Buy a wax wood staff.
Take it to three classes, broke on the third night. snapped like a freakin twig. No contact, no slamming against the floor… just doing a form.
On the bright side, it broke in such a way that I now have a nice waxwood Jo.
Had nice flex too… for awhile 
on a brighter note, i would not even think of messing with someone who can break a wax wood staff doing a form.
Would this be the friggin’ tree trunk you got from Cold Steel?
I´m not going to mess with wude!:eek:
dwid,
No. I ended up selling the tree trunk from cold steel.
This was one of the 7 foot skinny ones from the store you recommended 
Actually, I probably just had the dumb luck of picking the lamest staff in stock. Which is funny since I checked it for cracks, warpage, etc. It looked like one of the better ones.
Luckily it was at the end of class when I was demonstrating a form for my instructor. We both looked at it, and then couldn’t contain laughter anymore. Mostly because I’d just finished talking about how flexible it was.
My instructor was telling me that when he was in China watching the wushu schools do their demos that one would occasionally break when slapping on the floor, but that was it.
There is an art to picking one…
You have to look for wood worms…they make it brittle and likely to break…and are often in the ones from China.
You have to get a good thickness and know how much you need according to your power level.
You also have to look it over for cracks and splits. then…test it for flexion…see if it flexes OK or seems stiff. A good one flexes pretty far…which is why they are hard to break…
Then, you have to make sure it is not dry…dry means it will break.
GLW,
yeah, this one was pretty thin… I did check for worm holes and it was clean. DIdn’t seem too dry… but it definetely wasn’t green.
The reason I picked it was due to it’s amazing amount of flexibility. I probably just managed to torque it enough to put the pressure on the weak skinny part.
If I’d managed to break the cold steel one (2" on the thick side) I’d be impressed.
I’m going to sand off the edge on this one, add a Brass ferrule to the thick end, and braid some rope through the top. It’ll make a great Jo/Walking stick.
Still mad that it was like, $30.
re: I broke my friggin’ staff…
Your wife must be very upset. Can you get a prescription for Viagra?
Also, you can place it in PVC piping, seal off both ends after filling it with oil (forget the name, asky your teacher). This will make it unbreakable … pretty much.
CSN - Jokes like that make me hear tubas immitating wind passing noises ;).
Yes, EF has a point. Many high qualtiy stick you can buy for kali/escrima have been oiled several times, often set on fire between oilings. Seek a pro’s advice.
Sorry Wu De,
Those staffs have been sitting in that store for well over a year now (I’m not sure that matters, but I’m sure the guy running the place is pretty clueless about caring for stuff like that). I’ve always considered that place kind of shady, but it’s the only place I knew of that sold waxwood in Columbus. Better luck next time I guess.
-dwid
Hey Wu De,
If you don’t mind my asking, what made you give up the Cold Steel staff? I was thinkin’ about ordering one after I saw your post about it.
Thanks.
wu_de36,
It appears that you managed to concentrate your qi well into the staff. Go to the shop and ask for your money back.
Was it just too thick? Without the snap you wanted or something? Um…I should probably just label this TTT.
Hi Wu-De.
All my staff get the “Linseed Oil” treatment after I buy them.
Either soak the staff in it, or wrap it in soaked cloth.
PVC tubing as mentioned or plastic gutter railing works well for soaking.
It will sweat “Oil” for some time afterwards, so keep a towel handy.
Ok, not with the next one. Metal absorbs Oil poorly. 
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the tips everyone..
As for the Cold Steel staff:
It depends on what you want. It’s one of the thicker staffs I’ve come across. 2" on the thick end… maybe a little more than 1" on the skinny side. It was very sturdy, but there was little/no flex in my particular staff (the fun of mail order)
The energy didn’t transfer very well either. In other words, contact with hard stuff hurt. Compare to a Cold Steel Lathi (6 foot rattan cane with the skin) and it wasn’t nearly as flexible or “alive” in my hands.
It definetely wasn’t a “performance” staff, but very suitable for smooshing someone. This is usually what I look for, but in this case, I wanted a flashy and flexible stick.
And to be honest, I thought it looked kinda stupid. It just wasn’t my thing. If I’m going to get a thick beating stick, I’ll take the Cold Steel Quarterstaff. If I want a fast beating stick, I’ll take the Lathi.
I seem to remember being specifically told not to oil waxwood, but I might just be high
Dwid… No hard feelings. I have the same feelings about that store, and considering I can get the wholesale prices from Century/AWMA I usually don’t frequent them unless they have something I want.. like a waxwood staff