OT: Gunstock Club (Not a Firearms Post)

Dave Rishar

Dave Rishar

Joined
Oct 25, 2004
Messages
3,178
I got one of these on a whim recently - it's such an unusual weapon, I figured that things would make more sense if I was swinging it around.

club.jpg


This one is obviously inexpensively constructed, but hey, it's inexpensively priced. Seeing as how I'll probably break it sooner or later, this is acceptable. The blade seems to be carbon steel and the edges are unsharpened. I may or may not sharpen them. The wood looked halfway decent after some sanding and a few coats of Watco. The blade seems a bit too long to me and I'm worried about it snapping off on a hard swing against a resistant target. I'm considering cutting it off at the halfway point and putting a slightly fatter point on it. If it stands up to some hard use and emerges in relatively decent condition, I may dress it up a bit.

I haven't had too much luck tracking down information on these via the internet; it may be time to start hitting some books. I've heard two good stories as to why this weapon has such a configuration, one mystical and one otherwise.

Mystical: the club was an attempt to harness the power of a rifle; note the positioning of the blade - right about where the lock (the "source" of the rifle's power) would be located.

Rational: at a distance, such a club may be mistaken for a rifle, making potential adversaries less likely to attack.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

As far as proper use is concerned, you'll have to ask someone else - I'm making things up as I go along. It's light enough to be easily used in one hand but obviously hits harder with two. It seems as if it would work very well with a shield or a knife in the other hand.

Anyways, it handled the beer cans just fine. (If a little messily. I will be wearing rain gear next time.) I'll try smashing up some melons with it when they come into season - that oughta be fun and about as enlightening as my other "tests" typically are. Call me morbid but I'm curious as to whether a good swing would drive that blade through a cranium. Can anyone recommend a good substitute that can be found in the produce section of a supermarket? I'm thinking coconuts.

Any thoughts on this style of club? Any and all comments are welcomed.
 
Early Eastern ndns were able to lay their hands on some long rifle stocks, but without ready access powder or lead, they made them into clubs. Maybe the shape became traditional.
 
I hope Yvsa chimes in on this one. IIRC, Yvsa mentioned one time that gunstock warclubs are a traditional Tsalagi weapon.
 
I'll be damned. Thanks, Kis. I searched the heck out of SFI and came up with a little but didn't even think to search here. Project #58 for the weekend - ransack the archives.

Jeb, I've seen some arguments against this idea - if it were an actual gunstock, there would be a large area missing right about where the CoP is to accomodate a rifle, screwing up the balance and weakening it quite a bit; the folks who made these already knew how to make a good club. I believe that the story is more complicated than this. Of course, if they'd gotten their hands on a supply of stock blanks...well, that would be a completely different story.

Kamagong - I'm guessing that he'll have a thing or two to say about it. ;)
 
Yeah, it would have to be blanks. But just think, most of the stocks back then were nice woods, like curly maple. Maybe the rough blanks were the best sources for the "premium" woods? You could have the purdiest head smasher on the mountain.

I dunno, I'm pulling this out of thin air.
 
kamagong said:
I hope Yvsa chimes in on this one. IIRC, Yvsa mentioned one time that gunstock warclubs are a traditional Tsalagi weapon.
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No, I said that the warclub was the Tsalagi weapon of choice. There could have been I suppose a few gunstock clubs among the Cherokee but it was mostly a Northeastern weapon. The Tsalagi generally favored an effigy type club or a stone mounted club and then the tomahawk when it came into vogue.:D
 
Yvsa said:
No, I said that the warclub was the Tsalagi weapon of choice. There could have been I suppose a few gunstock clubs among the Cherokee but it was mostly a Northeastern weapon. The Tsalagi generally favored an effigy type club or a stone mounted club and then the tomahawk when it came into vogue.:D
Click to expand...

My mistake. :)

What do effigy type clubs look like?
 
Great replies, and thanks.

Jeb - no arguments with either of your points. To go even further into it, I saw one example of a modern reproduction of a gunstock club - I don't recall where - that had a very unusual grain pattern: the grain itself made a slight bend at the elbow of the club and the club's lines followed these. Supposedly, it was a rejected stock blank. The weird grain made it unsuitable for stock use but just about perfect for club use.

In fact, here it is: Clicky. The description of the wood isn't here, I believe; I saw it somewhere else and I'll be darned if I can find it again. Still, you can see the subtle grain shift if you look closely. It's also a damned fine piece of work, if I may be so bold to say so and is worth the look for that reason alone.

Yvsa - always glad to hear a bit of wisdom from the source, if you catch my meaning. Are you referring to the clubs with the spherical heads integral to the handle? I've seen repros of those too but haven't been quite as interested...they seem to be all business to me, no mysteries about them. They also seem very similar to some Europeon maces, save for the all-wooden construction. If the recipient of a blow from such a weapon wasn't wearing a metal harness, I doubt that they'd notice the difference between the two. ;)
 
On one of the links, Kismet ended with a childhood song " You can't always get what you wan't ", which reminded me od Arlo Guthrie's " You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant ".

Geeze, Manoucher asked us how to get something like a warclub from " The last of the Mohicans " and Kismet gave him the addy to bid on the backup props for the movie - then showed us later what they really sold for. ARRRRRRGHHHH!!!!!
 
That settles it. I'm going to have to smash up some water-filled targets and videotape it.

You folks really bring out the worst in me. :D
 
kamagong said:
My mistake. :)

What do effigy type clubs look like?
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Effigy clubs are those carved with a human or animal likeness on them, most generally the head but can also be a stylized elongated body.
 
See "Native American Weapons" by Colin F. Taylor.

Very interesting club interpretations.


<You could have the purdiest head smasher on the mountain.>

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Jebadiah_Smith again.


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Update: a swing against a hanging 2L bottle full of water jarred the blade loose. Evidently the channel the blade's tang anchors into is a bit too large and a firm impact caused it to rotate a bit with the single tang pin acting as a pivot point.

I wasn't expecting too much for $50, but jeez...even I don't normally break 'em this quick. :)

Channel is now packed full of 2 ton epoxy. I'll give it another shot tomorrow. I'm not sure how well it will handle a coconut.
 
Just out of curiousity ( I'm not a sports fan - can't remember results of the last World Series or Superbowl ) do they still made the wooden Louisville Sluggers?
 
Rusty said:
Just out of curiousity ( I'm not a sports fan - can't remember results of the last World Series or Superbowl ) do they still made the wooden Louisville Sluggers?
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I'm pretty sure i've seen them in the sporting good area of target or walmart, IIRC. They might only be the T-ball versions though. However, i think a wooden Louisville Slugger T-ball bat would make a pretty good home defense weapon. It's shorter so you can get a better swing at the bastid. Actually, i had this idea for a spiked club which would be a LS with maybe 3/8" holes drilled through it 3 times at staggered angles, then a thin galvanized steel pipe would be cut to length of each hole and glued in to make a spacer to kind of stabalize the hole from cracking. Then a 1/4" long bolt could be inserted into each hole with some epoxy. Then slap a nut on it. weld the nut to the bolt. Finally sharpen each bolt to a sharp but sturdy tip and polish to a near mirror finish so it will glint in the moonlight. They you have it. My prototype O.S.R. (Stands for "Oh, S*IT! Run!" the desired effect on the bad guy). Yeah, i have too much time on my hands, obviously;)

Jake
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I had this idea for a spiked club. Sharpen each bolt to a sharp but sturdy tip and polish to a near mirror finish so it will glint in the moonlight. They you have it. My prototype O.S.R. (Stands for "Oh, S*IT! Run!").

Jake
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:eek: :eek: :eek:

In my riot-ridden high school days, everyone carried a knife, really bad kids (hoods) had guns, and the locker weapon was a beer bottle filled with wet cement, a chain dipped into while hardening... one good smash got the glass off of it. I was an A/B student.... it was just a tough school. Hate to see it now... OMG 25 yrs later!?!


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