How long is yours?

[Xiaobian]

[Subitai]

[SifuYui]

Just got back from Bahston

I get my bamboo poles from a rattan/bamboo factory in Southern NJ (about 1.5 hours drive from NYC). They sell to companies that make furniture, Kenpo fighting sticks, etc. They're really good people; they let me hand pick the ones I want, open another batch of bamboo if the open batches are not good quality and what I'm looking for. I pick them out and roll them on the floor to make sure they're not warped, do some Tiu and Tan to make sure they're not too soft or too hard, and then have them cut it down to 8 feet for me. I'll shave the burrs off and smooth the knots down so they don't cut or leave splinters because I have such soft hands

Yui

[Itinerant_Phenomenologist]

I remember the days of having soft hands... that was before I started training with staff and sabre. Holding weapons for a long time tends to make them rough and, unlike yard work, I can't wear gloves.

I think I'll just search harder for some sort of wooden pole at hardware stores nearby. A shame there are no raw lumber yards etc because I would also love to just get a log to hang and use for training. But right now, just looking to find a replacement staff to practice with since mine decided to hand in a letter of resignation.

[TOET]

i recently had my hands on a solid aluminum pole and it felt sweet. unfortunately it was only 4 feet long and not for kung fu but....

on a side note, my practice staff has been spending too much time being use to hold up my vans back door.

[banditshaw]

I got my Rattan pole from a basket/furniture supply warehouse. I had them cut a 2" diameter thick pole down to 7 feet.

I also sanded down the burrs and knots. It's flexible but not too bendy and has a nice weight.

[Asmo]

Ahh I forgot all about this bit of wood ...

As some of you guys know I do a lot of wildlife watching & tracking too, so form time to time I get into new woods I haven't been before, or in a while. This bit of wood is especially nice early spring when its full of deer tracks.

But it also has alot of fairly straight long trees. Not straight enough for the long pole (it gets awkward as its always bent a little) but straight enough for monkey pole....

Got me one yesterday, and removed the bark and used sandpaper to smooth the surface today. It feels great

[Chunyat]

About 4 meters.

[Asmo]

Haha right

[Chunyat]

It's an iron pole for the hanging the gymnastic rings at the cealing in the gym.
It's very heavy.

Well, the boy in the pic begged me some months ago to teach him Ng Long Baat Gwa Gwan.
I told him "only, if you practise the basics 2 lessons long with this iron pole first".
So he did 2 hours long haang/dim and yam/yeung hung with that.

[Asmo]

Good for him he made it through

[Daifong]

I think that Holland will be safe from invaders next time!