- Joined
- Aug 17, 2003
- Messages
- 3,409
well, when it rains, it pours: no sooner had my gunong arrived this morning and as i was taking pics of it out in the garden, the parcel postman shows up with another goody.
being as i'm getting a bit long in the tooth, i thought me & my occasionally wonky right knee might appreciate a little assistance out hiking.
anyhow, being me, and a member of this esteemed establishment, i could not have your everyday run of the mill cane or walking stick, now could i.
so i e-bayed for one of these over the last few months (along with sharking a few other goodies which i've already shared pics of here.)
it seems the carpathian and transylvanian mountains have a bit of a rep for being unsafe at nite, travellers developed a unique method to ensure they arrived in one piece at the other end of their hike thru the oft trecherous paths and bandits/vampires/werewolves and zombies of the mountains. without further ado, i present the
Checkoslovakian Defense cane:
early ones were actual steel axes, later ones, in more settled times, were brass. i missed out on a bid for a somewhat rusty real steel one, but this
one was cheaper & will be a 'user' - doubt if the thought police here would like me walking about with a steel axe with a sharp edge to it.
anyway this one, despite appearences has a chrome plated & engraved BRASS axe head, the decorative chain is made of flat steel links, like chain mail links, and the wood shaft is carved in leaves and flowers, the color differences are beween the darker heartwood and the sapwood, which has been used to effect in the deep carvings. there is an alpine spike on the base. the axe is not sharp, but would still end an arguement reel fast-like.
i heard 'new' ones, for the last half of the century, i guess during the iron curtain days, have had the axe portion carved out of wood - kinda ruins the effect, so i've waited for a proper metal axe head like this one.
i've seen quite a few of the wood headed 'defense' axes but not too many metal ones.
this one is probably a recent one, but i don't care, it's well made, functional, has a metal head & was cheap.
being as i'm getting a bit long in the tooth, i thought me & my occasionally wonky right knee might appreciate a little assistance out hiking.
anyhow, being me, and a member of this esteemed establishment, i could not have your everyday run of the mill cane or walking stick, now could i.
so i e-bayed for one of these over the last few months (along with sharking a few other goodies which i've already shared pics of here.)
it seems the carpathian and transylvanian mountains have a bit of a rep for being unsafe at nite, travellers developed a unique method to ensure they arrived in one piece at the other end of their hike thru the oft trecherous paths and bandits/vampires/werewolves and zombies of the mountains. without further ado, i present the
Checkoslovakian Defense cane:
early ones were actual steel axes, later ones, in more settled times, were brass. i missed out on a bid for a somewhat rusty real steel one, but this
one was cheaper & will be a 'user' - doubt if the thought police here would like me walking about with a steel axe with a sharp edge to it.
anyway this one, despite appearences has a chrome plated & engraved BRASS axe head, the decorative chain is made of flat steel links, like chain mail links, and the wood shaft is carved in leaves and flowers, the color differences are beween the darker heartwood and the sapwood, which has been used to effect in the deep carvings. there is an alpine spike on the base. the axe is not sharp, but would still end an arguement reel fast-like.
i heard 'new' ones, for the last half of the century, i guess during the iron curtain days, have had the axe portion carved out of wood - kinda ruins the effect, so i've waited for a proper metal axe head like this one.
i've seen quite a few of the wood headed 'defense' axes but not too many metal ones.
this one is probably a recent one, but i don't care, it's well made, functional, has a metal head & was cheap.
