How Many are Now Carrying a Cane?

[hso]

My wife's uncle now has a hickory "stock" cane that is no longer stock.
He was visiting from Nicaragua and I customized one of the canes I keep on hand for such purposes and we went through some simple techniques for motivating other people to go away.

 

[Ray P]

Often, I carry a cane when I go out. Got a terrific warhammer cane similar to this mace cane, from same source. Also have a blackthorn shillelagh covered in naturally occuring 1/4-inch "spikes". See here, scan page for "rustic." The shilleligh I picked up used in a Portsmouth NH antique furniture shop decades ago. Terrific stick; light, slightly flexible, very well cured wood.

 

[CollinLeon]

Turns out this topic came up on this forum once before...

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=449215

 

[CollinLeon]

He didn't do something weird to get access to your quote.

Agreed... I guess I'm just not that diligent in completing the reply to a post quickly after I start it... Probably one of the hazards of having multiple tabs open in my browser... An email come in or something happens that you need to immediately attend to and then you forget to complete what you initially started...

 

[Ray P]

Carl Levition's post (#19) on the older thread is excellent info.

 

[Owen Sparks]

The problems of using a crook end of a cane for defensive use are numerous. It is not that hooking techniques do not work, they do and there is defiantly a time and place for stick grappling such as in law enforcement and security work but generally not in self-defense.

Why, first and foremost is the fact that it ties up your weapon and increases the time you are in contact with your assailant. In a real criminal attack you should not attempt to control your attacker. You need to disable him quickly and get away. This means striking. Control should not be your objective. Most real fights involve other people and it is a really bad idea to get tied up with an opponent no matter how good your technique is because it leaves you totally vulnerable to any accomplices.

Another major problem with using the crook is that most techniques require too much time. Take the commonly demonstrated method of hooking an opponent’s foot and yanking it out from under him as an example. This looks really cool on YouTube but in truth If you have enough time to turn your stick around and reach past the opponents leg in order to hook him you would certainly have had time to whack him in the knee.
But suppose you do “pull” it off and trip your attacker, what then? A healthy young adult male can usually withstand falling on his butt and will probably pop right back up unharmed and fighting.

Suppose you manage to get him in an arm lock or choke hold of some sort you still have a problem. There are no tap outs in a street fight and now you have a tiger by the tail. This leaves you in a quandary. Do you cripple the bad guy, crush his throat or take his word that he will be good if you let him go? Hang on until the cops get there? If there are no witnesses who is going to call the cops? Not you, your hands are full. If there are witnesses, what if one of them is the bad guys best friend or his brother? What will you do then? Remember your hands are full.

Your objective in a criminal assault should be to end it quickly and get away. Forget the fancy stuff and Learn how to HIT.

 

[Owen Sparks]

With a stick or cane the arms and legs are primairy targets. I spend a good bit of my training time picking individual leaves off the bushes with my stick. This is a fantastic method for learning accuracy as well as follow through. If you can hit one perticular leaf you can easily hit a forearm or a knee and BTW CJ 74, the side of the knee is a prime target. If you feel the sides of your own knee you will find a bony prominance on either side. Tap that area lightly with anything hard and you will get a taste of what it is like to get hit there.

 

[JShirley]

Start nails with just a tap. Then drive them into the wood with one single straight thrust.

Good practice.

 

[CollinLeon]

If I'm forced to use my cane, I will... I also have a .45 on me, so it's not in the BG's interest if I have to escalate the issue... I am not too proud to let the BG think that I'm a cripple while I also introduce him to Mr. .45ACP...

 

[Carl Levitian]

Reading some of the above posts, I have to ask why?

The whole reason for a cane/stick is to have and keep a distance from your attacker. Why in the world do you want to get in close enough to get tangled up with him? Just because some asian martial art makes a technique of this, does not mean it's a good idea. Wrists, hands, sides of knee, can all be hit from a distance greater than a muggers knife. That's one reason I dislike the crook top canes, other than being associated with a 'cripple'. Hit, and then get the heck out of Dodge. Last thing I want is for my weapon to be hooked onto my assailant. Crook tops get snagged, can be grabbed at, and is clumsey when using military pugil stick or riot stick techniques. I much prefer a root ball handle on a stick. It can be sanded to a nice comfortable grip, and it's a non snag handle.

When I was a kid living in Washington D.C., there was an alley behind the apartment building where we lived. This was our play ground, and we had a game called stick ball. We'd use a broomstick and a little black hard rubber ball the size of a racquet ball. It was good practice to hit a small fast moving ball with a broom stick. A piece of broom stick or mop handle became the weapon of choice growing up in a rough neighborhood. It was ubiquitous because of stickball games, and it was easy to obtain, or make. It was a common street knowledge that a stick, when used right, beats a knife any day. Plus you didn't get in trouble if found with a stick that you'd get into with a knife. It was not uncommon practice for a kid to have a broken off piece of broom handle stuck in his pants under a jacket for defense against a knife. Or open carrying of a longer piece of broom stick like you were on the way to play stick ball.

The older kids who mentored the younger kids taught how to go for the hand of a guy with a knife. Keep a distance and make them come to you, then block and take out the hand. A piece of broomstick will break the bones in the hand real well, and the hand is then useless. Hard to use a knife with a broken up hand. In those days, the knife was a punks weapon, and I guess to some extent I kept that idea most of my life.

Hang a racquet ball from a ceiling in a basement for batting practice. Smack it, then try to nail it on the rebound. Good practice for intercepting a hand with a knife in it, or smacking a knee in motion. Your assailant will be moving, your practice should be moving also. Play some racquet ball once in while, or go fencing. It's good for reflexes.

Carl.

 

[Unkei]

Often, I carry a cane when I go out. Got a terrific warhammer cane similar to this mace cane, from same source. Also have a blackthorn shillelagh covered in naturally occuring 1/4-inch "spikes". See here, scan page for "rustic." The shilleligh I picked up used in a Portsmouth NH antique furniture shop decades ago. Terrific stick; light, slightly flexible, very well cured wood.

Hey Ray P,
Just curious, no flame intended. I have a shilleligh ,brought from Ireland, which I often carry. The thing is it made of Blackthorn wood which even when finished is or can be very painful to grasp in the hand anywhere but the smoothed and finished top knob. If I were to try to hold the thorny end and a thug was able to grab the top knob and pull or twist,it would cause me great pain. So I'm curious as to how you use your shilleligh. I have thought of using gloves, but they would probably have to be armored like biker gloves to protect my hands, and would certainly look odd if I wore them all the time. Thanks for any reply.
Unkei

 

[Steel Talon]

Interesting, although a quick look didn't show any already drilled and tapped.

Boomer, Here you go..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/One-1-1-2-threaded-brass-ball-drilled-tapped-/120434493366?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5353836560905638998

 

[CollinLeon]

Boomer, Here you go..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/One-1-1-2-threaded-brass-ball-drilled-tapped-/120434493366?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5353836560905638998

I saw that one, but with only 1/8" IPS threads, I would just use that for a pilot hole and drill it out so that I could rethread it in perhaps a 1/2" size... They sell them in the 1/8" IPS thread because they are intended to be used on lamps.

Another option might be a 1" brass pipe cap:

 

[Boomer...]

Boomer, Here you go..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/One-1-1-2-threaded-brass-ball-drilled-tapped-/120434493366?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5353836560905638998

I looked for stainless (to complement silver-black weave of my carbon fiber stick), with 1.5" diameter and metric M8 tapped. My prior link to Carr Lane ball knobs also shows a machined flat on center with tapped hole, which happens to match my stick's top diameter perfectly.

Also to mention that neither of my C-S sticks are for EDC, but instead for add'l support when needed. The City with it's skull head is more of a conversation novelty, however the Slim now equipped with slightly heavier round stainlesss ball head plus 3/8" rubber hiking stick tip will see regular use for (um) hiking.

Edited to add some pictures:

Cold Steel "Slim" (shown with C-S cast alum "golf ball" head):


Cold Steel "City" (shown with C-S cast alum "formal" head):

 

[Owen Sparks]

I am hesitant to put any metal on my sticks. First of all it draws attention to it if you have to go through a metal detector and it also makes the stick top heavy and off balanced. Something as crude and home made looking as an iron pipe cap on a stick would also draw a lot of unwanted attention. Avoid wraping it with black electrical tape also. Make your "walking cane" look non-weapon like and ordinary as possible and nobody will notice it. Mine is honey brown with a bright red snooker ball handle and a white rubber tip. No one can tell by looking that it weighs a whopping 22 ounces.

 

[Carl Levitian]

Man, I gotta go with Owen on that. Putting metal on your stick is defeating the whole object of a inconspicuous weapon. It going to draw way too much attention to it as you go through security someplace.

Do that stuff too often, and canes may start to get too noticed by the 'officials.'

Besides, use a stick right, and you don't need that mall ninja stuff.

 

[Ghost Tracker]

IMHO, when it comes to canes - the less it looks like a weapon, the more effective of a weapon it then becomes.

 

[CollinLeon]

A cane without a weighted head is useful for jabs and inflicting pain... A cane with a metal head makes it easier to crush bones... Without the weighted head, you are relying on the speed of the cane to generate the energy necessary to cause pain. If the head is weighted, you are likely not to be swinging it as fast if the head is near your hand and as such, it would not cause as much pain. I all boils down to whether you want to hopefully cause enough pain to discourage an attacker or whether you want to seriously injure or kill your attacker with your bludgeoning instrument.

Remember when the police used this type of baton?

Those were very useful for punching in that they could be used to direct all the force of a punch into about a 1" diameter area. They were also useful for jabbing or swinging as a club.

These days, they use the expandable metal batons which are more of a striking weapon and they mainly just cause pain.

 

[AStone]

And me, on a low budget, still carries either my 20" long 1" hickory dowel on my daypack (no vehicle, walk everywhere in my small town, never questioned by anyone in 1.5 years) or a 16" version of same in my large fanny pack.

It's all about ... dare I say it? ... Shot placement.

Will the stick go high to the head/neck, mid range to the arm/hand (which holds the weapon coming at me),
or low to the knee? Or maybe the ribs on his left side.

Chaotic left hand distracts, stick in the right hand could go anywhere.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

I love my Canes and the Brass head Plow Harness Head and my Hammer head had caused me NO problems.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Dr says my ankle is going south fast! So I am almost a daily cane user now just to keep my balance.

 

[ThorinNNY]

Hi, new to the high road.Nerve damage forces me to wear a steel & letaher leg brace thats permanently attatched to a "Frankenstein" boot. I use a 11/8 cane i bought at Tractor Supply and put rubber tip on. I can walk very short distances just using the cane. Even wearing the brace, my cane makes walking less tiring and helps my balance.
It`s difficult to obtain a pistol permit in New York State, and even harder to get a concealed carry permit.
Not sure how much help a cane would be against a criminal with a gun, but I konw that any kind of stick can be used as a good defense against a knife user.

 

[Owen Sparks]

How would the skull head pictured above look in court?

That could make ALL the diference in getting you convicted in a
questionable self-defense case.

 

[Unkei]

I have been looking at Cold Steels Irish Blackthorn walking stick as well as there city stick. Does anyone have any experience with either of these canes/walking sticks?

Hey starbuck6264,
I don't have a cold steel stick but understand very heavy with huge knob, so possibly uncomortable. I carry an Irish Blackthorn, lighter and with more easily handled knob. Mine was bought at a local Irish Fetival for $45. Have many canes, most made by me, and a $700 sword cane custom made for me. The blackthorn is my favorite. Here is a link to buy similar.
http://www.lollysmith.com/
Unkei

 

[Unkei]

Length is going to depend upon your height if you primarily need it for walking. You want to be able to keep your arm straight and not bent. If the cane is a bit long, you can tilt it at an angle to make up the difference, but that won't work if it is too long.

For my current cane, I started with a hickory maul handle that was 36" long and then smoothed it down so that it was basically round (instead of basically oval as it came from the manufacturer) and gave it just enough of a gradual taper so that I could put a rubber tip on the end.

In my case, I just screwed the T-fitting onto the shaft of the cane. Since NPT threads are tapered, I had to taper that end of the cane too. The threads are a bit too fine and not deep enough in my opinion for use in wood, even though I have not had it come loose yet. A very course deep thread would be better, so if you happen to know a machinist that could recut them for you, that would be great. As it is, I have a feeling if you started beating on someone with the head of the cane, it would eventually loosen... Probably not until after you had caved his skull end though... Ultimately, I want to get a piece of 1" steel pipe about 3-4 inches long and weld it to the bottom of the T-fitting. The 1" steel pipe would have a bit smaller inside diameter than the shaft of my cane, so it would need to be hammered down on it which should keep it fairly well attached.

Hey Collin Leon,
I have a tap & die for cutting threads inside and outside for 3/4 in hardwood. Made for making wooden screw clamps for shop. The set is not cheap at about $79.00, but lasts forever. Do no attempt to cut threads on softwood dowels as they will merely crumble to pieces. I think Garrett Wade sells a set in 3/4 in
Unkei