Walking Sticks & Canes.

[Feraud]

Perhaps we could help bring back LeCanne, or Canne De Combat to the Olympics.

LeCanne appeared in the 1924 Olympics, but was never brought back, presumably because watching two guys bash each other with sticks while jumping around like freaking Neo from the Matrix caused spectators back then to ... drop their monocles. The sport was developed back in the old timey days when men still carried canes, even if they had two perfectly good legs. It was like having a wallet chain, except that it didn't make you look like an idiot. Eventually someone figured out the cane could also be used to smack the heck out of muggers. Soon a new martial art was born and became awesome, despite being French. Today it's known as Canne De Combat and points are scored by smashing your opponent upside the head, torso or calf. ... Competitors wear padding similar to fencers and the cane itself is made out of light weight wood so the fighters can't knock each other out (apparently that used to be a real problem). Unlike fencing, where the competitors are restricted to stepping back and forth on a narrow mat, Canne fighters run around the ring like the freaking Tasmanian Devil. And while it already looks like a freaking ninja video game, there are some events that up the ante by equipping each fighter with two canes. By next year we expect them to add a cage to the ring and glue broken glass to the canes.

From Cracked.com. The article has 5 other "Insane Sports That Could Be in the Next Olympics". NSFW, language.

The Wiki article on Canne de Combat, in case you wanted to know more.

Actually I think LeCanne and particularly Classical Fencing should be brought back to the Olympics. I am not talking that aerobicized Tao Bo styled, electrified nonsense they do now.
While we are on the subject, I'd bring back Singlestick as a sporting exercise for men.

 

[Warbaby]

Let's also bring back Bataireacht or Bata, the Irish art of defense with a sturdy blackthorn.

"Bata" (or "bhata" depending upon context), is a general term which can mean any kind of stick. The actual bata or stick used for bataireacht is often referred to as a "Sail-Éille" or phonetically in English as "shillelagh". The word "cudgel" is also used in period texts. Traditionally, blackthorn, oak, ash and hazel were the most common types of woods used to make shillelagh fighting sticks."

 

[H.Johnson]

Indeed. The finest shillelagh are (in my humble opinion) made from bog oak - oak that has lain in acid peat ground for some thousands of years. It is considerably harder and more durable than blackthorn. The forest of Sail-Éille was a place where conditions were conducive to the finding of bog oak. Such places are rare, but I know of a small woodland in Somerset, which has some some bog oak limbs that make fine sticks. It's a secret.

For those interested in traditional stick sports I can recommend no better source than 'Broadsword and Singlestick' (1890) by Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley (a.k.a. Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq) and C. Phillips-Wolley. Singlestick is, of course, the English version of sporting Bataireacht.

Off-topic, Baron Headley was one of those larger-than-life characters we never see nowadays. How about Muslim convert, double haji (in the days when that meant something) and putative recipient of an offer of the throne of Albania (it was often alleged that C.B Fry was another of those offered the throne).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Allanson-Winn,_5th_Baron_Headley

 

[Mojave Jack]

I've always admired Hercule Poirot's telescope cane, which he carried in Murder in Mesopotamia and in Death on the Nile. He may have carried it in others, too, but those are the two with which I'm most familiar. At $99 they won't break the bank, either. Though with a magnification of only 3X, I'm not sure how useful the telescope really is.

 

[Mojave Jack]

Cookie, you'll need one of these, too.

 

[carter]

Fascinating

Mojave Jack, What are those and who makes them?

 

[Mojave Jack]

Mojave Jack, What are those and who makes them?

They're from the Williamsburg Market Place, and they're very similar to the cane that Poirot carries in at least a couple of the David Suchet movies. I only have Murder in Mesopotamia and Death on the Nile, but he carries it in both of them. Here's a link:

Telescope/Walking Stick

The telescope is apparently only a 3X, which may be of limited usefulness, but may be all you need at the opera, to view the pyramids, or to observe murder suspects from a discreet distance.

 

[avedwards]

Canes

I have done a search and not found any threads exclusively on canes. Anyone who spots such a thread, could they please point it out.

I know canes sort of went out of fashion by the Golden Era, but some people still used them, at least Nigel Bruce's Watson does in the Basil Rathbone series which is set in the 1940s.

I have two canes, both black with silver tops. The first one was a cheap buy at an antiques fair but the silver at the top is cracked so it can't really be used, at least I fear I will further destroy it if I do. The second is one I made myself from a rake, a chromium door handle and a hose ferrule for the bottom (taken from my father's company which makes hydraulic hoses). It does not look as bad as it sounds. I will post pics soon.

The only problem I have with canes is that they make a fedora look as normal as a pair of jeans by comparison. I am not elderly, nor do I have a limp so I can't get away with using one pretending it's for medical reasons. But with enough encouragement from my friend who likes top hats, cloaks, canes etc. I might use it and wear my cape.

Do any loungers have, or better still use canes?

 

[Nick D]

I have a cane back home, which I would use when the mood struck me. I'd like to get one here. I don't have a condition which requires support, but I like to have something to swing while I walk (the result of years of Boy Scout hikes).

 

[Geesie]

Good question, I hope we can get some good sources.
I don't plan on using a cane every day, but I probably will injure myself while exercising or doing field work and I'd like to have one on hand so I don't have to rely on the ghastly hospital-issue brushed aluminum.

 

[shortbow]

Don't know how exactly you'd find it but we discussed this at length awhile back.

 

["Skeet" McD]

As I walk along the Bois Boolong with an Independent Air...

The only problem I have with canes is that they make a fedora look as normal as a pair of jeans by comparison. I am not elderly, nor do I have a limp so I can't get away with using one pretending it's for medical reasons.

AV: the practical reasons of postural/locomotive support and defense from man and beast can explain a good deal of walking stick use...but it never was all of it. They have been, and still are, used purely as a male adornment...and yes, I have frequently used them as such. Besides the light rattans and such which are mostly ornamental, I've been laying in a supply of more...substantial...sticks for when I will NEED them...which is getting closer all the time!

You don't need an excuse to use your cane: you need the desire to do so (and a good deal of willingness to act on that desire no matter what the hoi polloi say or think). I strongly urge you to give it a whirl. You'll find that the proper boulevardier's elegant handling will take a bit of practice!

I'll root about and see if I can take some pictures of my favorites, if you're interested.

"Skeet"

 

[avedwards]

I'd be interested in seeing pictures Skeet. I'll post mine too. I'm still unsure whether it might not be too chunky, though as a result I would have no problem putting all my weight on it. Do you have to wear a top hat tailcoat to use one though or is a fedora and suit enough (plus thick cape in winter)?

 

[Lokar]

Canes were still used in the UK beyond the Victorian era (think Jeeves & Wooster) - and by that time, a suit and fedora was in, so a cane with suit & fedora is historically accurate (and looks fantastic, in my opinion - However, I don't have the guts, especially at the young age of 22!)

 

["Skeet" McD]

I'd be interested in seeing pictures Skeet. I'll post mine too. I'm still unsure whether it might not be too chunky, though as a result I would have no problem putting all my weight on it. Do you have to wear a top hat tailcoat to use one though or is a fedora and suit enough (plus thick cape in winter)?

Dear AV: I'm sure there are Beaus here who can quote you chapter and verse; but for my opinion...like everything else in traditional dress: it's a matter of composing the overall picture.

A walking stick can, and--to the best of my knowledge, at least--was worn with just about every kind of public dress: only the expression changed. For instance, for country use (think tweed), an ashplant or blackthorn; for warm-weather resort or fairly negligée city wear (think blazer and flannels) a light rattan; for more formal day occasions, perhaps something in a dark wood with an ornate top of some sort; and for evening the quintessential understatement of blackwood with an ivory or precious metal cap and no overt ornamentation.

As with every other detail of traditional dress...which presupposes "rules" or at least generally-accepted traditional usages...the stylish man can choose to play against tradition; if done with taste, it can be charming.

I doubt I'll get those pictures up before Tuesday...but who knows?

"Skeet"

 

[avedwards]

Canes were still used in the UK beyond the Victorian era (think Jeeves & Wooster) - and by that time, a suit and fedora was in, so a cane with suit & fedora is historically accurate (and looks fantastic, in my opinion - However, I don't have the guts, especially at the young age of 22!)

In that case I will use mine next Friday when I wear my new vintage looking suit. You think 22 is young? I'm 17. I am used to my fedora and suits, but the cane will take getting used to. But having a friend who actually told me to use a cane and get a topper I think I will be persuaded. Anyone who has a problem with my cane can get a knock on the head from it. Unfortunately the topper may have to wait as I only have funds for a cardboard one and that is the height of bad taste, so better no topper than an embarassing one.

 

[avedwards]

My cane is more the evening type, though a lot heavier (simply because of the materials available to me). I'm sure it will work with a dark blue double breated suit and fedora.

[QUOTE="Skeet" McD]
I doubt I'll get those pictures up before Tuesday...but who knows?
[/QUOTE]
How about a race to see who can get their cane up first?

 

["Skeet" McD]

How about a race to see who can get their cane up first?

Pardon me?
You'll have to give me a handicap due to age... (because of short-term memory loss, of course)

"Skeet"

 

["Skeet" McD]

In that case I will use mine next Friday when I wear my new vintage looking suit. You think 22 is young? I'm 17...Unfortunately the topper may have to wait as I only have funds for a cardboard one and that is the height of bad taste, so better no topper than an embarassing one.

If it's any moral support...I was carrying a stick from time to time to school at your age. It's been done before....and survived!

You are dead on in your thoughts about the tophat, IMHO: no costume. Clothing that is REAL clothing has a dignity that imitations can never achieve.

"Skeet"

 

[avedwards]

OK, no top hat without tails, and no top hat which has not come from a proper hat shop. But the cane will definitely come out, hopefully next Friday.