Here are some of the sticks I have made to train with.. I make them mostly out of yew wood, but also hawthorn, Iron wood, crab apple, and oak. A friend of mine who speaks Scottish Gaelic told me that the word shillelagh might have something to do with willow. The are not black thorn but can still take a beating. Admittedly the middle one is massive but I made it after seeing my first cano corso. Luckily I teach martial arts and bushcraft for work so carving sticks is something I can do at lunch on my work days. The classes are so fun, and as i practice I am starting to see why holding the stick at 3rds makes sense. Even though it gives up reach. I am really looking forward to sparring after a few hundred more reps.

I made these sticks years ago to show the closed and open dimensions of the ASP baton series. The closed one is 9" and the next one is 16", and both have become sitting/indoor shillelaghs. You see it is hard to practice with a full size shillelagh when sitting in front of a computer, yet hard (for me) to remember things like a 9 angle pattern when away from the video. A 9" stick allows me to go through the motions while sitting and watching so it is easier for my body to remember what I need to do when away from the screen. The 16" one is great for indoor training in small spaces where you risk hitting lights and things on shelves, etc. All you need is a stick long enough to get both hands on. I follow the adage: If it is stupid but it works, it is not stupid.

A brief clip on stick orientation. ☘️Please consider signing up for one of our two Irish Stick Fighting (Bataireacht) Classrooms. - 1 time cost - ongoing access with refreshes and updates!

I see from the Members tab that we have, like myself, many members from other martial art styles. Those from more classical East styles will recall the story of the know it all student and the Master having tea. The Master offers tea to the student, and upon the student accepting the offer of tea, the Master pours the tea until the student is yelling, "Stop! Stop!" as the tea overflows the cup and runs onto the table burning the students lap. "See?", says the Master, "You must first empty your cup of your tea before you can accept my tea. In watching the Footwork video today, I am that student thinking of the ways I've been trained: Step & Slide, Push Shuffle, Triangular Jog, Replacement Step, Three Evasive patterns to the Scottish and Irish angles, and so on. The problem with this thinking is that as a student you don't know where the training will advance to, while your old material may look similar to the new material you are learning, the new material may go off in a new direction that you have no experience in, so you may find yourself lacking later on if you rely too much on your old style and miss a critical link from the basics to the advanced in the new style you are learning. So Empty Your Cup.

I've got three blackthorn canes so I'm set for when I start the intro class but I've been on the lookout for blackthorn hiking sticks and the only one I've found that I really like can't be sent from Ireland due to the length limits of the shipping company. Anyone know of a good source for true blackthorn hiking sticks in the U.S.? Also, can a longer blackthorn be used as a fighting stick and does the length change the methods?