shillelagh and walking sticks

[Dreadbelly]

The best Shillelaghs spend a year buried in manure

Would that be to add insult to injury perhaps?
It's bad enough to get wacked with an Irish super stick, but one which has been stewing in feces for a year.........YUCK!

I think I'll experiment with Ipe' a.k.a. South American ironwood which is an incredibly dense and heavy variety of hardwood which contains high levels of silica

This has gotten to be a very interesting subject........Does anyone have pics of their Cromachs or Shillelaghs to show off??

Yeah, but that year spend stewing in manure or a peat bog and then spending some time smeared in fat or butter and left in a chimney to cure turns the darn thing in to petrified wood just about.

For a while, here in an antique store, there was an Irish Shillelagh for sale. Amazing beautiful thing it was. At the top, somebody had cleverly affixed a long curled ram's horn as the handle, set in to the knob of the club with poured silver. The antique shop was asking for over five grand for the thing. It had been used to kill some such person or another, I forget who. It came with papers and legal documents stating that it was what it claimed to be. Some poor Irish guy clubbed somebody important, I dunno who, clubbed this fellow to death with this Shillelagh, and fled to America sometime around the late 1800s. He brought his noodle knocker with him.

When I saw it, it was so beautiful in design that a single big fat tear welled up in my eye. I'd love to have a ram's horn Shillelagh.

[James]

That was an ouch reminder from many many years ago-bent over kitchen table with kilt lifted out of way for application of walking stick to a very sad posterior-the rest of me not too happy either.

For those anywhere near London [OK England], there is a shop in Holborn-head east from Holborn Tube Station and it's about two hundred yards along on the south side.

It sells a fantastic range of sticks-from Thumb-Cromch and of course the traditiona shilleglegh [oops spelling], and blackthorns. Too I've seen decorative/ram horn handles etc there.

Also have a look at some of the British craft sites-for there is a long tradition of both practical and decorative sticks in this country.

James

[Brasilikilt]

Hey....found this site

http://www.geocities.com/glendoyle/bata/index.html

[jfellrath]

There are some great books/websites about Bata and stick fighting if folks are interested.

First: This book will give you a great look at the stick-fighting culture of Ireland: Irish Gangs and Stick Fighting by John W. Hurley. It has stories by William Carleton about faction fighting, making bata and shillelaghs, and more. Entertaining even if you're not keen on learning how the fighting was actually done (technique and such).

Hurley's website also has a lot of information.

Second: Ken Pfrenger of Warren, Ohio has researched classic stick fighting and runs a few websites/e-lists on it.

Irish Stick Fighting, Faction Fighting, Celtic Martial Arts. You can also access his e-list from here.

[Colin]

https://www.beanstream.com/scripts/c...category_id=43

I found some good prices here. It's in Canadian, so it is a better price for you guys in the US

[Dreadbelly]

https://www.beanstream.com/scripts/c...category_id=43

I found some good prices here. It's in Canadian, so it is a better price for you guys in the US

That cane is beautiful. I didn't realise that chestnut could take on such a fine finish or sheen. It's breath-takingly gorgeous.

[The Thing]

Well there you go, they say you learn something new everyday. I never knew about curing the Shilleagh in s**t or peat. I always thought it was just left dry for a year by hanging.

[Bart_In_A_Kilt]

A Shillelagh is a specially weighted stick made from the knobby root end of Blackthorn. [snip]

Traditionally, a Shillelagh is 2/3ths the hight of it's owner. Some are of course longer or shorter based on several factors. The Irish (and Scots) were often to poor to afford swords. Stick fighting was common and deadly.
Oh, forgot to mention. They were also made from oak, ash, and holly.

Ive shown it before on other posts in this forum, but what the heck... This is my families Blackthorn War Shillelagh. I can get it for special occasions, but it has already been willed to a younger brother.

Its heavy duty.

[Urchurdan]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and all the replies, all the talk about fighting sticks etc, there is another reason for having a CROMACH, a much simpler one, and that is if you are a BODACH like me....(old man)....They quite simply help you get along at times....

[The Thing]

The small fighting Shilleagh's are called Batta as Gaeilge and in English Batton, They would be like getting hit with steal. In my local musuem there are some early Irish faction fighting weapons including a cudgel (another type of Shilleagh) with a knife attached to the end. You'd always see the old boys walking the roads with the Shilleagh which they probably made themselves.