Taiji Staff/Spear

[Cruagh]

What type of wood is best suited to taiji staff/spear training, white wax wood, or a certain hard wood?

Also, is using the tapered or straight staff just a matter of personal preference, or do they serve different practical purposes.

Thanks for any insights.
-C

[adamfuray]

wax wood

[Crane_Fighter]

I use a tapered wax wood staff but there are some nice bamboo staffs available, both are lightweight and flexible.

The wax wood is good as it is smooth and you dont suffer from friction.

I believe the wax wood staffs are more of a wushu style staff??

It's all about personnel taste I think....

[scramasax57]

waxwood bends, but i wouldn't call it a wushu staff if by wushu you mean contemporary wushu. a good waxwood staff will break ribs easily and be able to block hard strikes from hardwood staves, while being faster and generating more whipping power.

you can tell i like waxwood.

[Mo Ling]

"Wushu" style staffs are often waxwood, but they are the wy they are because they are often extremely thin so they can be whipped around and look pretty. Get a big thick waxwood staff and it will kill you just to move it...

[Sifu Stier]

Both waxwood and rattan are traditionally used for Tai-Chi Staffs and Spears as they are lightweight and flexible which allows the long weapons to be played with more speed and thus more power than a hardwood like oak or ironwood, yet able to bend rather than break like a hardwood when struck forcefully by another weapon...especially bladed weapons. The Chinese style staves are generally of even diameter throughout the length of the staff...although traditionally some may be wider in diameter at one end and narrower at the other end as is common when cutting small trees for use. The staves with tapered points on both ends are more typical of Okinawan and Japanese styles than Chinese styles.