How Many are Now Carrying a Cane?

[bikerdoc]

This ability to transition is the difference between a ‘stick fighter’ and a fighter with a stick. A stick fighter only has one weapon and is totally dependent on it. A fighter with a stick still has kicks, punches, knees and elbows, the ability to throw and grapple, bite and gouge as well as a stick but he is not married to it.

Worth repeating. Thank you Owen.

[Deltaboy]

True Owen that is why I carry a lock back knife, a standard pocket one, a AA mini-mag flashlite , a pocket 38, a metal ink pen and a Cane. Plus good ole pepper spray!

[Deltaboy]

LOL it was probably doggie heck you sent him to since he was a pit though.

I carry either a 1 1/4" hickory stick with a ball on one end and a rubber tip on the other (I do need to use a cane almost always now). I also have a 1" oak shepherd's cane with a hook because I sometimes like to use a hook to support my weight. But with either my main plan of action is to strike hard and quick at something that is going to hurt a lot and then retreat to a safer location.

A good whack to the knee, ankle or shin is going to anchor 90% of your common bad guys right on the spot if you use a cane like the two I have. Broken bones are a distinct possibility because my canes (especially the hickory which is actually 2 pieces laminated together which gives the can even more strength) have enough mass and strength to hold out far better than a bone of any kind.

Most likely I won't be looking to kill someone with a cane. But just like Mr. Pit in doggie heck it can be done. You can crush a skull with a chunk of mass like these canes. Yuck! I think I'd rather just go ahead and shoot them to be honest. I can buy new bullets. I don't want to have to clean my canes.

A cane is a great first line of defense against your basic young punk looking to make himself look good to his gf by harassing the old guy with a cane. It's already in your hand and it can be very effective. I still carry concealed often because there are times when a cane just won't do (I've been chased by a gang before). But there are times we can't carry too and a cane is way better than nothing. The days of either kicking rear with just my hands or outrunning people with just my feet are over for this old guy. But I can still swing a cane and make it hurt a lot if you just happen to be in the direction I'm swinging. Seriously if you have a heavy cane and something you can test it on try it sometime. You can put a big time hurt on just about anything that walks or crawls with the right stick.

Yep he came after me and left me little choice. Pre WW2 Solid Brass Hames will do the job. I had to clean it with my bandana then I washed it good with some soap and water when I got home.

[Owen Sparks]

Right C12, the mind is the weapon. A cane is just a tool.

[mdauben]

Let’s look at the ways a standard walking cane can be used as a weapon.

I think you are forgetting the fourth way to use a cane, defensivly. A stick is very useful for parrying your opponent's attacks, and at maintaining your distance. I think this can be especially useful against an opponent with a knife, as you don't need to stick your hands within range of a cut in order to parry or attack.

The first is circular strikes.

This is where a cane really shines because it gives you a range where you can strike the bad guy outside of his reach

This is true, but in my experience (which admittedly is with a Japanese jō, a short staff approximatly 4 feet long, rather than formal cane training), swings, while potentally very powerful and with extended reach, are also generally slower than thrusts and leave you open to counterattack more than a thrust does. I personally would rate the thrust as the preferred attack, but in reality both have their place.

[Auf Grosser Fahrt]

This has been one of the most interesting threads I've ever read. Read the whole thing this afternoon instead of working.

Never crossed my mind even remotely to use a cane/walking stick for a weapon. When I've gone walking, I carry a 6-cell Brinkman flashlight (basically a lead pipe) with me...now I can't get the idea of a cool cane out of my head.

Thanks!

[kBob]

Back in the same hospital elevator today. Daughter was having cast off and getting the next best thing and still on crutches. Played with the cane abit. Don't know if security has a camera in the elevator cars as is the case in some buildings, but that could be embarassing. As we were alone in the car I tried a few slow motion swings and such and a thrust or two. Not a lot of room and if a bad guy had a budy there would not be room to swing a cat, let alone a cane. Even a thrust seemed like it might have trouble if deliverd from tip on the floor & crook in hand.

On the way down after the appointment I flipped the can up and shifted my grip so I was holding the mid point of the cane with the crook down about my knee and the end of the crook forward. Looked like the can might be easier to use in those close quarters from that position. Sort of an overly long Philapino stick. Also put the crook in a great position to take out the other guys knee or slam the crook into somethings a bit higher.

An this trip my bewildered child ask me what in the world I was doing.....

BTW The injections have largely relieved me of knee pain in only these three days. I was spining the cane like a majorette's baton in the hospital parking lot and a guy hobbling along on a cane anounced he wanted some of whatever they had given me.

Still might be a few weeks before the new brace comes in. I continue to carry the cane because I might over do it and need the cane. It won't do me much good in the truck or in the umbrella stand at the house!

-kBob

[gunner69]

Why do I choose to carry a cain............ because it's LEGAL wherever I go. If you want to see what a guy with a cain can do when properly trained google Irish Cain Fighting That is sure to impress you......

[Deltaboy]

Yep I love my canes and all the one I make. s

[Nematocyst]

Twenty three pages, and still going.

Must be something here ...

[Deltaboy]

Originally Posted by Nematocyst

Twenty three pages, and still going.

Must be something here ...

A bunch are getting grayer and hobbled up and we need to teach each other what we can about using canes and watching out of the wolves that roam the streets and roads of our states and citys and rural areas.

[Cocked & Locked]

You said it right Deltaboy. I walk with a cane most of the time for the last 10 years...got to, no choice.

If I've got a lot of walking to do like in an airport I've got one in each hand. Both matching 37-inchers (hickory I think) with Colt grip medallions I inlayed in each. My brace of Colts.

Ain't no way I'm gonna carry one, much less two, of those telescopic adjustable aluminum canes.

Also have some I made with hame balls on top, deer antler, etc., etc.

Of course I carry a handgun or two as well.

[Nematocyst]

DB, yes, well said.

[TomADC]

The more I read this thread, the more I think I need to revise my thinking on carrying a cane. At 70 it sure won't look out of place and may help the back a little.

[Owen Sparks]

Carrying a cane even when you are young only "looks" out of place to people who know you. The rest of us don't know you and don't care.

One word of caution KBob,
I would really avoid twirling my cane in a parking lot or anywhere in view of the general public. This could be taken as a form of brandishment and draws a lot of attention that you do not need. One of the things that makes a cane so effective is that it is low key and unexpected.

[Carl Levitian]

I gotta agree with Owen on this. A young guy with a cane does not look that much out of place as you may think. This country has been at war for the past decade. Only this morning, my better half Karen drove me down to the VA hospital for a kidney stone procedure. Between the patient parking lot and the second floor out patient surgery, I counted 7 young guys in the their 20's walking with a cane. One or two had barely any limp, while others had an obvious prothetic. A couple of these kids looked like they should be out at the Tasty Freeze with Bobby Jean, instead of a VA hospital, but there it was.

Nobody who doesn't know you, knows your history. You could have any of a zillion reasons for having that cane, but most of all, it ain't their business.

Carry a cane and the heck with what people think. Not only is there no law against it, but it's your right to do some without being harassed.

Carl.

[Owen Sparks]

I ALWAYS have my cane in the car but only carry it in hand for late night trips to Wally World and convienience stores or when I have to go into the city. Places where my chances of running in to someone I know from my daily life are slim.

[Nematocyst]

Any one know a source of knob head canes
in a good hard wood (ash or better)
with a shaft of 1.25" or better
and a length of at least 39"?

Could be natural, or a stick turned on a lathe.

[Mrcymstr]

OK guys I'm sold on the cane. I have been for a long time actually. But what about young guys and gals? I'm talking sub-25 like myself with no medical issue whatsoever. I know its harassment proof due to ADA but I have a hard time feeling I wouldn't get scrutinized by the surrounding folks and I would feel a bit dishonest carrying one in any free-victim zones.
This is just my personal reflection as I contemplate the possibility and I'm curious if any of the other wet-behind-the-ears highroaders carry a cane, how you are received, do you fake a limp or otherwise try to sell the cane, and how you reconcile the, seeming, dishonesty?

(To clarify I'm not calling anyone who does dishonest. I'm honestly just curious.)

[Carl Levitian]

It's easy and fun to make them yourself. Look around the woods at young hornbeam, ash, hickory, even dogwood saplings. Take a small garden trowel with you, and if you find a nice looking sapling with the right diameter, dig around the base to see if it has a ball root of offshoot root. Take a small cheap hatchet and cut it off below ground and let it sit down the basement for several months. Leave the bark on, just polish it with 0000 steel wool, and shape the root knob with sandpaper to the shape you want. Finish with the Minwax stain of choice, and then spar urethane for a weather proof finish.

You'll have a unique stick that is all yours.

Or you can order a blackthorn or hazel stick from Lollysmith.

Carl.

[Onward Allusion]

Heh - Regardless of ADA & what's legal & what's not. I guarantee that you will be scrutinized thoroughly by LE if you're young and don't walk around with a limp - and even then...

Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, there were plenty of Blackthorns & Flat Caps with the Irish yewts. Of course that didn't stop the local cops from taking the sticks away however. I'm guessing if you tried to go through airport security today and you look relatively young & healthy you're going to have some questions asked of you and then some. Don't give a crap about blah blah blah ADA...etc. There's the law and then there's reality. Now me...pushing 50 and looking constipated, I'd get a pass...

[Nematocyst]

Carl, your first paragraph is priceless. What a concept.

[ArfinGreebly]

If a fella, believing himself to be so young and fit as to be conspicuous, worries how it will appear, his walking with a cane, there is an alternative.

Google "unbreakable umbrella" and watch the videos.

There are two styles -- I have the one with the hooked handle. I find it handier, because I can hang in on (among other things) my arm. There are folk, however, who will prefer the knob handle.

If it's summer, the umbrella is portable shade (seriously, the word "umbrella" literally means "little shadow"); if it's winter, no one would ask.

It can be tucked under the arm or used like a cane.

If I take mine to the office and the sun breaks out before I get there, I will sometimes get a chuckle or a cute remark from someone about it. I just tell them "this is my weather talisman; if I don't carry it, then it rains." Always gets a laugh.

[hso]

No one in an airport will give anyone at any age a second glance for using a cane. I fly far too often and I see people of all ages using canes with o problem. One of my first times flying with a cane the TSA rep apologized and asked if I would put my cane on the conveyor for x-ray. He then asked if I needed any help getting through the metal detector. I winked at him and said, "I don't need it to hold me up all the time, just to keep me from falling down at the wrong ones".

There are alternatives to carrying a cane, as AG pointed out.

[leadcounsel]

I said never, but in reality if I were to go abroad or to a state that prohibited carry, or on a cruise, I would consider it. But I generally stay away from such anti-freedom locations