Essential Stick & Cane:Combative Techniques for Martial Artist
Introducing Three New Canes for Martial Arts Training
I’ve developed three new canes for use in martial arts training: the Martial Arts Stick-Cane and the personal and professional models of Needle Stick.
Figure 2. Straight canes used in Essential Stick & Cane. Left to right, the Martial Arts Stick-Cane, the personal model of theNeedle Stick, and the professional model of theNeedle Stick, made of Delrin thermoplastic. Each cane has a tapered shaft 36 inches long and a pinch ring in the handle. The Martial Arts Stick-Cane is 1/8th of inch thicker than the Needle Stick. (Yes, it makes a difference.)
Versitile and Durable
All are straight canes suitable for training in any martial art using a 3-foot stick, such as Japanese hanbojutsu (the art of the 3-foot staff) or kendo (Japanese sword fighting); the Korean arts of Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do; Irish Shillelagh fighting, or the Filipino stick arts. Both canes look, feel, and function like the standard canes that they are, but both are sturdy and durable enough to be used for self-protection.
No Handle to Get in the Way
Most canes have a knob or a handle that reduces their usefulness in some forms of martial arts training. The handle unbalances the stick, makes it harder to use with one hand, gives opponents something to grip, and can catch on clothes when used in grappling techniques. The new stick-canes, however, have only a shallow “pinch ring” on the handle that allows the stick to be held like a walking cane without unbalancing it or adding a bulky handle.
No Pretense of Being a Weapon Canes sold to martial artists often have heavy shafts, ridges or saw teeth, and sharp points on the hook; that is, they are clearly weapons poorly disguised as canes. The new stick-canes have slender, slightly tapered, shafts, and the top is obviously a handle. That is, they are canes that can nevertheless be used effectively in self-protection
Excelent for Practice
The Martial Arts Stick-Cane is excellent for martial arts practice. It has a 3-foot shaft that tapers from 1 1/8th inch at the handle to 7/8th of an inch at the tip, so the shaft is thick enough to allow a good grip anywhere along its length. Made of unfinished but glass-smooth hard maple, a wood harder and denser than oak that is used in bowling lanes, it is turned to precise specifications and can give and take full-contact strikes and blocks without breaking or splitting.
Unassuming and Attractive to Carry The Needle Stick is a slimmer version of the Martial Arts Stick-Cane that can be carried in public. It tapers from 1 inch to 3/4th of an inch and also has a pinch ring. The personal model is made of hard maple. The professional model is made of black Delrin, an industrial-grade polyoxymethylene thermoplastic that is virtually indestructible. The professional Needle Stick can give and take full-contact strikes and blocks without breaking, splitting, or denting.
