How Many are Now Carrying a Cane?

Do you carry a walking cane?

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ArfinGreebly said:
Where I work, I'm known as "the gadget guy," the one who always has pliers or screwdriver or a knife. People who would normally flinch at a "big-ish" knife now find it more "amusing" than anything else when I first look at the job, then decide which knife to deploy. The admin secretary was my first person to de-sensitize and make accustomed to the presence of excessive cutlery.

Now, when something needs a little "tool" help, she'll send them to me: ask Arfin; he's the gadget guy. And generally, somewhere in my array of hardware, there's something that will do the job.

The side benefit is that nobody gives it a second thought when I whip out a full-sized folder to make a salad in the kitchen. Hey, it's just another one of his gadgets.

I have no problem being the eccentric in the crowd, as long as it gives me the freedom to lug around random sharps.

Now all I have to figure out is how a cane can be added to the gadget family without getting the Spock eyebrow.

Click to expand...
You sound like me and Sarge at my HS. We carry Leathermans and Swiss Tools and always have at least 2-3 knives on us.
I carry daily a locking folder, a small locking folder in my cell phone case, and some type of standard pocket knife. I have barlows, stockmans, trappers, canoes, jacks, tuxs, and sodbusters.
In my Desk I keep a 4 way screw driver, a Swiss Tool and a pair of pliers.
 
www.mendowood.com

Have two of them, Mr Oster was kind enough to make them slightly longer than usual to fit my very tall frame.

Steel pipe, reinforced with wooden dowel. Wood keeps the steel from bending, steel keeps the wood from breaking.

BEAUTIFUL hardwood heads, attached to the shaft with pins through a shorter metal rod in the head. Shaft is hand coated with layered epoxy in such a way as to look like black-painted wood.

My Madrone headed one is 6.5lbs, my Tamboti is 7. I credit them entirely with maintaining what function I have left in my Right arm, while the rest of my body seems bent on driving me into a wheelchair.

You do NOT want to be the dog, or person on the wrong end... MY eldest managed to whack me across the face and neck once trying to bring it to me. It left a deep, tall bruise across my throat and jaw for months.

I've been stopped twice trying to enter federal/City courthouses.

" you can't bring that in here sir"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry... Who's going to be bringing me a wheelchair, and pushing me around while I'm taking care of my parking ticket/ Jury duty? "

"I'm sorry, go right ahead sir."

I've brought it through Airport security, and onto planes. My only request at the plane is for the stewardess/steward to secure my stick with their own coats for the flight.

Yes.. I have no problem bullying people who want to try and separate me from my 3rd leg. The threat of having to push me around in a wheelchair is a VERY effective one.
 
My wife and I often walk on a busy street near our house. It's a main highway really through a combination business/residential neighborhood. The street is 4 lanes and busy enough, especially during rush hour, that most bike riders stick to the sidewalks. Frequently, a bicyclist will zoom past coming very close to one of us, dangerously close sometimes. I got interested in black thorn canes recently, and although I don't need a cane, I found a couple old ones and bought them to carry around while on our evening walks. While walking, I kind of like to entertain myself by spinning and twirling the cane around a little bit. Since doing this, every biker has given us a very wide berth, apparently to avoid any chance of getting dinged by my black thorn. Definitely a "hidden" benefit.
 
Oh, and not to hijack this thread, but for personal reasons, I'm interested in knowing how many of people's various injuries that led to their use of canes for mobility were likely related to old high-school or college sports injuries--football for example. Just curious, and thanks for any replies.
 
Yes, I do carry a cane. And not by choice by any means. Being a shooting victim in a not so polite neighborhood can do that to ya'. It does on occasion have it's advantages though. Doors being opened for you, people getting out of the way on a crowded sidewalk, people slowing down when crossing a road. A free beer here and there. But over all, even knowing the self defense advantages of it, I'd much rather be without it.
 
eqlzr said:
Oh, and not to hijack this thread, but for personal reasons, I'm interested in knowing how many of people's various injuries that led to their use of canes for mobility were likely related to old high-school or college sports injuries--football for example. Just curious, and thanks for any replies.
Click to expand...
I hurt my right ankle the first time my Jr year of HS football. I found out at that time I am double jointed in both ankles. I didn't have any issues again until I was 30 and I blew it out playing basketball. I had to go to rehab and it acted up off and on until I was in an auto accident in 2006. That did the ankle in and I had to give up running all together. I workout and I can walk and hike with proper hiking boots. But it can pop out at any time unless I wear my brace then it makes my tendons sore.
 
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Steel pipe, reinforced with wooden dowel. Wood keeps the steel from bending, steel keeps the wood from breaking.
Click to expand...

I did that with one I found with a horse head handle that is very effective now...I also poured some epoxy in :D Little heavy but comforting :)
 
When you get down much below an inch in diamiter there is just not enough surface area to get a good grip, plus that pretty much limits you to something metalic as wood that small is just too light to carry any momentum.
 
For all you old gunnies:
- may i recommend canes of the Derby type

Not until you put one in your hand for a while wilst you truly understand.

They can double (sometimes) as:
- an imaginary shoulder stock
- a rifle or handgun grip with quality forefinger rest
- a revolver or single shot grip with hammer on top
- an over/under grip with thumb barrel switchy thing

If light enough they can be pointed to the sky, the end smoothly motioned in small circles as if one is thinking of or contriving something profound.

Oh yeah, and they can be twirled too.

- MN
 
@ eqlzr

It's a tiny bit of shrapnel from 1968. Cant find it because I now have a pace-maker and the mri scan might damage me. I usually say, "It's an old injury from High School Foot ball: a cheer-leader bit the inside of my thigh. But I really can predict the weather, sometimes. Dao
 
In Filipino arts the sticks are made of rattan...Very strong... Those are good for exercising on bags and learning baton striking...I prefer them for many reasons...

I have a few that are in a cane (bent handle) configuration... For good practicing use, I would try them...

Very reasonable and can be found easily in local stores...

Book on use of cane for defense is... The Cane as a Weapon, by A.C. Cunningham...

http://martialhistory.com/2008/02/the-cane-as-a-weapon-1912/

:)

Regards
 
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I have several canes and I travel a lot on business, but having a cane can be perceived as a weakness in a business environment so I don't use one.

This isn't the case with an umbrella, and I take an unbreakable umbrella from Real Self Defense wherever I go. Nobody bats an eye.
 
CWL...
Interesting you mention business, canes and perceived weakness...
Mandatory reading...The Art of War, and The Book of Five Rings...

Sun Tsu was a sissy, is another book, discussing the business world...

Business is war!!!
:uhoh:

Regards
 
Something that was discussed elsewhere that might be pertinent here - If you carry a handgun concealed and have to defend your actions after shooting, you could point to the cane you were carrying and say you had hoped you'd never have to use your gun, that your cane was your first line of defense. One could further back up that statement with enrollment or graduation from a class that emphasized the cane as a defensive tool.
 
Cane as Self Defense Weapon

I carry CCW, but I also carry an Irish Blackthorn. With proper training and technique, the cane is a formidable weapon. There is an excellent article by Michael Janich in the latest issue of Personal & Home Defense. It is a 4 page spread with photos and illustrates a simple, easy to learn technique. The issue is # 101. Check it out!
Unkei
 
I am considering combining a walking stick and photographer's monopod into one item, a Crawford Survival Staff, as one of the available accessories is an adaptor so it wil fit tripod/monopod heads. My tripods could double as improvised weapons, but a tripod is a bit unwieldy, and mine are carbon fiber, and so have relatively little mass. The staff separates into two sections, so one section can serve as a walking stick.

(Someone else may well have already mentioned this product in this thread; I cannot remember everything I have read here over time.)



I do have a nasty scar on my right knee to demonstrate a logical medical reason for having a mobility-assistance device, though my actual chronic knee injury is unrelated to the scar.
 
Mass is a critical element if you ever need to use your stick as a weapon. Think of the difference between implements of corporal punishment (switch, whip, thin rattan cane) and something with mass and inertia like an axe handle. Light weight sticks can leave a stinging welt but do not penitrate and traumatize muscle or damage bone. A determined adversary can tolerate pain but not deep internal injuries or damage to supporting structures, bones and joints. The short answer is that you need the heaviest stick that you can handle, and no heavier!
 
Wow.. what a great thread.. :)

I recently made a walking stick out of a maul handle and a wood knob, with a little compass in it. . (Wish I had pictures..), because of accident that put my right knee 'out of place'.
I think I will be making another one shortly, with a brass top..
http://www.treelineusa.com/walking-sticks-and-canes/cane-handles/brass-pear-top.html
..and, if possible (help me out on this one) a way to 'disassemble' it, so I can bike with it, and 'screw' it together when I want to walk. I looked into pool cue 'take-downs, but they seem awfully short and likely prone to breakage.
Any ideas on making a walking stick a person could 'take down'?
Thanks..
 
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