confused about canes for self-defense

[old lady new shooter]

In response to a post in some other section here I went googling canes for self-defense. I had imagined you get one that's heavy at the bottom and just whack BG with it, preferably on the side of the neck. But everything I saw seems to point to the opposite, something light and you're supposed to use it in a fancy martial arts style. One cane I saw was described as aluminum and weighing 2 pounds and the comments were saying how heavy it was, one even said 2 lbs is too heavy for the average man.

Discussed this with a male friend who did martial arts for years, he said if I tried the "just whack" method BG would likely be able to grab the cane before it would make contact.

So now I'm totally confused, and have some doubts about whether a cane would make any sense for me for self-defense. Thanks in advance for any light anyone here can shed on this for me.

 

[glistam]

Your martial friend is on the right track. Using impact weapons requires some amount of training. Not black-belt level stuff, just some decent technique. When a criminal uses an impact weapon, he's usually attacking someone from behind or via blitz attack, so technique is less important.

The most common mistake when defending with a cane is swinging like a baseball bat. A baseball swing is designed to hit a small, light object in the air that doesn't stop the bat's arc on impact, plus BGs see it coming. BG's block, dodge, and grab, so proper technique often involves a fast strike followed by a fast recovery, ready to strike again. Canes are also useful levers in a grapple, and can be used to get someone off you.

2 pounds sounds heavy for a cane, so heavy it probably would make my arm tired walking around for an hour, and I'm relatively young. Even my espantoon (huge police baton made of cocobolo) only weights 1.7 pounds. 1 pound is usually fine for a cane, or even 3/4 of a pound. What's most important is it needs to be durable enough to hit something without breaking.

 

[4thPointOfContact]

I take my constitutionals with a wooden sword.


You don't want to try grabbing that at full swing and even with a rubber crutch tip on the end it makes people wearing 'red man suits' take notice.

 

[kBob]

I just bumped the "how many are carrying a cane" thread so you can easily find it. It is a great starting point for learning about canes.

Use the search thread function to find a host of other threads that may interest you or answer some questions.

-kBob

 

[hso]

Please see - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=557323