Inspired by this thread, I wondered what sort of improvised weapons people knew about or had considered. There could well be a situation where you might need more than just your empty hand skills to defend yourself.

I'll start with the weapon I mentioned in that other thread:

The Millwall Brick:

There got to be so much violence in football (soccer for the Yanks) matches, that they started by banning weapons (obviously) and then moved on to actually searching peoples pockets and bags at the gates. This led to an enormous haul in knifes and bottles and sharpened coins, etc. so the enterprising hooligan had to get creative.

Try this at home - you'll be amazed how good it is. Take a regular newspaper and lay it down flat. Now fold over the long edge by about 2 or 3 inches (6 to 8cm). Now keep rolling that over and over until you've got one long, thick, narrow newspaper. (You can try this with a regular sheet of paper just to get the idea). OK, so now you've got a long, thick roll of newspaper, right? So, now you bend it in half so that the two ends meet. Hold it by the "loose" end so that the folded end sticks out as if you're holding a club. Now feel how hard and solid the whole thing is. Bloody mad, huh!

Originally developed by the nastiest of hooligan crews, the Millwall "supporters", hence, The Millwall Brick. Seriously, if you get hit with one of these it's like getting hit by a short baseball bat.

So, what others can you think of?