OT: non-knife "tool" on the way. ( long but good info on canes )

Rusty

Rusty

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Since I broke my leg a year and a half ago, it's never completely recovered. I now walk like Festus off the old Gunsmoke.

Since I'm already covered for CCW pistols, and Nevada doesn't recognise knives for protection I can't carry my little Audrey concealed ( or my Bauchop Alley Cat ). I've seen the Canemasters stuff ( they are made in Incline Village on the Nevada side of north Tahoe ) but haven't been willing to go that way for a piece of wood I could get a bank for and whittle myself.

I was considering a 36" 1" or 1&1/4" 36" Monadnock riot baton as a start for a cane, and I'm watching the Usual Suspects Toxic Toy Catalogue for a cane version of their F-sticks to no avail so far.

Yesterday I ordered a cane from Roger Oster at http://www.mendowood.com. Called trying to catch him Monday, but got an answering machine and hung up. The machine captured my number and he called me back Tuesday AM and we talked. He told me it would go out yesterday and to expect it tomorrow or Friday.

I'd made sticks of my own, from one" pine dowels 'til on hearing of a tarfu situation on a pay phone I swatted a bike rack ( not all that hard either ) with my pine stick. Then I hung up, sheepishly picked up both pieces of my stick and left.

Basically, his shafts start with hardwood core, glued inside a 1/2 or 3/4 steel pipe, then covered with two layers of thick epoxy applied by hand to make them look like natural wood, double coated with industrial paint. Heads are wood burls shaped differently but all are deeply drilled to take the shafts securely. Take a look at the bargain basement. I started to order Freestyle Madrone #24 decribed as having a "cudgel like" shaft but Roger told me that would weigh about 3 lbs./48 ozs., so I took the Freestyle English Walnut #1 instead. ( Also in the Bargain Basement. Came to $68.55 thru paypal.

Check out the link and see what you think. I'll report on getting my hands on it.
 
I've got one of the Cold Steel City Sticks (not the sword cane version) which has handsome and heavy stainless head - but the all fibreglass shaft just transmits shock all the way from the ground right up into your hand.

I'm sure they are tough and all - and the stainles head sure packs a wallop - but as a walking stick, it's pretty useless :(

I'd be interested to hear how this stick works out in terms of vibration transmission...

Cheers
 
Bro I've got a Canemasters. Quad grips, sharks teeth and ruby snake eyes with the snake head.:)
Hell, I can't even do the warmups on the video let alone the workouts themselves, but I can swing it with some force though.;)
I use my walking stick with the built in Flute though to save me having to carry a Flute around with me at all times. Just color me lazy, with a conscience.:D
 
What's wrong with that traditional killing cane, ...I don't know canes..have they improved upon this? I'm thinking it is called irish Blackthorn but it could be something else. Light, hard, strong, vicious.

Can anyone tell me what my poor brain dimly recalls?

munk

I checked that site. they have 'whitethorn' but that doesn't sound right to me. For some reason, I recall this stuff was getting harder to get.
 
Munk:

The proverbial blackthorn stick is a less intimidating ( depending on how big it is ) lighter, and longer cane version of the Irish cudgel or warclub known as the shillelagh.

Oriental Arms occassionally gets African Knobkerries in stock for sale but they are also to short to use as a cane or walking stick.

Hope that answers some of your questions. The guy started making canes this way when his blackthorn stick shaft broke. He replaced the shaft on it with the hardwood core, over that galvanized steel pipe, over that epoxy to make it seem natural.

He still has the knob of his original blackthorne stick, cut off and mounted as described. The core prevents the steel from bending, the steel prevents the core from breaking.

The ultimate result is crushed bone rather than broken bone if used defensively. I can live with that.
 
All I can say is, 'geeze'.
So what is whitethorn?

And how well do you get around with that leg? All hell, you're a martial arts guy, aren't you? Probably walk on your hands up a desert mountain with me trailing in the dust, sort of an insect whine behind you.

.. ....
this is OT as hell, but did you ever notice in the desert that a buzzing fly's wings can sound like an animal's or even a human voice for a second? (even when you know it's not) I only notice it in the desert, for some reason. I always thought that if one was on his last legs out there you'd probably hear entire paragraphs from the black bottle flies before you fell into the sand and whimpered your last.

munk of cheery thought
 
Geeze? More like wheeze.

Martial Arts? Where'd you get that idea? At the last trip to the doctor I had my 195 pounds well distributed on my 5'4" frame, mostly right above my belt. That is about 20 pounds heavier than usual, though. The doctor thought it was a side effect of 2 new meds for my diabetes. Think of a beached whale and you'll have a reasonable idea of my physique. The only exercise I enjoy is done horizontally with a partner of the opposite sex. I have stopped smoking for four years now after a 2 to 3 pack a day habit since age 16. That's why I like firearms as equalizers.

How I get along is on four inch high steps I can step up one foot after another without use of a rail. Any higher and I need to hold onto the rail. I walk well on flat ground. Generally.

Far as what whitethorne, or blackthorne for that matter, durn if I know. I'm told the Irish used to carve their sticks very carefully so that you couldn't see the hole they hollowed out to pour the shillelagh full of molten lead in the center.

........................

Now as far as flies in the middle of the desert talking to me, I promised I would keep those conversations priviledged information.
 
Darn, 12 more hours until I can check the post office. When I order from Uncle, they're here the next morning. A 2 day wait is the pits.
 
Well, geeze again. I never know which one of you guys is a trained killer, or at least reads Lao Tse.

I used to be 5'11" and a half, but it seems I've lost an inch in chronic hunch, er uh, just looking for spare change, and some degenerative stuff going on in my back. Not in my mind, honest.

I rocketed up to 195 here recently on potato chips at night, but have returned to my usual 185 or so. Neither trim nor round...I'd be a good mole in a crowd.

I'm just trying to figure out what kind of desert hike or view we could look at if I ever make it through Nevada again.

i'd bring a .41 or two...there's nothing like shooting distant boulders with firearms in the desert. And if you feel like it, you could throw your new stick at them too.

munk
 
I think that items such as this could be quite useful for people who walk with sticks, or folk that live in gun-restricted areas. The club is a pretty old weapon...I walk in the woods with a 48" contoured hicory stick, bout the size I like.

And now, the preview pic of rusty trying out his new stick
Faction1.jpg

And Rusty teaches the local belligerent layabout a lesson....:)

Keith
 
NDN,
See you finally admitted to being lazy!! You swing that stick(cane),& "I" don't want to be on the recieving end!!:D Rus call Vince at BladeArt, they have some interesting canes ,yeah I have one,Wal,carries a cane also(but everyone knows THAT WOODCHUCK is"NUTS")!
jim(Saint)
 
Rusty,

I like the look and construction of these canes. It seems that they would be a very strong cane for defensive use, although I do worry about the weight and ability to create good momentum for say a figure eight or side swing. There is of course one problem. They would be illegal to carry on a plane should you choose to travel with it, and in certain other venues.

Unlike canemaster or other wood combat canes,that have crooks which would be legal. I also have several canemaster canes and I am currently instructing. We have gone so far as to swing a baseball bat against a braced full dimension cane and have yet to notice any damages (besides shallow dents) or hear/develop any cracks.

Of course, I wouldn't stand still for a baseball bat swing in reality, but it has been demonstrative of the construction and quality of the cane atleast to my satisfaction.

Keep us informed on the cane once you get it. my curiosity has been peaked. Thanks for posting this.

Shalom
 
That figures that it would be a hawthorn. To my knowledge I've never seen one here in Hawthorne, NV. But then I could have driven by several every day the last 20 years I've lived here and not noticed. Believe the origin of the town's name came from someone involved in bringing the Railroad. Some accounts give it as the local agent's name was Hawthorne, and folks up the line just got used to saying "send it to Hawthorne" ( the guy ) and it stuck. ( Now that I remember more, his name was actually Hawthorn, but when the town was named after him but with an "e" on the end he obligingly changed his name to the correct spelling.

Off to hassle the Post office.
 
I have the Blackthorn courtesy RayC. It lives in the bedroom next to the nightstand that houses the antique .38 and village Bowie.
 
PO hadn't even started on the packages yet. Somedays they have it done before the place opens the doors at 8:30 AM. Today, they said it'd all be up by 2:30.
 
so what does the airline do for the handicapped, they push everyone on in a wheel chair, or just make them crawl down the aisle on their hands and knees?


munk
 
The Irish Blackthorn cane is cut from a wild plum shrub. The popularity of the canes, and the use of the fruit in making Sloe Gin, has made the bush scarce of late. There is a variety of wild apple whose lower limbs can be cut, with a head that looks much like the Blackthorn, and these are cut and sold as blackthorn canes, same as "tourist khukuris". Caveat Emptor. Mine is pushing 30 years old - AC bought it for his grandfather - and is retired as an heirloom. When I'm not on my Canemasters, I use the cane section of a Pat Crawford hiking staff, with a little extra :) It has the blade, but that is slow to deploy. All the sections of the staff are threaded, and a local machine shop turned a piece of stainless bar, and threaded the end to fit into the bottom section, with a sheath of vinyl tubing to make it fit snug in the shaft, and ease strain on the aluminum threads it is screwed into. Wrapped with rags and duct tape (just to protect it) I used a fulcrum strike (pull with top hand on handle, push with lower hand about 12" down) to reduce a couple of hollow cinder blocks to chunks. If I ever have to fight a cinder block wall or shed, I feel I have a chance. It might just work well on kneecaps, too :eek:
 
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