Bagua Dao

[MonkeyBoy]

Oak is heavier but White Waxwood takes much more of a beating.

[maoshan]

Peace All,

Nexus


In recent years the quality has really gotten bad. I myself have a white oak staff and 2 really good spears that I got back in the mid 80's. as far as buying one goes i've been thinking about trying
out the stuff on this site and Kungfu/Qigong. I'm in the Process of looking for a Double head spear. With the exception of one, all I've ever seen were extremly cheap in terms of Quality across the board. Too short, too thin etc. We are in the process of working to get some quality weapons from China. If it happens I'll post a notice.


Peace.
Maoshan

[RAF]

http://forums.bajimen.com/
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Traditional Weapons (ŒÃ•ºŠí)
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Spear making (was re: LSW article...) 11 07/22 02:11am


Nexus, there is a pretty interesting discussion about making spears (one's over ten foot).

Its important to know where to taper the spear.

Oak tends to be very heavy and you can damage yourself rather quickly. The spear has to have length and flexibility and you should be able to see some of the circular motion when you retrieve and turn over the spear after punching. Literally looks like a spiral of a screw.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some articles on spear training in the bagua system? I would like to read anything about the specific training exercises. I have seen Xing Yi da qiang spear training (I know only one exercise in it but xing yi is not my area of practice) and also see it in Miller and Cartmell's book.

Mike Patterson does some pretty interesting bagua staff exercises. Jerry Alan Johnson has a tape on the bagua staff but I have never seen it.

Any direction would be most appreciated.

[count]

Iron wood is the way to go. Good luck finding it though. We order our Bai Lian (wax wood) poles from China. They usually come 10 foot. They are the whole tree. The ones we use for sparring. But lately they have been coming a little warped and the last batch of iron wood poles that came wasn't even iron wood. Heavy, but too brittle. I wouldn't recommend ordering from them. You should try it hands on. When I got mine I paid 40 dollars and the last batch they charged 90 bucks. Try contacting Brendon Lai in SF.

[Lincoln]

I always get my spears at Brendan Lai's here in San Francisco. It usually takes a couple of trips until I find the one that I like. The most important thing when choosing a spear is looking out for the Powder Worm holes. If you can see tiny little holes that look like pin holes in your waxwood then that piece of wood has worms! They tunnel throught the wood and make it very brittle and they can spread to uninfected piece's of wood. I have had spears literally explode on me because of the worms.

Count:
Thank you for the images that you sent. Unfortunately I have already seen those.

RAF:
If you are going to go to the tournament in September I could show you a basic spear exercise from the Gong Bao Tian style. I just do not think that I will be bringing a spear with me from California and I really wanted to do the spear form at the competition. Maybe someone will let me borrow one.

Lincoln

[Walter Joyce]

Good tip on the wood worms, I have experienced similar problems with waxwood staffs.

[RAF]

Lincoln:

I won't be at the Bagua Tournament in NY because its too close to our Hall of Fame Tournament.

If you get into Akron, just pop into Tony Yang's school on Arlington. We aren't far from the University.

Rockwood has stopped by twice.

Thanks for the offerand I hope to see you there sometime. I would enjoy seeing the bagua spear flavor. The Hall of Fame Tournament is on the Oct 5 weekend.

[Spirit Writer]

If it's a true waxwood pole it will not have woods. "wax" is related to winter, and if the tree is cut in winter it will have no worms.

[tomasz]

Originally posted by count
I asked my friend in China right now to find some for me. If he does, I will post a pic. Basically they cuff around the elbows and can be pointed on one side or both. Very good in close. Works perfectly with our bagua 12 elbows set.

Good post RAF, thanks for the links.

I don't think so that your friend will be able to find it. My teacher specially ordered it from manufacture because it is impossible to buy it. the funny is that he needed to draw a plans for them becauce they have not idea how to do it (the bigger kung fu weapon manufacture in North China )

where is your friend now? in Fushun? if is this that guy forget that he will be able to find soemthing in Fushun. it is my girlfriend hometown i know this place pretty well.
regards

[count]

How did your teachers come out, as far as support? Any chance I could get a copy of the plans he drew? How about iron knuckles. Have you seen any kind of selection there?

[tomasz]

Originally posted by count
How did your teachers come out, as far as support? Any chance I could get a copy of the plans he drew? How about iron knuckles. Have you seen any kind of selection there?

i will try to get for you this plans. but as far i see yours asa little different than ours (i saw a photo)
regards
tomasz

[count]

I'm sure that would be excellent. You say you saw a picture of ours? Where?

[tomasz]

Originally posted by count
I'm sure that would be excellent. You say you saw a picture of ours? Where?

in taiwanise wushu magazine

[LingChuanPai]

Have you seen any Bagua Da Dao's for sale anywhere? Online, or whatever?
Thanks,
LCP

[Plymouth Rocks]

You mean like this one? Me, my teacher, and my senior:
http://www.yizongbagua.com/Boston%20...1%20sm_JPG.htm