Kubaton, Baton, tactical pens, flashlights and Yawara sticks

[bdcochran]

A few weeks ago, I received a Cold Steel bo. It was curved and shaped like a Japanese sword.

Having made walking sticks/escrima sticks/English quarter staff, I wanted to make a straight bo. I last visited my hardwoods dealer about 30 years ago when I was making fighting sticks. I wanted to make a hardwood bo.

Well, the guy had moved. He didn't have bins of hardwoods like in yesteryear. Now it was a cut-to-order place at about $100 an hour making flooring. Oh well.

So, I went on line. Found a Japanese hardwood bo. Opted on the finish and it arrived today. The traditional straight bo is 6 feet long. Relative to the height of a Japanese a couple of hundred years ago, it was operational like an English quarter staff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRlUQEpZvNo

Bruce Lee once said that you only needed five basic strikes in kung fu. This girl shows you 3 strikes with a bo. You ask yourself how many times you would have to watch the video and how times practicing before you perfected the strikes. Not much time at all when compared to other martial arts. Moreover, you don't have to take the time to go to multiple classes and spend the money.

[Bob]

Curved Bo? Do you mean a 'Broken" or wooden sword?

[bdcochran]

My current project is upgrading my walking sticks that I made and servicing them. I did not know that alpine ferrules were available. Those are screw on points. I also did not know that rubber adapters were available. Adding 550 cord to the handles, resanding and treating with oil this time. Some day, I probably will need a walking stick to get around my daily up-and-down hill walking course.

[bdcochran]

2 items.
1. Theatomicbear.com. I had a conversation with a mentor. He was communicating about his tactical pens. I checked what I had. The Schrade pen was in the car. I could not find any of the stainless steel F107s. I had not liked the F107 because the refills did not work. So, I went and researched and picked up two atomic bear units. The critical thing was that there is a free website with training. It shows various carries of the pen, deployments. The free video is a review of what is essentially done with an escrima stick or in san soo or associated martial arts.

2. I watched a flashlight video. The presenter asked what tool a person could carry anywhere and use as a defensive tool. One could go on a plane, in a post office, in football stadium. It was flashlight. So, now I carry a $7 or $8 Sipik sk98 18650 flashlight as well as a pocket knife. I have always carried a flashlight on a plane and have done so for over 20 years. Now, I carry one in the daylight as well.

[bdcochran]

https://www.2hawks.net/image/cache/cata ... x480_0.JPG

I saw this today, for $20. Without having seen this, I have been making the same item from scrap curtain rods/clothes rods.

My comment is directed at those who have the mental set to say: "don't take a knife to a gun fight". Deal with reality, not hypotheticals. I walked in the backdoor of the neighborhood hardware store. The car parking was in back. There were two loaded handguns in the car, not on me. As I approached the counter, a fight broke out between two customers and the clerk I knew. This is what I did: 1. looked at the perps hands for weapons; 2. looked for any object with an edge. I trained in situational awareness and using the edge of package/a book/any tool as a defensive weapon; 3. retreated out of the store without engaging. They were bad people and the police dealt with it.

You saw the video of the overweight white guy hold a tiny gun on a crowd. You don't intimidate and you don't escalate. You have to strike without warning against multiple opponents. Usually, when you draw a firearm on someone, you are escalating the situation. Having a short stick in the car or in the palm of your hand protects your hand against injury and does not significantly escalate a bad situation. A yawara stick, a small edc flashlight, a simple 6 inch stick may be all you need.

Simple tools are also good to give unprepared neighbors and people in your circle. Or with the "take a gun to the gunfight mentality", YOU buy lots of expensive tools for people in your circle and if they are firearms, have cases of ammunition to train them and for them to practice.

[Erich]

Amen to the "simple tools" mantra, bdcochran. Along those same lines, I have entirely stopped carrying my (beloved - held my keys for thirty years) kubaton and would never buy anything labeled a "tactical pen." An innocuous penlight or a boring stainless steel marker is a lot easier to get into even a serious NPE (prison, courthouse, airplane - I've had these both in all these places, multiple times) without alerting anyone who is looking out for weapons. Because these things are simple tools, not weapons.

https://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Stainless- ... B079NR6HFJ



https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-6611 ... B0015UC17E



Sure am happy to sometimes need a cane because of my bad hip, too.

[David]

A can can absolutely be a very useful improvised tool.

[bdcochran]

I adapt with the times. The days when I was allowed to carry a knife or firearm to public school are gone. They are gone just like my dad riding his horse to high school.

So today, I received 5 inch hickory sticks with rounded ends. Yes, I was trained in escrima. Non threatening defensive tools. Can be carried where even a knife can not be carried.