and white oak. The maple were very brash and all failed rather quickly, probably within a few months, if I am remembering right. They broke in half, the broken fibers were very short, indicating, to me, that they were weak in shear perpendicular to the grain.
The hickory lasted a couple few years, the failure which killed them was a combination of shear perpendicular and parallel to the grain. Eventualy it's mate broke in much the same way, leaving a stick of full length but of only half the thickness half way up. I don't have the stick to look back on and refresh my memory.
My final sticks (the ones I kept) are split from the flair of a white oak butt log, I don't know which species of white oak (not chestnut oak though). They are about ten years old and show no real signs of failure. they have some checking on one end but that was present in the blank when I formed them. I did not trim off the checked ends for I was more interested in the length than in eliminating the checking. They have not seemed to grow any since they were shaped. They are oval and have a slight curve, due to the flair in the log.
Any similar experiences?
For those of you who use hardwood sticks what is their application? Do you use them in training?
My instructor treated the sticks like blades but spoke of seeing a match in his homeland where a man was struck, full force, in the head with a lead pipe. His point in the story was that though he had seen that many times, this man was the only one he saw get up. So he did see people use sticks that were capable of killing. But how common was this?
Well...
Thanks to Kelvin and his "what's new in the FMA world" posts I've bought quite a few different kinds of wooden sticks.
My favorite just for looks and hardness would be the Kris Cutlery Kamagong stick (Thanks to Kelvin again- excellent stick!!)...i don't want to have to use this stick, but i think you just have to swing one a few times to feel the difference. It's thinner than an equally weighted hickory stick I have...It came 28" long; i had enough long sticks from K.I.L. Sticks (again THANKS SO MUCH KELVIN!!!...geez i gotta cut up the credit cards!!)...so i cut the kamagong down to 18" and made a smaller "whacker" for my Dad. I do have some nice Purpleheart from a medieval faire here in PA; as well as some nice Oak as well...
Also love the American Ironwood that Michael Enad makes stuff out of...very nice palm sticks- i've hammered telephone poles, cinder blocks, barely damaged the things! (One guess who turned me onto Enad's stuff!!)...lotsa different strengths; some denser packed fibers to the point where they actually sink the second they hit water (true kamagong will do this). The only "real" Blackthorn i ever played around with was my Uncle Paddy's cane- he had it shipped from Ireland from a close friend (it's getting rare to find, especially good specimens that have been growing for a long time). I don't think it would rival Kamagong, but seemed (it was a long time ago) to come pretty close to hickory if not harder (I think that has to do with how you treat it when you first get it, i don't remember the details cause i was just a kid)...
Guess i really like playing with my wood huh?!
Thanks to Kelvin and his "what's new in the FMA world" posts I've bought quite a few different kinds of wooden sticks.
My favorite just for looks and hardness would be the Kris Cutlery Kamagong stick (Thanks to Kelvin again- excellent stick!!)...i don't want to have to use this stick, but i think you just have to swing one a few times to feel the difference. It's thinner than an equally weighted hickory stick I have...It came 28" long; i had enough long sticks from K.I.L. Sticks (again THANKS SO MUCH KELVIN!!!...geez i gotta cut up the credit cards!!)...so i cut the kamagong down to 18" and made a smaller "whacker" for my Dad. I do have some nice Purpleheart from a medieval faire here in PA; as well as some nice Oak as well...
Also love the American Ironwood that Michael Enad makes stuff out of...very nice palm sticks- i've hammered telephone poles, cinder blocks, barely damaged the things! (One guess who turned me onto Enad's stuff!!)...lotsa different strengths; some denser packed fibers to the point where they actually sink the second they hit water (true kamagong will do this). The only "real" Blackthorn i ever played around with was my Uncle Paddy's cane- he had it shipped from Ireland from a close friend (it's getting rare to find, especially good specimens that have been growing for a long time). I don't think it would rival Kamagong, but seemed (it was a long time ago) to come pretty close to hickory if not harder (I think that has to do with how you treat it when you first get it, i don't remember the details cause i was just a kid)...
Guess i really like playing with my wood huh?!
also check out the hickory sticks & practice blades at Purpleheart Armory:
http://www.woodenswords.com
http://www.woodenswords.com
Hardwood sticks are excellent for solo training, doing drills and such in the air or on an object but they shouldn't be used for partner training or sparring. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, the hardwood sticks start to splinter and shatter after repeated contact with another stick. This can cause you or your partner a nasty injury from a splinter. Rattan just shreds and falls apart. Two, the hardwood stick is more likely to break the skin or bones, than rattan.
I have heard some horror stories about hardwood sticks and knives that have gotten me to think about what I use for training. For example, I have heard a story about a guy getting a large splinter driven up into his forearm while he and his partner were doing drills with hardwood knives. The splinter had to be removed with a pair of pliers.
Anyway, just something to think about.
Steve
I have heard some horror stories about hardwood sticks and knives that have gotten me to think about what I use for training. For example, I have heard a story about a guy getting a large splinter driven up into his forearm while he and his partner were doing drills with hardwood knives. The splinter had to be removed with a pair of pliers.
Anyway, just something to think about.
Steve