Speaking of staves, I just finished my newest one, and it has a trick up it's sleeve. It's a fully functional blowgun!
I'm a longtime fan of blowguns and I think a lot of people underestimate them, believing they require poison to be of any use. Not so; a regular dart can kill many types of small game and fish. And I have personally witnessed a blunt-nosed stun dart to the temple knocking an adult out cold for a few seconds (um...long story).
The reason I made this was an experiment, to see if a functional blowgun could be made that a) actually had a enough mass and durability to be used as an impact weapon and b) could pass casual observation as nothing more than a walking stick.
While I have not done any impact tests, I think this looks hopeful. It is 1 3/8 red oak around a .40 Teflon-coated aluminum tube. While I recently saw a fierce physics debate over the power of .40 vs .62, I chose this for different reasons. I wanted the walls to be as thick as possible for strength, and most of my shooting experience is with .40.
The staff is 48" long and weights 1.75 lbs. It is a little bit on the thick side for a staff, but is actually thinner than my 5 ft. Brazo's Ironwood staff (which weights 2.5 lbs.) It has enough heft that I think it would wreck someone's day if I hit them with it, but is light enough to be held in the proper blowgun shooting position (see pic). For those unfamiliar with blowgun shooting, you are supposed to keep your hands close together near your mouth; extending your arm out for support actually makes the gun jar slightly when exhaling due to the movement of your chest muscles.
Only thing left is a cap or top to cover the mouth piece, but so far I've not found a design I like.
I'm a longtime fan of blowguns and I think a lot of people underestimate them, believing they require poison to be of any use. Not so; a regular dart can kill many types of small game and fish. And I have personally witnessed a blunt-nosed stun dart to the temple knocking an adult out cold for a few seconds (um...long story).
The reason I made this was an experiment, to see if a functional blowgun could be made that a) actually had a enough mass and durability to be used as an impact weapon and b) could pass casual observation as nothing more than a walking stick.
While I have not done any impact tests, I think this looks hopeful. It is 1 3/8 red oak around a .40 Teflon-coated aluminum tube. While I recently saw a fierce physics debate over the power of .40 vs .62, I chose this for different reasons. I wanted the walls to be as thick as possible for strength, and most of my shooting experience is with .40.
The staff is 48" long and weights 1.75 lbs. It is a little bit on the thick side for a staff, but is actually thinner than my 5 ft. Brazo's Ironwood staff (which weights 2.5 lbs.) It has enough heft that I think it would wreck someone's day if I hit them with it, but is light enough to be held in the proper blowgun shooting position (see pic). For those unfamiliar with blowgun shooting, you are supposed to keep your hands close together near your mouth; extending your arm out for support actually makes the gun jar slightly when exhaling due to the movement of your chest muscles.
Only thing left is a cap or top to cover the mouth piece, but so far I've not found a design I like.