All sorts of things can become weapons... solid belts with heavy buckles, pieces of wood, chain, just about anything.
I walk with a cane a lot. Do I need to? 98% of the time the answer is no. I'm a young guy, but no one ever looks at me strangely... and event hose who do, most of them would probably never see it as a weapon. Most people dont think like we do, simple fact. But back to the cane... mine is one I made, in the style of a Cansemasters cane, with gripping areas, an angle cut crook tip so it has a sort of "point" of "fang", etc. I've also fire-hardened it. Made from oak. Heavy, sure, but not too bad. Solid? Oh yeah. And its not different from a fighting stick. Its a wicked wicked tool. And even if you dont know any stick fighting techniques, ever played baseball? Ever rammed a cattle prod into an old cow who just wouldnt move? Ever chopped wood? The principles and movements learned doing these things, boil down into a wicked way to use a cane.
Swing the cane, hit anything that comes into your personal space, hit them in the knees, the elbows, the head... ram the end of the thing into their guts, or their crotch, or hard up under their chin. Get it with two hands, one at one end of the shaft, one towards the other, have your strong hand "cocked", pulled back ready to lash out, then snap it forward, not trying to hit with the hand, but with the end of the cane, as your snap it out, pull back with your weak hand, and slide your strong hand down towards the weak hand. Its a fast, hard, snappy movement, and hits like a pile-driver. Same principle as having one hand higher on an axe handle, and sliding it down when you chop.
How about axe handles or pick handles, how many of us have them, with ot without heads on them, in our trucks? Somebody jumps you, you reach into the bed of your pick up, and you;ve got a pick handle... fools they are if they test your resolve to clobber them with it.
How many of us carry cell phones, pagers, or like Altoids or similar mints, that come in square tins?
Look at this picture:
This comes from the 1943 (Wartime) edition of the book Get Tough by W.E. Fairbairn. This shows a soldier using a matchbox to solidify his hand for a reverse hammerfist strike. Argue all you like about it, but in all likelyhood it was simply to teach/do two things, one, anything can be a weapon of opportunity, look at things and have the mindset that says that, and secondly, to give a psychological reinforcement to the soldier, to act violently and brutally, even when un-armed.
But, lets look at this as a real technique... lets take an altoid tin, and hold it so a little of it sticks up above the hand (I especially like the mini-tins for this technique), now reverse-hammerfist someone in the jaw with it, or int he temple, or wherever. Viola, improvised impact weapon.
Can do this with a pager too, or a cell phone. "Oh, but I paid $200 for this, and it has a digital camera in it, I couldnt just hit someone with it!" Oh really? What if you were gonna die? Could ya then. OF COURSE. Its just a thing, not your life.
Hmm... speaking of cell phones, looking at mine here on my desk, that 2 inch hard plastic antenna sticking up out of the top, wouldnt feel good rammed into my eye, or jammed into my throat, crushing my windpipe.
Theres always the classic role of nickles inside a fist, etc. etc. etc.
Anybody wear steel toed boots? Protect your toes, even during a fight, and add some re-inforcement for kicking people.
And your hands, and feet, whatever shoes you wear.... they are weapons. Your teeth too if you need them. Learn some good, simple, un-armed techniques, WW-II style Combatives is my fav, simple, direct, powerful, easy to learn, dont rely on anything fancy, simple and hard-core. Nothing wrong with that.
Just some ideas.
