Victorian Combat Quarter-Staff

[Sho-ju]

The quarterstaff was closely identified with sport and civilian self-defence, as a weapon of expedience used by travellers or in formal duels. By the early 1700s the weapon was commonly employed in public prize-fights, with the winner receiving both gate-money and the proceeds of wagering.

http://www.alliancemartialarts.com/quarterstaff.htm

 

Combat Manuals

 

http://www.duchy.dyndns.info/yeomen/manuals.html

 

How well do you think the quarter staff stands up to the Okinawan bo? Have you ever done the quarterstaff?

[Shorinryu Sensei]

The staff, by whatever name you wnt to call it, has been in nearly every culture, and is by far the most common weapon.

 

As to whether the quarterstaff or the bo is better? I don't know. I would suspect that they are quite similar, although the quarterstaff appears to have been longer. I don't know about the hardness of English hardwoods, but I know Okinawan hardwoods are darn near unbreakable!

[Rich_2k3]

English oak, very strong.

[Hoju]

Ah, but so is Chinese Wood, as Shortround informed us in Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom.

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Drunken Monkey]

sometimes

 

i like to forgo the word 'staff' and go back to good old 'big fat stick'...

 

sorry.

 

back to the quality of various woods.

 

the one thing i know about some chinese woods is that they are naturally very oily and as such can survive in more varied conditions.

 

hence the preference to use teak for wooden dummys that are often left in the open.

[JerryLove]

Hrm.

 

I will need to do some reasearch, but I suspect that "quaterstaf" was a method of staff-fighting, not a type of staff... Similarly, there should be a "half-staff" method, just as there is a "half-sword" method.