I have a nice pair of rattan sticks but was wondering where I might be able to find some hardwood sticks. I understand "ironwood" has been put on a restricted list in the Phillipines. I have seen some coconut wood sticks advertised but cannot find any information on how well they hold up.Any advice would be appreciated.
You can get variouos assorted hardwood Filipino sticks at: www.kriscutlery.com ! I have used them in the past and have been very satisfied.
kamagong (ironwood): nice hard wood. sometimes it shatters, badly. bahi (coconut hardwood): is more flexible than kamagong. good weight. doesn't shatter easily. depends what you use them for. some use kamagong for sayaw (forms) and use them only for true fighting. since they could shatter, some fighters don't use them. good weight though. will cause serious damage. bahi is lighter than kamagong but does have weight. some people choose these sticks to do partner drills with and to fight with. since they don't shatter, they are resilient. will leave damage as well.
The coconut wood (bahi) get my vote. As heavy as young kamagong (which, sadly, is what usually gets harvested nowadays- hence the restriction), and not as brittle, as what shootodog has said.
I like rattan because it splinters and fuzzes predictably up over time. I had a pair of hardwood sticks once (do not recall what type). One day working on some drills I had one of them literally snap in 2, the dulo end flying off into the distance. A bit scary, so Id stick with rattan. When rattan fractures from stress, it is much more predictable.
Bahi is better for real fights, the damage to the body is why! I also prefer rattan for training but bahi for fighting.
Here are some links to FMA stick suppliers. http://www.philippinemartialarts.com/escrima-sticks.shtml http://www.kalieskrima.com/cart/bahistick.htm
Yes Kamagong and any hardwood for that matter can shatter if you are baning them with another object, stick, etc. So for partner training or hitting tires, heavy bag, etc. use rattan as you probably won't have flying shattered stick pieces to worry about. However in a real situation you want hard wood for that bone shattering effect.
Bahi Niyog would be best. I think it's superrior to Kamagong in just about every way. It's about as heavy, it's more resilient, it's cheaper, and it's more environmentally friendly. It's normally harvested from old coconut trees in coconut farms. Coconuts produce a lot during its earlier years and production tapers off as it gets older (13-15 years I think) so coconut farms routinely cut down these older trees and sell them off as construction material. I buy mine from the local hardware store where it's sold as handles for pickaxes and sledgehammers and such, which really gives you an idea of how resilient it is. Oh, and if you do find someone selling Kamagong (Philippine Ebony/ironwood) chances are it's one of the newly logged pieces circulating. It's bad for the environment and chances are it will also not last; as one of the previous posters mentioned, young kamagong shatters easily.
If I lived in Tennessee, I'd probably go for ash or hickory. As I live in the Philippines, I'd prefer bahi over kamagong or molave. For practice, nothing beats rattan.
Bahi(Typical Palm tree) This is not the coconut wood that in used today? A better sustitute is the guava tree and Kamagong is good but it is difficult to find the good lumber ,better stick to rattan. Mabuhay
Going to Hawaii this week . Going to look for guava branches to make sticks. I've seen them shaped as blades like they do kamagong. The Polynesians also used palm wood for their war clubs mainly to throw at the legs while in combat. The weight of the wood causes a lot of damage to the legs or feet. For fighting I'd still like bahi.
Because you cant cause enough damage with a well made rattan stick? Maybe for "fighting" time, we should all go to Home Depot and pick up some lead piping...definitely can cause more damage, I think?
See just how fast you move with something that heavy. What makes rattan so good is that it is light ,fast and when it connects with bone it hits hard. So if you stick with rattan then get the multi-node rattan, ones with 12 or more nodes. Those are harder than regular rattan.
Sorry but I beg to differ, with the right techinque you can with the right strike cause serious damage with rattan. But personally if it were a real fight then I too would back Bahi. And you have to ask yourself how much damage do you want to do, Just enough, or Kill the guy? Rattan, Bahi, Kamagong can all kill, after all a close node (multi node) is still Rattan and can in some cases weigh the same as a good Bahi or Kamagong stick. It is not the weight or make-up of the weapon that does the damage, it is the person using it and the intent. Best regards Pat
