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|  7th June 2011, 09:40 PM | #1 | 
| Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: France 
					Posts: 473
				 |  African fighting stick 
			
			Ngandu / Saka Congo 85 cm wood 1920 | 
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|  7th June 2011, 11:03 PM | #2 | 
| Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Paris (FR*) Cairo (EG) 
					Posts: 1,142
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			Bonsoir Luc fighting stick, was lethal weapons or just for fight simulation ? religious purpose ? in case of violent engagements, these wooden weapons were breaking quickly, right ? I'm curious to know the real destination of these weapons, ceremonial or war ? thanks per anticipation to teach an uneducated   à + Dom | 
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|  8th June 2011, 11:23 PM | #3 | 
| Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Santa Barbara, California 
					Posts: 301
				 |  wooden weapons are deadly 
			
			Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most famous swordsmen in Japan, liked to use the bo-ken, the wooden sword, and used it successfully in one of his most famous duels. In the Rwanda genocide, the predominant weapon was a wooden club. In Elizabethan England, one of the most violent times and places in the world, more people were killed with a cudgel, a plain old piece of wood, than with any other weapon. The Maoris of New Zealand used a wooden weapon called the taiaha, and successfully defeated British troops using rifle and bayonet in hand-to-hand combat. God forbid I should have to go into combat against a swordsman, (or against anybody, for that matter) but I'll take a 6 foot hardwood staff over the sword any day. | 
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|  9th June 2011, 09:02 PM | #4 | 
| Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: France 
					Posts: 473
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			These stick are described as " non-lethal " weapons. But I don't want to try... | 
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|  9th June 2011, 09:23 PM | #5 | 
| Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK 
					Posts: 5,922
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			Looks really nice.  Any chance of another, view edge on.  What wieght is it.  It looks a hard wood.  Much wood work from the Congo, on swords and knives seems to me to be often rather soft woods.  A really good whack across the temple/eye socket would mean the next hit would be lethal.
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