Oni Cudgel

I was in the process of making a spike cudgel from a maple branch, when I happened to run across a picture of an Oni mask from a Noh drama. So, I got out my carving chisels and went to work. I incorporated the spikes into head by turning them into horns. A few coats of black stain, steel-wooled off on the high spots of the face, and this is the result:

Full shot. It's 31" in length:














The face:














Right side. I've found out after a few other carving experiments that you need to carve deeply halfway decent results:














Left side:














Top:














Full shot from the top:














Full shot from the bottom:

GUNSTOCK CLUB



I've wanted to make one of these for a while now and finally finished this one after letting it sit idle for quite a long time. My fascination with this weapon started when I watched Michael Mann's "Last of the Mohicans" (starting at 06:00).


I made this one out of hickory, figuring that Indians might have used the same wood. I fastened and pinned a blade made of iron and used small copper tacks for some accent. I then finished it off with some simple geometric designs before staining and waxing it.

(ruler is 30")

ANOTHER COCHESERO



My most-requested knife is the Cochesero Survival Knife.
OAL: 16"
STEEL: L6, recycled from a used concrete-cutting saw blade
HANDLE: Mahogany, stained dark red and finished with gunstock oil.
SHEATH: Birch ply and a leather belt loop wound with hemp cord.



This forward-slanting design is based on a Filipino knife called a ginunting.



The slant makes it an excellent chopper, outstanding slicer, and an effective weapon- a great tool for both surviving and fighting.



Ginuntings are standard issue for the Philippines Marines Corps Force Recon.

DOG CUDGEL



I made another "Dog Cudgel". As I explained with the last one, I was inspired to make one after reading Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, a book on the history of the 14th Century. I found one particularly interesting passage, describing the effects of good government under King Robert of Naples.

"Under just laws and a stable currency, with security of roads, hostels for traveling merchants, festivities, tournaments, music, and poetry, Robert's reign, which ended in 1343, was said to be 'something like Paradise'. Citizens could journey unarmed through Calabria and Apulia 'except for a wooden club to defend themselves against dogs.' "

Having an occasional problem with feral dogs in the Detroit area, especially in the city itself, and the Rouge River basin, I found this passage intriguing and wondered what such a club might look like. I used a stout branch of maple to come up with this one. It's a ball club from a stout branch on which I left a spike where I had cut off a smaller branch. The small spike on the striking head of a club can be found in several cultures. I was thinking of an African club, called a rungu, when I had this idea. Rungus have ball-shaped striking ends with a small nipple at the impact point. This "nipple" concentrates the power of a strike before the rest of the head makes contact with whatever it's hitting.

Anyway, here it is. It's maple with a handle and lanyard of hemp. The ruler is 28":

IPE WALKING STICK



I made this from a piece of ipe, which I turned on a lathe. I did all of the sanding by hand and finished it with a few coats of gunstock oil. I used ipe on a recent project and I really like it. It has nice weight (it's a dense, strong wood) and rich color. I used a copper pipe cap as a ferrule to finish the piece.

BACK TO MAKING KNIVES



After a slow up over a long winter, I'm back to making blades. Here's another Cochesero Survival Knife.



OAL: 16"
STEEL: L6, recycled from a used concrete-cutting saw blade
HANDLE: Mahogany
SHEATH: Birch ply and a leather belt loop wound with hemp cord.



This forward-slanting design is based on a Filipino knife called a ginunting.



The slant makes it an excellent chopper, outstanding slicer, and an effective weapon- a great tool for both surviving and fighting. Ginuntings are standard issue for the Philippines Marines Corps Force Recon.

DOG CUDGEL



I recently finished Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, a book on the history of the 14th Century. I found one particularly interesting passage, describing the effects of good government under King Robert of Naples.

"Under just laws and a stable currency, with security of roads, hostels for traveling merchants, festivities, tournaments, music, and poetry, Robert's reign, which ended in 1343, was said to be 'something like Paradise'. Citizens could journey unarmed through Calabria and Apulia 'except for a wooden club to defend themselves against dogs.' "

Having an occasional problem with feral dogs in the Detroit area, especially in the city itself, and the Rouge River basin, I found this passage intriguing and wondered what such a club might look like. Again, I used a stout branch of maple to come up with this. The wood was green when I found it, which made it quite easy to strip off the bark with a spokeshave.

I soaked it for two days in a small tank of linseed oil. When I took it out and wiped it down, the oil had penetrated and the cudgel was nice and hard. Dark stain prior to soaking gave it an antique look. I added 17 notches in the haft for character and to add to the aged look.



I added a spike at the butt end for some punyo (butt-strike) work, but thought it could use something extra.



Nine brass tacks on the head gave it some more flair, as well as some effective impact points. This would make a handy feral-dog-basher, as well as a pretty effective door answerer.















OAL: 28"
WOOD: Maple