Pickaxe, practice???

Hi Dave

I know that you regard the pickaxe as a good weapon - what forms of practice can be applied to develop a reasonable level of skill with it?

Cheers
Steve

where abouts are you mate?
Its one weapons thats so much easier to teach and practise in a 'class' type environment as opposed tow riting it down

its also one reason I have refused to do a DVD on it regardless of the incentives I was offered.

If you want to PM me I dont mind giving 'personal' advice.. but not 'open' advice as frankly its a weapon that cant be used 'gently' and I didnt fancy a load of 15 year olds maiming each other practising the best none blade weapon I know

Dave,

how transferable are the pickaxe techniques to something like this?



it's hickory,the right length,about 2" at the top and 1.25" at the tip.i reckon it weighs about two thirds the weight of a picky handle.

Ade

thats n-i-c-e mate .. and I would say 60-70% of pick axe stuff could be used with that,,

hickory is a combat wood..

and a hickory pick axe handle is the daddy

but that looks like you could have some fun with it mate

cheers for posting it

my mistake,i just checked the website and it's ASH ,not hickory.

dont worry Ade mate.. Ash runs a nice third to Hickory

The best two combat woods though are hickory and blackthorn

Thanks Dave

I will PM you.

Cheers
Steve

The best two combat woods though are hickory and blackthorn

Blackthorn is pretty cool stuff.
If you're in the Phillipines, though, kamagong (Ironwood) and Bahi are pretty good stuff, too.

Hi Dave

If its ok I'll pm you for some pick axe handle training as well. I converted a few Fariburn stick stuff and my limited knowlege of Jodo to it but would love to get some 'proper' tutelage.

Out of curuosity do you ever do private sessions? If so how much do you charge?

yes I do privates.. £25 per 1,25 hours..

Sounds good mate, very reasonable. I'm at Josahs Dog's place at the moment I'll touch bases with you after the new year for some sessions.

Thanks

Hi Dave and Joshus - what are the properties of a good combat wood?


Is it just the obivous of light but extremely strong/tough or are there other attributes? I can think of things like storing energy when it flexs etc - but other then that my mind is like

Ill bet considering the history of humanities use of wood theres a stack of properties and lore on wood.....



Allo Jonnathon you dropped him of in the dark in your redwood forest yet?

Heheh, I think Jagunco survived his visit more or less intact and probably a few pounds heavier, we fed him better than he was eating at the hostel.

I'd say the main qualities of a combat wood are density and, well, not flexibility but lack of brittleness. You don't want the sucker to snap. Hard and not brittle. Good weight is a plus, actually, heavier is better than lighter.

Looking forward to Dave's thoughts on it, though.

a compact grain is important..

whne the grain is wide you get more 'space' (for want of a better term) between the fibres, which makes the wood weaker when seasoned.

Hard woods take longer to season than soft woods.. the grain in the hard woods is really compact..

what you need is 'durability'

Hickory is nice, Irish Blackthorn even nicer..
JD I havent seen the Eastern wood you mentioned earlier..

English Oak is OK, but is expensive.

Pine is useless... Ash is OK if you arent TOO serious

http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-316611/faithfull-36-hickory-pick-axe-handle.html

get your hickory pickaxe handles here!

Nice one Paul.. thats a bargain mate..

how are you by the way.. long time no hear mate

Dave do you keep the varnish on or sand it off?

The varnish is good for protecting from knocks but essentially its going to be one use and ditch it. Then again the varnish may stop it absorbing the sticky red stuff!

Hi Dave,

nothing dramatic going on this end just building things for a living and training with lee a lot, getting married in may (ulp!). hope all's well with you.

i was in my local hardware store when i saw a bin full of hickory pickaxe handles and remembered what you said so bought a couple for me and dave m, they feel great to handle, really nice balance and weight to them. me and dave are up for some pickaxe privates in the next couple of months, will email closer to the time if you're up for it.

cheers,

paul

ANYTIME MATE..

I usually put some tape around the sections I grip the most, that way the varnish doesnt bother me..

I'm a bit puzzled by the idea of training with pick-axe handles. I know that (alongside sawn off shotguns) they were one of the weapons of choice among armed robbers back in the 60s and 70s, but unless you're a road digger, how many situations are there when you could convince a court of law that you were genuinely using one as a weapon of chance in a self defence scenario?

Or is this more about training defences against attacks with pick-axe handles?

They are a hell of a sight more legally arguable than most weapons mate..

Take a baseball bat.. How many actual clubs playing baseball do you think there are in the UK.. only a few..

and if you just have the bat.. no balls, no gloves, no sheilds etc..and at 11pm on a saturday why have you got one in your car..

but I carried an old pickaxe head with a broken shaft, so having a new one is perectly feasable..

I have used the Pick axe handle several times in real situations and found it to be an ACE weapon...

It can be used against anything successfully other than firearms

PM me if you need more info mate

I have to say I'm amazed at the number of baseball bats on sale in a country where the game is rarely played....unless you include rounders which is played in a variety of social contexts (but usually uses a smaller bat)

exactly my point ..

ALL weapons can be illegal as such.. but at least have a valid reason for having what you use at hand..

the analogy I usually use in teaching is:

Its OK for a butcher to have a long sharp knife in his hands at 10am on a saturday morning in his shop, and if attacked he uses it...
its not as OK for him to hav ethe same knife in his hands at 10PM on the same saturday in a pub and uses it.

hence pick axe handle or a bloody good second... sledge hammer shaft.. (nice)

Hi,

Unfortunatly over here the main wood for tool handles going from broomsticks to shovel handles and Ice pick handles is ash. It feels light, is cheap and doesn't take impact very well.
The same with our (belgian) oak. I tried a bokken out of it but it doens't stand the impact of other bokken very well.

Kind Regards,

Nick Engelen

Bokkens... I have one the fencing club bought me (it's heavier than a sabre, so it's useful for building wrist strength). It's nice red oak. But the first one wasn't.

So there we were, somewhat unwisely having a bokken fight at the club (not trying to do kendo, just fighting as idiots do) and I made a parry about six inches from the tip... which snapped off. turns out my bokken was actually varnished plywood. Possibly even MDF.

I was quite impessed....