Where can I get some Bambo or Rattan

Dave Costin

Dave Costin

Joined
Oct 14, 2000
Messages
466
Hi again,

I've read where some people use Bambo or Rattan for walking staffs and thought I would give it a try. Since it's not native here in Ohio I would like to know where I could buy a piece? I went to our local home improvement store (Lowe's) and they didn't have any. There is no where else locally I can try so I thought maybe someone here could help me out. I'll post on the other forum too in hopes someone may have an idea.

Thanks,

Dave
 
Dave, checkout the Cold Steel web site. They sell first
quality rattan. I use one of their crook top (since discontinued)
rattan canes everyday at work to assit me in walking. It is light
and very tough. Very tough. The prices are ok for what you get.
One thing about rattan, it is way lighter that you would ever imagine
and tougher than you can believe. It also Isn't to pretty. It's a reed
by nature and will have some blems at part of the normal pattern.
Another thing ......it isn't hollow like bamboo,but is a million fibers
packed tightly together.
 
Here in LA the best place is called the Cane and Basket Shop. If you look for a place that repairs rattan furniture/seats, they will probably have a source for raw rattan.

If you will be using the rattan for hard training workouts, don't let them sell you "shaved" rattan. It is smoother and more consistent but without the outer skin, it doesn't stand up to stick-on-stick workouts very well.

I prefer rattan that has as many nodes as possible, as close together as possible. It is ususally a lot stronger than rattan with few nodes that are spaced far apart.

Lastly, pick up as many pieces as you can before buying. There can be substantial differences in the density of the rattan's core. Needless to say, the denser stuff holds up to a pounding better (and can allow you to get equal strength out of a somewhat thinner piece, if you are looking for that characteristic).

I agree that the Cold Steel stuff is decent. However, the rattan sticks from Kombat Instruments are probably a little better. They are what the Dog Brothers use and I've trained against them many times, as recently as Tuesday night. I'll locate the site and post it,
 
Try a local garden supply store. They use such poles for climbing plants and inexpensive fencing material. Also, see the thread on "hollow walking sticks".

Mith.
 
Bamboo and rattan are two of the most wonderful gifts that Nature has given man.

In the tropics, they are found in abundance. Dirt cheap, very hardy and handy.

I have several in my collection. I used them as walking sticks or just plain poles to clear cobwebs from corners of the rooms.

As explained by my learned colleagues, rattan is much denser than bamboo. Both have their beautiful and distinct qualities.

Books have been written about the beauty and uses of bamboo but you need to handle one to feel its flexibility, smoothness and elegance.

Both bamboo and rattan have been used for building homes, as fishing rods, building cages, rafts and a thousand other things.

It is in the tropical countries where both materials are utilised to their maximum. In rural areas, bamboo and rattan are crucial to a villager's well-being.

In my country, hollow bamboos are cut in 2ft lengths and glutinuous rice is stuffed into them and cooked. The result: a fragrant and sumptious meal after the bamboos have been cooked over fire. That's just one of its many uses.

In China, bamboo has been praised in poems and immortalised in paintings. It is one of the myriad things that made the East.
 
Golok is correct in the use's of Bamboo.To western eye's it's just big grass or "tree" but you have to see the ingenuity that it's used for too belive.In Hong Kong and in the rest of Asia you can see multi-story building's going up,and the outside scaffolding is Bamboo! I'am not talking about 2 or 3 FLOOR'S But 10+--?!!!!
 
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