I have a vinyl slot case in which I carry my training sticks. There is a single stick slot on the outside, two inches shorter than this stick, where I keep it for defense. This is the ideal length for a one-handed, blunt weapon.

Where we slash almost exclusively with long extension weapons, the smash is the dominant short stick stroke. One of the reasons why hammers are such devastating weapons is because they are of a length that permits repeated smashing on a short arc. For this reason of all the construction weaponry available, hammers are preferred by such men when they fight, with bikers favoring the ball-peen hammer. It is no accident that most American Indian melee weapons came in at just shorter than arm length, predominantly the tomahawk.

Getting my range I use pass strokes with short backhand returns. Once I lapse into a boxing approach and make my rightward pass at 35 seconds you will see a fanning motion, which the Filipino masters call an "abineeka" [I have probably misspelled it.] With sticks of 26 inches and longer fanning is usually just a point-scoring sport application. It has no blade application—none. But, with a short stick, if one remembers to control contact with the foe with his empty, checking hand, it is an excellent method for navigating across to your weapon hand side.

Note that there is a slow slash through on contact. That is me practicing digging in to the bone with a smash, forcing a double-hit should the stick want to bounce. The stick then speeds up again on leaving.

Thanks to Sean of Lancaster Agonistics for filming this.

Fighting Smart: Boxing, Agonistics & Survival