Canes and "weak" image?

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Lone Star said:
What's wrong or illegal about those adjustable aluminum canes, which is what I use?
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I need a cane. There are many criteria by which to judge a cane. Necessity trumps all of them.

I have a stock cane and a knob cane. They're sturdier than my default cane. They look nicer than my default cane. If I use them for too long they put more pain on me than they are likely to put on anybody that I might hit. I have enough difficulties without tossing a bunch of additional pain on top of them.

I default to using a cheap $19 adjustable cane from Walmart. It has a derby handle with gel. I get pain from it. Not as much. Not as soon. Otherwise, I would never use this cane.
 
What's wrong or illegal about those adjustable aluminum canes, which is what I use?
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In a word weight. They just do not have enough mass to transfer energy deep enough to cause muscle trauma or break bones. My personal 'walking stick' weighs a pound and a third.
 
But momentum is just mass x velocity. (we're back to the .45 vs 9mm debate) :D

I've been playing with a 40" piece of 1/2" steel EMT conduit tonight. I really like the weight of it; wonder how it would do with a 2" wooden ball or a fancy brass or crystal doorknob on top for a handle, and a rubber crutch tip on the end? The trick will be finding some black paint (or primer) that will stick to the galvanized finish to make it look nice.
 
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The trick will be finding some black paint (or primer) that will stick to the galvanized finish to make it look nice.
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Sand it and try flat black auto primer. Drying time and curing is a bit longer but it will stay and look good.

2" wooden ball or a fancy brass or crystal doorknob on top for a handle, and a rubber crutch tip on the end?
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Yes, it would.
Tip- Lowes sells a 2 part epoxy called Devcon, works great and holds tight. I use it on my knife scales.
I use paddle drill bits in 1/2, 3/4, and 1inch to afix wooden knobs. Never tried doorknobs ,might give it a try, great idea, thanks.

Crutch and cane tips are cheap at Wallgreens.
 
Tip- Lowes sells a 2 part epoxy called Devcon, works great and holds tight. I use it on my knife scales.
I use paddle drill bits in 1/2, 3/4, and 1inch to afix wooden knobs. Never tried doorknobs ,might give it a try, great idea, thanks.
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I thought I'd get a long 1/4" carriage bolt and glue it in place with expanding polyurethane foam -- head down with a little stub of threads sticking out to attach the handle. Or I can epoxy a coupling nut in the end of the tube.

I have a can of sandable gray automotive primer already; gonna try that first.

There are some neat old doorknobs for sale on eBay.
 
Give that piece of conduit a few full power whacks on a tree and see what happens before you trust it as a weapon.
 
Ohhh, the Duval street crawl.... How I love Key West. I was last there about five years ago. A few buddies (one of which is a MMA trainner) and I were having a blast drinking when something similar happened. We noticed a couple of guys (kinda rough looking) following us. We walked out past the Cuba marker and kept going a couple of blocks just enjoying the buzz. My buddy John, started staggering. While I knew he had drank some beer, I didn't think it was enough to be drunk. He kicked his flip flop off and acted like he was having a problem picking it up. Here come the two guys. Demanding money, watches..etc. John hit one in the jaw, it sounded like a .22 went off, and the other took off running.

I think they did target you guys because of the cane, the same as they did John when he started staggering. We knew basically we were getting stalked, so John though he would lure them in. Hindsight it was dumb, but moral of the story, people will target others that they percieve to be weak. Sometimes that is not the case. I wish I had a cane back then...lol
 
If I were being followed like this with no other witnesses, I might just give my cane a quick wrist twirl or redondo to let the bad guys know I was a hard target.
 
I'm so confused

Owen Sparks said:
Give that piece of conduit a few full power whacks on a tree and see what happens before you trust it as a weapon.
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Trying to understand...how does a tree determine what is a good weapon against two and four legged critters?

Against a tree a pipe will bend, a knife might break, and a bullet won't penetrate far. Possibly those things would happen from muscle and bone but not probably I would think. :scrutiny:
 
Seems real simple to me. Test a cane or a club against something as hard as a bone to determine its durability. Am I missing something?

Jim
 
The difference being that a tree won't give and a bone will. Still might be a good test, but the cane doesn't have to pass with a perfect score.

I'd get a rattan fighting stick and put a Derby handle on top to make it look more "cane-like" but all they seem to come in is 28" lengths. (I haven't looked very hard) I don't know the first thing about stick-fighting, just know that rattan is light -- but not too light -- and strong and doesn't break or splinter.
 
Re tree v bone.

How many of you have an animal bone surrounded by muscle tissue in your backyard?
(Counts show of hands, sees only 2, one of whom is a butcher, the other a deer hunter.)

Now, how many of you have a tree in your back yard?
(Hands up everywhere.)

Final part: How many have some reasonable sense of how hard you'd need to strike a leg or arm bone to break it?
Could you approximate that force on a tree to test a stick?

This ain't rocket science. It involves a lot of intuition.
 
I'm just saying, if it survives hitting a tree full-force, it will do better than that against a bone. (so if it bends a little, I'm OK with that. If it creases or breaks, it still *might* be OK but shouldn't be trusted and it fails)

Now, off to beat up a big silver maple tree that I don't like...
 
Hitting trees don't tell you anything except how well your stick is at hitting trees. Go make friends with a meat cutter at a super market. Spare ribs, raw chickens, and small hams make very good test material. A plank of raw spare ribs will give you a very good idea of how well your stick is going to break up hand and wrist bones, and a ham covered with denim make a good test for a knife.

If your going to be attacked by a tree, by all means wack a tree. But if your attacker is going to be on four legs or two, test on meat and bone.

Carl.
 
Conduit is far too light plus it is made to bend relitivly easy. If you whack it against someones hard skull or shin bone it will bend.
 
I took my late mother in laws drug store cane, set the height where I wanted then cut out the shock cord and JB Welded a 3/8 piece of Rebar! It is real hammer.
 
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