Thread: Martial Arts Staff making

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

With the popularisation (bastardisation?) of martial arts one does not know what's real anymore. Never heard of traditional Chinese staffs (the wooden tapered kind) being 10' long, the only ones that long being used in India and Thailand and being made of rattan. Somebody supposedly teaching "swords forms" of tai chi would have absolutely no idea of the difference between internal and external styles of Chinese fighting.

Stick and staff form I thnk are more Fung fu. Sword can be kung fu OR tai chi. :wok:

Originally Posted by tea lady

Stick and staff form I thnk are more Fung fu. Sword can be kung fu OR tai chi. :wok:

The phase of my life when I was interested in these things ended about 40 years ago, so my memory could be a bit fuzzy, but I am pretty sure that kung fu only means "exercise", if you refer to the body of Chinese martial arts, which includes umpteen weapons, bladed or unbladed, it should be "wu shu". If you refer to the external style of unarmed combat it is "shaolin" or one of a million derivations. What is historically true is that masters of unarmed forms of combat generally had to be proficient in some weapon also, just to survive. Just not to look stupid like the sword wielding native shot by Indiana Jones, if you get my drift . That does not make wu shu sword techniques "sword forms of tai chi" by any stretch of the imagination. To be really pedantic it does not make them forms of external styles either, but they share with these their basic principles and a lot of development history.

I put my mate onto the local wood turners group and they helped him out.

One of the guys has a long lathe and seems happy to look after them.

This is the martial arts group:
Barry Lee Ving Tsun Martial Arts Academy
Barry Lee Ving Tsun Martial Arts Academy - Home Page

They also have wooden dummies.......that sounds more like me.

Thanks everyone for your ideas and suggestions. There will now be more bruised bodies in Newcastle thanks to your help.

And I can shelve my plans for a shaving horse for a bit longer.

Cheers

Ah! He's a wing chung derivative. :wok:

Just for interest here is a tai chi sword form.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxhAjv3YneM]YouTube - Tai Chi Sword Form 32 Yang Taiji Jian[/ame]

A long staff form. (A bit on the hilarious side. )

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv15uF0DMIM&feature=related]YouTube - Taiji Long Staff[/ame]

I can't find a short staff tai chi form thhat isn't an American who thinks they are graceful.

Tan's in Melbourne had a good supply of long staffs when I was last there. As for the Wing Chun swords - nice nasty butterly jobbies - good for a bout of food cleaving as well!

Well, just to make sure, I did a bit of research. Wikipedia is not necessarily a reliable scholarly source, but I am happy to say that it does not contradict anything I said.

Back to the practical woodworking point, though, size and timber:

(cut and pasted from Wikipedia articles)

The Chinese word gun refers to a long Chinesestaffweapon used in Chinese martial arts. It is known as one of the four major weapons, along with the qiang (spear), dao (sabre), and the jian (sword), called in this group "The Grandfather of all Weapons".

Traditionally, the gun is made out of a material called wax wood, rather than bamboo as many people might think. Wax wood is strong, yet flexible, making it ideal as a material for the gun. The gun is fashioned with one thick end as the base and a thinner end near the tip, and is cut to be about the same height as the user.
White Wax Wood is the wood of Ligustrum lucidum (Glossy Privet, Chinese Privet or Broad-leaf Privet), which has been prized in China for thousands of years. It is considered one of the best materials from which to fashion staffs, spear shafts, and walking sticks, because it is tough, hard and flexible and can absorb shock without breaking. However, a disadvantage of white waxwood is that it is very vulnerable to wood worm.

Ligustrum lucidum is classed as a noxious weed in New South Wales, Australia where it was introduced.

Maybe we can start an import-replacing industry for the fabrication of staffs.

I've got some privet up the back that is prolly just right for these staffs. Except we don't need to worry about them any more. But hey! maybe for future reference. I'll measure them tomorrow.

(Wonder is that horizontal bush comes in big enpough bits. )

Looking at examples of weapons, this was posted a while back, but still a dam good demo of a bo (especially given his age).
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwDF8P9en-E"]this[/ame]

Gee! He's loud isn't he. Tai chi is all quiet. We have trouble getting up the gumption to say "tai chi chuan" quietly at the start of a routine. He's not bad though is he.

Originally Posted by tea lady

Gee! He's loud isn't he. Tai chi is all quiet. We have trouble getting up the gumption to say "tai chi chuan" quietly at the start of a routine. He's not bad though is he.

One step forward in understanding the internal principles.

There are some talented people about.
that kid is impressive.

Thanks for the Tan contact Blue-deviled, I'll pass it on.

I'll post some photos if the locals make the poles and dummies.
thanks again everyone. Very interesting.