Picking out sticks, Do's and Don'ts for Beginners

[Bob Hubbard]

Everyone has their personal preferences on what makes a good stick.

Mine are a comfortable grip about 1" in diameter, a smooth surface, and a length equal to my arm length. I prefer the "raw" rattan look, and tend to avoid the sanded, peeled or burned varieties. I also avoid hard woods, and synthetics at the moment.

What do you look for, and what do you advice your students to use?

[Balintawak]

I like to find something that fits the hand grip properly. Not to small so your fingers are wrapped too mouch or too big where you cannot get a proper grip.
I also like the rough or natural rattan if I do not tape. I like the knots and ridges for they offer grips and hand holds.

Hard wood is nice for weight but, for everyday practice and use it can splinter and be a safety issue. In a fight who would care.

I also like to tape my canes to avoid the break down, and adds in a factor of texture.

I try to avoid the too light as they fall apart for me.

I try to avoid once that are too straight, I like a little character.

[ryangruhn]

Personally I am a big fan of logs. 1 1/8" - 1 1/4" at around 30". I like to have at least four nodes not too close to the ends and a solid piece without any worm holes, chips etc.

Gruhn

[Dalum]

26-28 inches for me. I like about 2 nodes at 1 inch. Nothing too thick unless I'm endurace/"weight" training. Heavier sticks allow me to hit faster and harder with lighter sticks.

[arnisador]

26-28 inches for me. I like about 2 nodes at 1 inch. Nothing too thick unless I'm endurace/"weight" training.

This is what I like...two nodes, about 26", not too thick.

Hmmm, I'm not sure I had quite thought about my "node preference" before, but I do have one!

[Brian R. VanCise]

The more nodes the happier I am! I have noticed in
recent years that finding good rattan sticks is harder
and harder. I gave up buying anything other than
lengths of 6,8 & 9 feet and then cutting them to my
desired length. Definately I prefer 1 & 1/8 to 1 & 1/4
width but sometimes it is good to workout with a thinner
dimension. Rich's rattan are monsters and definately few
can weild them as effectively as he can. I like working
with 20", 26" & 28" and also with 36", 49" and 72" there
all good in my book.

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

[Palusut]

I prefer sticks with three to four nodes with the rattan skin still on.

[Brian R. VanCise]

The best stick I have ever had, which I still have buy the way
has six nodes on it. It is a more rare type but just fantastic.
It is also has a large diameter as well. I have had this baby a long,
long time and it just started to splinter. So I wrapped up the part
where it was splintering and am using that area as the handle at the
moment. I will rewrap the whole stick once it splinters some more.
I definately want at least three nodes on a stick, preferably four like palusut. The more nodes the better.

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

[arnisador]

Six nodes? How long is this stick?!?

[Datu Tim Hartman]

The first thing I look at is the diameter. I prefer 1 ¼ inch in diameter. The next thing is density. I don’t care about how many nodes. I have sticks that are over 10 years old and are in good shape. No matter what you use for a stick I find it important to rotate the use of your sticks making sure you don’t use the same one all of the time.