Thread: Martial Arts Staff making

Originally Posted by Scally

I am looking for suggestions on how to make the staff.

.

a draw knife Scally,
nothing feels nicer in the hands than a fine tooled finish

Hi Scally, I made some a few years back for a bunch of guys from my dojo. I was able to hand pick a dozen hardwood blanks from Hely Bros when they still had their old mill in Hamilton and made all the tool handles, hoes, rakes, shovels etc. I then sanded them down with my belt sander upside down in the black and decker work table. Ours were not as long or as thick. I am a bit of nugget with rather large strong arms, I wouldn't like to be swinging a bow that size around for long. I did make some lighter ones too. Mine that I still have I think is Spotty, it is quite heavy, never looked like breaking. They have to be smooth as you say, you don't want splinters. I also put a very slight cove or dip about 6" from the end so while doing some of the moves you could tell when you were almost at the end of your bow.
So yes, draw knife, spoke shave, belt sanders all good.

Thanks guys.
I think?

I do have a draw knife and a few other sharp tools.
Sanding is no problem.

My drum sticks take about half an hour to hand shape so I hate to think how long it would take for a 10" pole.

If it was one stick for me, that is probably what I would do but if they need several of them it is a big job.

They are probably some of the same guys you know Claw Hama. I will ask them a few more questions about the dimensions. He was pretty definite about the 10' length.
The indent near the end sounds smart.
The attached photos are all I have been able to find so far.

Time to sharpen the draw knife.
Thanks again.

10 ft sounds long and hard to handle ours were 6 ft I think and about 1" dia, I will check it tomorrow and let you know. Staff may be used a bit different to a bow or they could be the just differewnt names for the same thing, the names and dimensions will vary from style to style,mine was is very traditional Okinawan style Karate where the weapons were based on farming tools and boat paddles etc.

Look a bit like big pool cues don't they. A reckon a lathe with steady rests would be easiest, but bif you don't have a lathe that long I guess you are back to draw knife. Why not use ash or something like that? I reckon spotty would by too heavy for a thing that long. I just made a turned tray out of a bit, and its nearly too heavy to actually carry stuff on. A guy at my son's wing chung acadamy has just got a whole lot of sticks made out of laminated bamboo. But they were straight not tapered.

Just got mine out, spotty 6ft long 1 1/8" in the centre and tappers out to 3/4" at the ends. I did have a ligther practice one too out of something else lighter but in a match you needed spotty to protect yourself, its nice to be sure that when someone else takes a big swing at you that your bow will save you in a defence move. I also had a slight notch or indent at the centre too. These things are great exercise, 10min in the yard practiceing and you have worked up a sweet. Bamboo TL is generaly to light in combat, ok for practice but if you play serious you need something with some weight and killing power or strong enough to break your oponents bow or staff.
We used to get into greif from our sensei, what would start as light randorie would usually end up with near ambulance rides. Boys will be boys.

Originally Posted by Claw Hama

Bamboo TL is generaly to light in combat, ok for practice but if you play serious you need something with some weight and killing power or strong enough to break your opponents bow or staff.
We used to get into greif from our sensei, what would start as light randorie would usually end up with near ambulance rides. Boys will be boys.

Girls will be boys too given weapons. My fellow tai chi students are starting to learn the sword forms, but I can't make it on that particular night.

The bamboo ones the guy had were lamaited not just the hollow sticks. And he is pretty good a stress testing them. :ambulence:

I can see there might be blood soon!
Laminated bamboo would impressive. Probably similar features.....very tough and has a bit of flexability.

I think my friend is doing a pretty full on type of martial arts, it might be Wing Chun.

The weapons include things you use every day. Like your Bow.
These are the poles they use to push a sampan.

I found this with the photos I posted:

"The material is made out of a classic material they call "Qwan Din" in Chinese, and is not found in western forestry. Qwan Din is commonly used in making oars, like the long oars in the sampan, and it can be put into water permanently and will not rot. They are also heavy and flexible (imagine the long oars rowing against water constantly). This wood could have very well been the material of the original Chi Sin Monk Luk Dim Boon Quan on the Red Boats. The Qwan Din tree has a ring and a core, the core is hard but brittle, so Buick only uses the outer core."

I'll see if google has heard of the Qwan Din tree?

Originally Posted by Scally

"The material is made out of a classic material they call "Qwan Din" in Chinese, and is not found in western forestry. Qwan Din is commonly used in making oars, like the long oars in the sampan, and it can be put into water permanently and will not rot. They are also heavy and flexible (imagine the long oars rowing against water constantly). This wood could have very well been the material of the original Chi Sin Monk Luk Dim Boon Quan on the Red Boats. The Qwan Din tree has a ring and a core, the core is hard but brittle, so Buick only uses the outer core."

I'll see if google has heard of the Qwan Din tree?

Sounds interesting.

Maybe some sort of router jig/sled to help taper them????


(image pinched from here: Tapering Wooden Poles - Yachting and Boating World Forums )

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.

Have fun :

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Somebody supposedly teaching "swords forms" of tai chi would have absolutely no idea of the difference between internal and external styles of Chinese fighting.

Here in Sydney Earle Montague used to teach stick forms (a long and short from memory), Jim Fung used to teach at least one stick form. But that was 30 years ago..... There was a sword form in the Wing Chun set at the time, Ive forgotten who taught it.

Originally Posted by Sebastiaan56

Here in Sydney Earle Montague used to teach stick forms (a long and short from memory), Jim Fung used to teach at least one stick form. But that was 30 years ago..... There was a sword form in the Wing Chun set at the time, Ive forgotten who taught it.

Yep. Wing Chun is external. No idea about Earle Montague, but long and short stick make me think of the Japanese bo (6' - 1.5'') and jo (4' - 1").