# Hanbo/half staff or nunchucks?



## Moz bruce Lee (Jul 21, 2015)

I have a fine, hard hitting hanbo, a foot and 7 inches long, should i cut into nunchucks? Or learn stick/hanbo fighting techniques from a book? Which would be better option? Keeping in mind that i am training myself for self defense!! 
Thank you


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## Chris Parker (Jul 21, 2015)

Hi,

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

Secondly, you're not going to like the rest of this post.

That's not a hanbo. A hanbo (literally: "half staff") is, as the name suggests, half the length of a full (six foot) staff… not one foot seven inches long. That's a form of tanbo ("short stick"). Is that important? Well… yeah. The fact that you mention the name twice, including the correct translation in the thread title, indicates that you're not actually experienced with these weapons, nor do you have actual instruction with them. That's further indicated when you ask about learning techniques from a book… which brings us to the next point.

You can't. Seriously, you can't learn from a book. The best usage of books is as a reference point in conjunction with an instructor… on their own, they are lacking in a number of major (and essential) ways. Don't even consider it.

Turning the stick into nunchaku? Again, don't. Just… don't. The impression here is that you don't have any formal instruction here either… nor any experience with the weapons. That, by itself, would be a recipe for personal injury, delusional belief in "skill", and worse… but it also would indicate that you don't have any knowledge on what would make them suitable, let alone good. I mean… do you know what connector you'd use? How to attach it? What the length should be? How the handles should be shaped or weighted? Where the balance should be? 

Lastly, this is for self defence? What, are you considering walking down the street carrying a pair of homemade nunchaku? Do you really, seriously think that's a good idea? Really?

So, to answer your question, neither are "better" options, as neither are good options, or practical options. But that's simply the reality.


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## drop bear (Jul 21, 2015)

Chris Parker said:


> Turning the stick into nunchaku? Again, don't. Just… don't. The impression here is that you don't have any formal instruction here either… nor any experience with the weapons. That, by itself, would be a recipe for personal injury, delusional belief in "skill", and worse… but it also would indicate that you don't have any knowledge on what would make them suitable, let alone good. I mean… do you know what connector you'd use? How to attach it? What the length should be? How the handles should be shaped or weighted? Where the balance should be?



You can make usable nunchucks. pretty easily. But he is going to smack himself in the face a lot without instruction.


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## drop bear (Jul 21, 2015)

Moz bruce Lee said:


> I have a fine, hard hitting hanbo, a foot and 7 inches long, should i cut into nunchucks? Or learn stick/hanbo fighting techniques from a book? Which would be better option? Keeping in mind that i am training myself for self defense!!
> Thank you



Why are you training yourself?


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## Tez3 (Jul 21, 2015)

drop bear said:


> You can make usable nunchucks. pretty easily. But he is going to smack himself in the face a lot without instruction.




In the face if he's lucky but quite likely in the family jewels too because people always want to do those fancy moves........


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## drop bear (Jul 21, 2015)




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## donald1 (Jul 21, 2015)

Nice to meet you!

Tanbo? Hambo?? I have some experience with tanbo but not enough to really give any valuable teaching advice on the subjuct. My tanbo is around the length of 1ft maybe a little more (I dont know exact length).  ive never practiced hanbo? But since its aso called half stick I could imagine its around 2 ft -3 ft 

Books are possibly helpful but not teachers they will not tell you your doing techniques right or wrong. And no you cant teach yourself because you cant teach something you dont even know.

Find a good dojo and join up friend!


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## hoshin1600 (Jul 21, 2015)

i say keep it as a stick.  chances are after a month or two of playing around with it, you will get bored with it anyways.  after its been sitting around for some time unused you might find a use for it as a paint stirrer or a closet rod.


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## Sapphire (Jul 22, 2015)

Nah, bro, just practice single stick fighting.  There are plenty of good videos to learn the very basics, and there's nothing like having two bros that want to swing sticks at each other.  Single stick is a lot more versatile, too.  If you become familiar with basic stick fighting, you can become more familiar with knife fighting, which you can later translate to say using a pen or a kubaton or anything else that winds up in your hand.


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## Moz bruce Lee (Jul 25, 2015)

Chris Parker said:


> Hi,
> 
> Firstly, welcome to the forum.
> 
> ...



as a matter of fact sir, i have been doing nunchucks for long and i am experienced with it as i practice it daily. So stop being so biased and makin remarks beforehand. As for stick techniques, i have zero knowledge and i think i will stop learning it like u said i cant learn it by a instructor plus there are no stick fighting instructors here at my place. Sorry for misunderstand tanbo as hanbo.
moreover, i can easily make that tanbo into a fine nunchuck...yes...easily! i have a connector too from a broken nunchuck...if not i can drill holes and use the nylon strong rope by drillin holes, its pretty easy.
thanks.


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## elder999 (Jul 25, 2015)

Moz bruce Lee said:


> as a matter of fact sir, i have been doing nunchucks for long and i am experienced with it as i practice it daily. So stop being so biased and makin remarks beforehand. As for stick techniques, i have zero knowledge and i think i will stop learning it like u said i cant learn it by a instructor plus there are no stick fighting instructors here at my place. Sorry for misunderstand tanbo as hanbo.
> moreover, i can easily make that tanbo into a fine nunchuck...yes...easily! i have a connector too from a broken nunchuck...if not i can drill holes and use the nylon strong rope by drillin holes, its pretty easy.
> thanks.


_ 
How much wood would a* nunchuck* chuck, if a *nunchuck *could chuck wood?_


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## Chris Parker (Jul 26, 2015)

Oh dear… 

Look, you're new here, so I'm going to do this gentler than I normally would, but a few words to the wise might not go astray.



Moz bruce Lee said:


> as a matter of fact sir, i have been doing nunchucks for long and i am experienced with it as i practice it daily. So stop being so biased and makin remarks beforehand.



Firstly, you have a grand total, including this post I'm replying to, of two posts here. There is absolutely no indication of any martial arts experience on your profile page, simple a mention that you're male, and 17 years old. Frankly, that means you've been alive for far less time than many, including myself, have been training… combine that with the incorrect terminology in your post (not just the hanbo/tanbo thing… you do know that part of what Elder meant with his comment is that the name of the weapon is not "nunchuck"… that's a term used by people who have no real clue or genuine education in the weapon itself… it's nunchaku… which is how I spelt it twice in my post), the mention of learning from books, the way you had to ask what you could do with the item you have, and that you're talking about all of this "for self defence"… and you can understand why I'd think that you're a young kid with a head full of fantasy, and no real experience at all. And honestly, you haven't alleviated that idea at all.

You've been "doing nunchucks for long" (?), have you? What system of Ryukyu Kobudo do you study, and how long have you been training in it? What is the lineage of your system? Is it taught in conjunction with any other system, or are you studying it separately?

You will need to answer these questions for me to think you have any credibility, by the way… to say that you "practice it daily" means nothing without knowing what you're actually practicing… and really only means you might be experienced in nothing at all. Oh, and this isn't me being "biased" or "makin remarks beforehand" (again, ?)… it's me taking the information you have presented, and working from that.



Moz bruce Lee said:


> As for stick techniques, i have zero knowledge and i think i will stop learning it like u said i cant learn it by a instructor plus there are no stick fighting instructors here at my place. Sorry for misunderstand tanbo as hanbo.



Okay.



Moz bruce Lee said:


> moreover, i can easily make that tanbo into a fine nunchuck...yes...easily! i have a connector too from a broken nunchuck...if not i can drill holes and use the nylon strong rope by drillin holes, its pretty easy.
> thanks.



Then why do you need to ask us anything? If you know what you're doing (again, personally, I doubt it), go ahead… of course, I note that you haven't actually answered my questions about material, lengths, methods, and so on… but hey, knock yourself out. Realistically, if you have an instructor, they should be guiding you in this… if not, then nothing you've said here is genuine, and you're living in a fantasy.


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## Dirty Dog (Jul 26, 2015)

Moz bruce Lee said:


> moreover, i can easily make that tanbo into a fine nunchuck...yes...easily! i have a connector too from a broken nunchuck...if not i can drill holes and use the nylon strong rope by drillin holes, its pretty easy.
> thanks.


 
Um... no... I don't think so.
It's frankly not possible to make a "fine nunchuck [sic]" by drilling holes in the wood and running a piece of rope through it.
Doing so will result in a sort of vaguely nunchuck [sic] like object. But a fine nunchaku? Nope. Not even close.


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## MatsumuraKarate (Aug 6, 2015)

Moz bruce Lee said:


> I have a fine, hard hitting hanbo, a foot and 7 inches long, should i cut into nunchucks? Or learn stick/hanbo fighting techniques from a book? Which would be better option? Keeping in mind that i am training myself for self defense!!
> Thank you


With the length specified your nunchaku wouldn't be long enough. The average adult male needs 12-14 inches of wood on each side also if you do decide to go ahead with it. Make sure the rope you use is no longer than the width of your hand when making a fist. This will make your weapon much more easily controlled and more useful for grappling applications.


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## Tez3 (Aug 6, 2015)

You know, there are times when my mind really lets me down and boggles at the thought of what the average male needs and how much rope you should have


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## Grenadier (Aug 6, 2015)

Moz bruce Lee said:


> as a matter of fact sir, i have been doing nunchucks for long and i am experienced with it as i practice it daily. So stop being so biased and makin remarks beforehand.



It's only logic and common sense, that will dictate that self-training isn't going to be much help when it comes to learning how to properly use a weapon.  I've seen some folks claim that they knew everything there was to know about using a rokushaku / bo, but when I saw them "perform," all I saw were flailing of the arms, not using the lower body to provide the actual power source for driving that bo, and terribly wasteful expenditures of energy.  Even amongst individuals who claimed to have "trained" for over a dozen years with the bo, this was quite prevalent.  

To put it bluntly, someone with a year's of formal training in a weapon is going to have a much better understanding of the said weapon than someone who has self-trained for ten years.  

Now, I admit, that I could very well be jumping to conclusions, in making the assumption that you haven't had any formal training with the nunchaku, so if I am mistaken, I would be most happy to be corrected on this matter.  



> moreover, i can easily make that tanbo into a fine nunchuck...yes...easily! i have a connector too from a broken nunchuck...if not i can drill holes and use the nylon strong rope by drillin holes, its pretty easy.
> thanks.



Unfortunately, it's not as easy as that, especially if you want to make a quality pair.  What kind of wood are you talking about?  Not all woods are good for weapons, and wood that is good for a short weapon might very well be terrible for a longer one, and vice versa.  What kind of woodworking tools do you have?  Do you have the carbide blades and bits needed to reliably work with harder, denser woods?


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## TwentyThree (Aug 7, 2015)

As an aside - nunchaku for _self defense_?

Outside of a dojo, they're illegal to have on your person (unless you are going to and from training or something) in the US (most places) and Canada (and I think the UK too...).  They are _literally _your worst choice as a self defense weapon, because you can't carry them with you anywhere. Also, I'm hard pressed to think of too many analogues (improvised weapons) that would translate well.


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