Just found out that the Quarterstaff class at Cumann Bhata Western Martial Arts Seminar (http://www.pareddown.com/cbwma/index.htm) has been confirmed. In addition to that I've signed up for Terry Brown's Quarterstaff class at ISMAC (http://artofcombat.org/public/thespis/Convention/aocflyer.htm). Anyway, this has me hankering for Quarterstaff discussion. Anyone want to pick apart Silver's Quarterstaff section? http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/paradoxes.html Let's start with the "Perfect Length" "To know the perfect length of your short staff, or half pike, forest bill, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of vantage and perfect lengths, you shall stand upright, holding the staff upright close by your body, with your left hand, reaching with your right hand your staff as high as you can, and then allow to that length a space to set both your hands, when you come to fight, wherein you may conveniently strike, thrust, and ward, & that is the just length to be made according to your stature. And this note, that these lengths will commonly fall out to be eight or nine foot long, and will fit, although not just, the statures of all men without any hindrance at all unto them in their fight, because in any weapon wherein the hands may be removed, and at liberty, to make the weapon longer of shorter in fight at his pleasure, a foot of the staff being behind the backmost hand does no harm. And wherefore these weapons ought to be of the lengths aforesaid, and no shorter, these are the reasons: If they should be shorter, then the long staff, morris pike, and such like weapons over and above the perfect length, should have great advantage over them, because he may come boldly and safe without any guard or ward, to the place where he may thrust home, and at every thrust put him in danger of his life, then can the long staff, the morris pike, or any longer weapon lie nowhere within the compass of the true cross, to cross and uncross, whereby he may safely pass home to the place, where he may strike or thrust him that has the long weapon, in the head, face, or body at his pleasure." Peace favor your sword, Kirk
My favorite part of that is short staff and 8 or 9 feet. And it seems like Silver is adovcating " when in doubt get a longer stick" Other than this and other minor stupid comment I think ill just watch. I really havent wanted to read Silver yet because I ahte reading books off of a screen. I guess Ill jsut ahve to buy Wagner's interpetation of Silver now.
Yeah. I remember seeing one person ask, "If a short staff is 9 feet, what's a LONG STAFF?!?!" Peace favor your sword, Kirk
I know. I think ive seen some ask that same question too. Whic does make me wonder. What is a longstaff?
Funnily enough, a staff that is longer than the perfect length of 8-9 ft. 10 ft plus. A short staff is about 6ft. Regards Rob
Zach Wylde.... With so much other material to research, I've only skimmed through Silver's book so I will read all your comments with interest. I did pick up some of Zachery Wilde's Qstaff instructions (slightly easier to descipher) and MacBaine's short introduction to this weapon. Louie
I think that Rob is right. I have seen references to staffs 14 foot long or more. Though, to me, that seems far to unweildy. Peace favor your sword, Kirk
Thanks Kirk. 14 foot seems a bit long but it depends on what you are doing with it. If all you are doing is thrusting then it is not a problem. If you swing anything over 10ft it generally steers like a cow. Regards Rob
I once had the english Quarterstaff described to me as 12 feet, which made made naturally wonder what in the hell one does with a (admittedly, implied... "full" staff of 48 feet... In reality, I wonder if a Staff was a unit of measure (such as the rod)? As to it's handling, after getting the skinny on the length of an English Quarterstaff, I obtained some rattan poles in various lengths, 6', 9' and 12'. The 6' is exceedingly fast to manipulate, almost too quick to control. The 9' seemed far more stable and predictable, but the 12' blew me away. Since it draws a much larger arc, it appears quite slow, but once you get it moving, it actually works like a dream. The inertia it generates makes it flow like water, and is actually quite easy to control. I have no formal staff training under my belt whatsoever, but this pole lent itself to naturally wrapping around the body, and handled hand-to-hand transfers with zero effort or loss of control. As you decide to strike, you can easily go from a close-handed clutch for maximum spinning speed to a well braced strike fairly easily, and when you do strike, you are planted in a strong position while the tip is still whipping in, and the kinetic force it finally generates at the tip is phenomenal. I've not attempted it myself, but a friend witnessed a demo with one where it snapped a redwood 4"x4" in two without breaking the Rattan. I wasn't there, so I'll not pass it off as gospel truth, but in my own hands, the 12 foot pole is a dream to work with. ...but I'll take my Italian Billhook any day... Matthew
From what I had gatherd quarterstaff doesnt refer to th size of the staff but the manner in which is held and weilded. ONe hand in the middle and one hand at the lower quarter. 14 ft staff.........its a blunt spear
Quite right Cudgel, the weapon is a staff and the style of usage is quarter-staff or half-staff. A mighty fun weapon. If you look at the Exiles web site and search through the gallery there are a few pictures and vid clips from a staff workshop I ran a few months ago. However, I am not sure if I totally agree with your point about it being a blunt spear.... but maybe a spear is a sharp staff Regards Rob
Q-staff I find using a 5-6ft staff very much like the large 2-handed sword, anything bigger would be a pike!!!! Louie
OH NO now my whole wolrd has been turned upside down. An thats more or less I ve been stating to feel about staves. Its like how I think of a jo as a lot like a longsword.
