New pair of sticks

**Ryno** · Posted On: 12/06/2007 3:48pm

My club is notorious for breaking sticks. We have broken everything that we have gotten our hands on. Rattan, smak sticks, bahi, kamagong, lexan, poly carb, oak, and lots of other stuff. We have broken samples of almost every unbreakable stick produced by various manufacturers under regular training.

Rattan is cheap and easily replaceable. It also doesn't tend to send sharp pieces flying when it breaks. I personally just stick to rattan for this reason.

Even though it is a natural material and consequently somewhat inconsistent in quality, most of my better stick were of Manau rattan, usually bought from rattan furniture manufacturers. While the fancy burning and laquering of some fancier looking rattan may be great aesthetically, I haven't noticed these traditional sticks are any better. In fact, the skin seems to split sooner than unfinished natural rattan in many cases, from my experience.

Out of the hardwoods, I have yet to try hickory which is supposedly the best. Bahi isn't too bad, but splinters and splits after time. I have broken every kamagong stick I've ever used. In my opinion, kamagong is just a showpiece stick that seems to break any time you make stick to stick contact, which makes it a very poor choice for training. I wouldn't use it for a fighting stick either, even though it's got such impressive weight. It just seems to prone to catastrophic breakage.

**Ming Loyalist** · Posted On: 12/06/2007 3:52pm

Originally Posted by ChickenBeakFist

I would definitely recommend the sticks sold on the Dog Brothers site

http://dogbrothers.com/index.php?cPath=29

I'm currently using the "Crafty Dog" and "Top Dog" models and they're great. Pretty reasonably priced and I've been hitting them against trees and other sticks and they're really holding up. Some dings here and there but no dents. And nothing beats that smokey burnt matches smell when you're trading rattan swings.

do you know if there's a difference between the ones sold on that site, and the ones that nick sells at www.bloodsport.com ? i know that nick is a dog brother and i thought that he made all their sticks, but i'm not sure.

i do know that he is an awesome guy and made a custom TCMA staff for me out of rattan that is the nicest i have ever seen and is well outside the normal size parameters he is used to working with (7.5' long, not sure what diameter off the top of my head) my point being that his customer service is amazing.

**selfcritical** · Posted On: 12/06/2007 3:54pm

Lots of other stick suppliers buy their stock from Nick, so it's pretty likely the dog bros ones are just particularly thick ones from him.

**mojo23** · Posted On: 12/06/2007 3:57pm

Thanks for the feedback folks. Think I'm gonna go with bloodsport. Pick up a couple pairs of varying widths. Looks like they're pretty solid in quality and customer service.

And ChickenBeak- nice avatar. Tura Satana is f'ing hot.

**JKDChick** · Posted On: 12/06/2007 4:08pm

Just on a "two cents" note, I concur with the "hardwood or plastic against rattan makes you an asshole" opinion.

I always try to make sure my next set of sticks is a different weight/length/thickness from the set I just wore out; get used to not being able to get used to a consistent weight.

**poidog** · Posted On: 12/06/2007 8:09pm

Originally Posted by Ming Loyalist

do you know if there's a difference between the ones sold on that site, and the ones that nick sells at www.bloodsport.com ? i know that nick is a dog brother and i thought that he made all their sticks, but i'm not sure.

i do know that he is an awesome guy and made a custom TCMA staff for me out of rattan that is the nicest i have ever seen and is well outside the normal size parameters he is used to working with (7.5' long, not sure what diameter off the top of my head) my point being that his customer service is amazing.

Yes, the Dog Brothers sticks come from Nick. In my opinion, you'll be hard pressed to find better quality rattan or better customer service than Nick at Kombat Instruments.

Aloha, Poi

**Permalost** · Posted On: 12/06/2007 11:59pm

Originally Posted by ChickenBeakFist

Quick anecdote: A couple weeks ago in the park Codos and I are weapons sparring and Codos is swinging his three-sectioned staff around while I have my double rattan. Right in the middle a huge line of Boy Scouts happens to walk by. A kid exclaims "Cool! They're doing Karate!!!" I'm still laughing about it. Man, we're dorks...

Its also worth noting that we spar with some humorously mismatched gear- kendo, hockey and MMA gear. Its got to be a dorky sight to behold.

**Neildo** · Posted On: 12/07/2007 5:47am

Originally Posted by Ryno

Out of the hardwoods, I have yet to try hickory which is supposedly the best. Bahi isn't too bad, but splinters and splits after time. I have broken every kamagong stick I've ever used. In my opinion, kamagong is just a showpiece stick that seems to break any time you make stick to stick contact, which makes it a very poor choice for training. I wouldn't use it for a fighting stick either, even though it's got such impressive weight. It just seems to prone to catastrophic breakage.

This is the very reason the Ironwood sticks i brought home from the Philippines have never been used. They're more like showpiece weapons rather than functional ones.

to make up for it, i have some solid aluminum rods. they dont dent.

**Whosthemaster** · Posted On: 12/07/2007 7:40am

Go with the plastic ones. Our teacher buys them cheap, we use them all the time and they are nearly indestructible - they get worn out and bruised, but continue to be effective. We leave the expensive, imported rattan to special occasions only. The plastic ones are used even for sparring, hollow ones with added padding. But never mix rattan and plastic.

My teacher even had made a special stick with only self defense in mind. It is hard plastic, white colored and instead of the traditional round shape, it is square shaped... really nasty. It is even named - Kaiser. lol

**mojo23** · Posted On: 12/12/2007 1:07pm

Just got my new sticks last night- a pair of 7/8" x 28" and a pair of 1 1/4" x 24" and they ROCK! Both pairs are very solid and feel good in the hand. Makes me want to break something. Or someone. Can't wait for class tonight so I can try them out. I'd highly recommend anyone who's looking for a pair of rattan sticks to go with Nick. The t-shirts fit well too.