I do not say this out of any sense of emotional attachments to the weapons I have used before. Nevertheless, this new pole still feels strange in my hands. I like the grain, and the fact that one can be fairly certain that no tropical forests were cut for the making of hickory training weapons. Hickory is also one of the few commonly milled North American woods that easily stands up to the rigors of martial arts training. Like all woods hickory exhibits a certain variation in densities and the stock for this staff seems to have been at the upper end of that range. My first realization as I picked it up was how heavy it was. Upon maneuvering it into the house I was delighted to discover my new, absolutely beautiful, hickory pole. That changed a few weeks ago when I returned to my place to find a very long package laid out awkwardly along the staircase. As a result, I had been without a pole at home since moving to Ithaca almost a year ago. It is easier to keep a couple of them at the various locations in which one might train than to constantly haul them back and forth. In my experience most poles simply “live” in the training hall or at home. As the name implies, these are somewhat unwieldly training tools and (unless you own a truck) they do not travel well. I had been meaning to get a new “long pole” (or Luk Dim Boon Kwan) for a while. Chu shing Tin demonstrating the pole form.
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