A form which I'm learning requires the use of a headless cane, basically just a big rod that extends from the ground to a little past my wrist when I'm standing in natural stance. For me that's about 32" which, as I determined after visiting Seattle Martial Arts Supplies, is longer than a standard escrima stick but shorter than commonly available staffs. Thus I needed to get something custom cut.
I could have just gone to Home Depot and have something cut to length, but I didn't have a whole lot of confidence that the end result would hold up well. After much poking around on the tubes I found Woodall's Custom Workshop, which seems to have found a nice little niche making hardwood weapons for martial artists. So I sent them an email asking if they could fabricate my headless cane and, after a little back and forth on dimensions and materials, they produced a quote.
Anyhow, the cane arrived a couple days ago as promised. The craftsmanship is good and I'm generally pleased with my overall interaction and would recommend them to anyone else who needs a custom, stick-like weapon. Two caveats:
- They're really backlogged at the moment; it took more than a month from the time that I ordered to the time the stick arrived. That doesn't reflect poorly on them; they told me as much before I placed the order.
- My cane was a little on the pricey side for what is essentially a finished dowel. Some of that is because I had it made of bloodwood, but the rest is just basic supply and demand; custom weapons are expensive.
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