 |
| I see one Bo staff, or two pair of nunchucks, easy. Potential. |
The most consistent pass time we had growing up was building weapons. We were at it most of the time but with special furor after we'd seen a movie that featured hand-to-hand combat of any sort. I'm talking about your Robin Hoods, your Young Robin Hoods, your Return to Sherwood Forests, your Disney's Robin Hood, and the Swiss family Robinson.
I cannot even guess the number of broomsticks and rake handles that we cut up make the various implements of backyard war. One of our favorite weapons, because of its simplicity and ease-of-use was the Bo staff. Known in England as the quarterstaff, which I think is Japanese for 'stick'. Well, maybe more like, 'whacking stick'. We made all kinds of variations of the Bo staff, including ones with nails sticking out. I would misuse a metal grinder to make intricate termite-like patterns on the side, and also make a terrible smell in the shop.
Beyond the Bo staff, we made more complex weapons like nunchucks. These we made by cutting a broom handle into short sections and chaining them together with supplies from the local hardware store. When the chain attached to both sticks we would wrap them in foam and black tape to give that official Bruce Lee look. The last step in this process was to swing them around and try and switch hands behind your back. This ended in a whack to one's head or genitals which signaled the end of the game.
When our crafting skills got better we graduated into making knives. Not little pocket knives, big long beautiful Rambo-esqe survival knives. We found a box or two-foot long industrial saw blades that were just sitting around languishing. We took those layabouts to the grinder to sharpen the tips to a point and the back side into a blade. We left the saw on the back because everybody knows a great survival knife has a saw on the back. Basic weaponry 101 stuff. Then we fitted the non-pointy end with a wooden handle long enough to allow a two hand grip for extra chopping power.
We proceeded to use these new weapons in a reasonable and mature manner, chopping up everything we could find. Buckets and boxes and trees were all chopped and there are still chunks missing out of my mom's porch supports where we notched out a little bit.
When my mom saw the destruction she thought for sure we must be psychopathic. That's because she's a girl and she doesn't understand that in the hands of a man, especially a little man, and knife needs to chop stuff. Plenty were made for all our friends so they could join us in the fun and take a two-handed machete home. You must understand the 80's were a different time and parents were little more conservative than they are today and for some reason didn't want her kids having a 2 foot long two-handed machetes. They told our parents about it and they forbade us from making the neighborhood children any more weapons. I'm glad times have changed and now kids, even young kids, can carry weapons freely.
