Walking stick vs cane

[bikerdoc]

I have been making and useing canes since 06. I always have one with me.
Lately I have made several walking sticks - 44 inches vs 34 to 36 in canes.
I am 5 foot 6 inches. (66 jnches)

I keep the few cane I like to use and give the rest away to people in need.
But the walking sticks are really getting me intrigued. The fisrt few went to some people with MS and DJD patients.
I like the feel and utility of a 44 stick but I am self self consciencious about using one in public. Im working on a beautiful one now and I would like to take it out and about with me but I am a little trepidacious about being in public with it.
Any one else use a walking stick? Any advice pro or con?
Thanks
Doc

 

[glistam]

A longer (5') walking stick was my stick of choice in college. It was rural campus in the mountains and I never felt out of place with it. When I moved to Baltimore however, I found the length a bit of an issue because I used public transport so often then. It was hard to sit down there and in cafes with the big stick above me like a flag pole. It was also harder to maneuver, and when I had to use it martially a few months later on the Light Rail I was glad it was shortened.

However, I still use long sticks for times outdoors when I will be doing a lot of walking, either woodland hiking or even in Washington DC at museums. Nobody has ever bothered me about it, even in places with security. It's "just a piece of wood."

Additionally, at the hospital I work at, I see a number of people with wooden long sticks. I don't know every person I see's med hx, but I know a few who have neurological issues or brain tumors. Many revere their sticks as personal symbols of strength, much more so than any hollow aluminum cane. Nobody bothers these folks, though sometimes they have to leave their stick with a family member or the receptionist when they go in to the exam rooms for purely practical reasons.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Sticks longer than waist high are generaly called staffs. A chest high staff is great for the hiker who has to go up and down hills as it functions like the handrail on a set of stairs. It makes going up hill easier and lessens the impact on your knees going down, especially if you have a heavy pack on your back. They can also serve as a weapon out on the trail provided you do not choose one of the sissy hyper light aluminum tube models and use a good solid piece of hardwood.

That being said, they are just too long to be a practical weapon in most urban settings or indoors. The typical home or office cealing is only 8' high. It takes a lot of room to swing a 4 or 5 foot stick without hitting people and things in your immediate enviroment. In an open parking lot or pasture this is not a problem but look around you right now. Do you honestly have enough room to wield a chest high staff if a couple of bad guys attacked you right now?

I personaly think a waist high walking cane is a bit long for use as a weapon. I am willing to compromise and adapt by choking up on the grip because I can legally have it in places where I could not get away with carrying my prefered length stick of about 28 inches.

 

[EnglishmanInArizona]

In my home, my most likely point of defense is a long hallway under 3' wide with a 7' ceiling. I am temporarily without a firearm, soon to be reversed, I hope.

Unlike Owen, and I am a long way behind him in training, I am sure, I favor a short (4') staff over a shorter (2'6"-ish) stick in this confined space. I expect this is due to training in very different styles.

4' is enough length to deliver a decent strike using two hands well spaced - a relatively tight but powerful movement. I can thrust with two hands while keeping my body (though not my arms) out of knife measure. A 4' staff is an extremely powerful lever for controlling an opponent, and allows the entire body to be put behind driving motions to fold an opponent up. It is also not so long as to foul on the ceiling if the measure is closed and it is necessary to fight using the butt of the staff rather than the tip.

Your mileage may very definitely vary.

 

[JShirley]

Owen,

As I've said before, I cannot agree with your conclusions. I practiced nightly with a 74" staff in an apartment with standard 8' ceilings. At first, I would stop after x number of ceiling bumps, then 3, 2...finally, when my arms tired, because I almost never hit the ceiling anymore. This was true even when I transitioned to a 84" training spear, meaning I had exactly12" of free space.

It can, then, obviously be done with MORE room and a shorter stick. It takes practice and wrist flexibility. It's usually wise to understand that we all have different skill sets. Just because I can't draw and hit 3 targets in less than 2 seconds, doesn't mean there aren't many on the board who can indeed do just that.

John

 

[Steel Talon]

More often than not, I use my walking stick. It gives me better utility in use when I go on my evening walks or hikes. I also will carry it out shopping etc. It tends to keep me postured into a straighter gait, where as a cane tends to create a bit of a side or forward lean.

As for protection I'm just as comfortable using it as a bo as I am with the cane,baston',or the yawara

 

[bikerdoc]

Owen, I am not worried about fighting with it, I have training and continue to train weekly, and practice daily, with cane and have done some staff trainining. I understand your point and inside the house I would use a cane, maybe, I carry at home and am never more than arms lenth from a gun. I take coming into my home univited as the ultimate threat.

I was just was wondering if any else used one in public, without feeling self consciencious.
Dont see to many around here, and dont want to draw attention to myself. Then again I am of the mind set that I dont care what other people think, I just want to be "grayman" cruising under the radar.

Conversly I like the feel and support as Steel Talon mentioned. And as Owen said it is helpful on stairs. Getting in and out of the Quad cab pick up might take some practice.
Steel talon, JShirley, Glistam, and EnglishManinArizona give credance and credibility to the idea of using it in public.
Guess I will try it out and see if it fits into my toolset. Could be another handy tool in the toolbox.

 

[kBob]

interesting. As it happens 44 inches meantioned early on is the length of the US .30 Caliber service rifles of the last century 1903 series, M-1 and M-14. WHile there might be no room for over head swings or baseball bat mimicing there are plenty of things that can be done with ont of those rifles as a bludgeon inside close spaces.

This seems to be like the discussion on elevators I was in on who's carrying a cane. Exactly as in that different techneques would have to be applied than waeling away in an empty parking lot. Thrusts and strokes would rule the day and parries with follow ups would be the things to train for.....just as in bayonet training with the aforemeantioned rifles. oh Course some training on using a stick for arm locks and such could be transfered to these longer sticks as well.

I meantioned elswhere that BSA discourages sheath knives and hatchets for scout use......well at wood badge (for adult leaders) we were encouraged to make a hiking staff as per Baden Powell's recommendations of long ago. Needless to say scouts need to be reminded these are not weapons as some of the boys are familur with Robin Hoods first meeting with Little John.

-kBob

 

[Carl Levitian]

Doc, I carry my 47 inch hornbeam staff when I am out in the woods or fields. It's a thick heavy staff, and well suited for the two handed use that all my training has been in from both the military and police. But it's my outdoors stick. I don't carry it in suburbia due to lack of the gray man factor. On a hiking trail it looks okay, in a mall, no. It used to be even longer, but I trimmed a few more inches off it a few years ago to make it a bit faster handling in close moves in thick woods or brush.

I prefer my 34 1/2 inch walking sticks for general beating around. Still long enough to serve as a substitute for the riot sticks we trained with, but cane like enough to pass as un noticed among the masses.

Both of my sticks, the short staff and walking sticks are used two handed riot stick style, so wide swings are not used much. This way, indoors in restaurants or hallways, it's still a viable weapon for blocking and thrusts. The training they gave in the Colorado Law Enforcement Training Academy was useful for crowded bars and quickly putting down you opponent, using the two handed techniques for close in power and control. This is why I really do prefer my 34 inch sticks even in a crowded or indoor place. This is one reason I shortened my staff to 47 inches instead of the several inches longer length it used to be. Still useful outdoors, but it also works good in close if you adjust your techniques.

 

[glistam]

Ok I just remembered I did have one slightly negative reaction I got for a long staff, though it turned rather comedic.

I was in DC with a 5' musclewood staff and some guy passing by goes, "Hey it's Moses come to part the Red Sea."
I had to laugh at that one, then in my best state trooper impression said "Sir, have you been drinking? This is federally owned land."
I got a stammered reply "Eh, uh, yeah, maybe...a few. I'm...uh, I'm leaving though." At which point he left the area looking sheepish.

 

[hso]

A short staff is a little more difficult to learn to use compared to a cane (and a cane is a little more difficult to use than a shorter stick).

John's trained in staff far more extensively than I am, but my daughter was trained on staff and she prefers a shorter stick for the modern environment.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

I carry the Cold Steel Blackthorn for outdoor walks and bad weather days. Stock canes the rest of the times I got them cut to work with either boots or standard shores so I have 3 cut in differning lenghts. Most are 34-1/2 to 36 inchs and I have a hiking cane that is up to my ear or 5.6 long it is a 2 inch around oak slapping I cut down back in 1984 and dryed in Dads Lumber racks, I have hiked and hunted with it all over the South.
Since my lower back likes to act up more now days I am getting a 5 foot hiking stick for those days.

 

[Hanshi]

I use a cane out of necessity, nowadays. The ideal cane - if self-defense is also an issue - is the livestock handling cane, cut to your proper length. IMHO it is the best compromise. The reason is because of the design of the "hook". It is cut at an angle and is perfect for causing pain and controlling an attacker. The hook, itself, can be used in situations where a "standard" cane cannot. Plus it has all the attributes of a good stick.

 

[bikerdoc]

All good stuff. I am begining to realize the 44 inch staff is for outdoor use only for my life style, not suburban day to day activities.

 

[JShirley]

Oh, I prefer a 3' stick unless I have to face someone with a sword.

My point was, if I can swing a ginormous staff with 12 whole inches to spare, and not ding anything, you'd better believe I can handle a stick less than half that size even in the crowded urban environment. I've trained a lot, but I hardly think I'm exceptional, there- hold on, I'll give my The Edge quote: What one man can do, another can also, I think it was.

John

 

[Owen Sparks]

In an open field stick on stick fight, generally the longer the stick the better. In the Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi killed the presumedly best swordsman in Japan with a boat oar in a private duel. The swordsman favored a long swoard so Musashi whitteled an even longer weapon out of an oar and beat him with superior reach. They were fighting on the beach of an uninhabited island.

 

[Carl Levitian]

"In an open field stick on stick fight, generally the longer the stick the better. In the Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi killed the presumedly best swordsman in Japan with a boat oar in a private duel. The swordsman favored a long swoard so Musashi whitteled an even longer weapon out of an oar and beat him with superior reach. They were fighting on the beach of an uninhabited island."
__________________


I guess that swordsman Musashi fought never heard Eastwoods advise on hickory.

Carl.

 

[Ogreon]

Dont see to many around here, and dont want to draw attention to myself. Then again I am of the mind set that I dont care what other people think, I just want to be "grayman" cruising under the radar.

Doing anything that is both rare and visible is likely to draw extra attention. How much? Try it and see.

If you get too many stares, try asking them if they've seen your flock anywhere nearby? Or tack on a cardboard sign saying, "Repent! The end is nigh!"

I have to lean on my cane a lot. Trying to use a staff instead would probably kill my wrist. In addition, I already find the cane unwieldy enough to cause me problems from time to time, so I wouldn't be interested in toting something longer.

 

[bikerdoc]

Yep, the 2 day experiment proved the staff is only for walks and woods. not walmart, food lion. or walgreens. And getting in out of truck is a pain.

Live and learn.

 

[JShirley]

3 feet is just a little short for good support, for me. 4 is a little too much.

I guess "rolling your own" is really the best way to go, if you have the means and ability.

John

 

[Owen Sparks]

I pewoperly fitted walking cane should equal the distance from the floor to the bend of your wrist (or some say your watch band) Measure wearing the tallest heels that you normaly wear.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

I am looking at cutting another Oak sapling when I visit back home. I want to make a 4-5 walking stick or I am just going to buy a store bought one from of the craftsmen back home.

 

[streak]

I just bought some 3/4" hardwood dowel from HD both 3' and 4' lengths.
Drilled a hole tied in a paracord loop to which I attached a whistle, small light and a quick release paracord lanyard holding about 10 feet of cord.

Main use is walking the dog in the canyon near my home.

 

[JShirley]

3/4 is really thin, even for the laminates I prefer.

 

[bikerdoc]

I like 1 inch or 1 1/4 for heft.

YMMV