What about nunchakus?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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Back about 20 years ago when Bruce Lee was the rage, nunchakus were THE thing to carry.
These days when you say "nunchuks", you are probably going to get "eh?, as the reply.

This two-stick fighting tool was pretty cool when it descended on the martial arts world but time has since eroded its popularity.

I still have a pair or two tucked away somewhere. If it is anything, it taught me to learn co-ordination. A couple of nasty bumps on the head and elbows taught me to be more respectful of an effective ancient fighting implement.

In the hands of an expert, it is like a little helicopter with deadly power.

Who has nunchakus in his drawer somewhere?
 
Golok-

I had a pair. You're right, they were great exercise, and great for coordination. Probably make an effective weapon in somebody's trained hands, most definitely not mine.

Make mine an expandable ASP baton under my coat.

Ron (Guncollector)
 
Yep, got a pair sitting on my dresser by the T.V.. I find 15-20 minutes with them is an excellent start to getting any stresses of the workday behind me. Gives the forearms a nice burn also. I'll also mix'em in with some cane/stick/heavy bag work, keeps training from getting boring.
Stay Safe,
Clyde
 
They are probably like any weapon, effective in trained hands. But if you aren't trained, and you attempt to use them on someone, you would do well to have one vaselined and the other chocolate coated, because they might be going somewhere you wouldn't want them to go.
 
Yup, I've got a pair of the heavy Monadanock chucks and I still play with them fairly often. As stated above, they're great for hand eye coordination and forearm/wrist strength.

Besides, they're fun and I spent too much time learning how to use them to just pack'em away now!
:D


As a defensive tool?
Nah, there are better tools that won't land me in jail for carrying them.
 
I've got some wooden ones, but my favorite are the Actionflex trainers. www.actionflex.com They allow full contact sparring with only eye and ear protection. However, I'm not very good with them and I'd go along with the ASP preference noted above.
 
Hey Ken, I also have a pair of those Monadnock "police nunchaku." Got them at a gun shop back in the eighties. They ARE heavy!

Also have a pair of octagonal 14" wood string connected ones which I prefer, since they "fit" better and are lighter. I can't stand the 12" models (except for the Monadnocks, which make up for it with their WEIGHT!). I don't play with these much, although they are usually in the "weapons bag" for "show and tell" at OSU S-D classes. I'll wail on the heavy bags some about once a quarter, just to keep my hand in a little. As a general rule, I don't let students "play" with them, but I also have a pair of 14" rubber training ones they can try if they just have to. We also keep a length of thick welded chain and a manriki gusari in the bag. I do encourage the students to double up the chain and take a few swipes at the bag with it (improvised weapons familiarization).

IMO, serious S-D folks should own (or borrow) a pair to learn the basic swinging and striking patterns. Start in the air, then progress to a heavy bag or hay bales. You HAVE to learn to recover from actual impacts, or you'll probably hurt yourself! Familiarity with all types of weapons is a worthy cause; expert knowledge with all is not necessary. Undoubtedly there are some punks running around who carry nunchaku, but the training in timing and control of a flexible weapon is more the reason than practical "anti-chuck" defense.

In a real fight, I think I could avoid killing myself with them. :) I'd probably start with a "linear" snap-strike from underarm chambering instead of a swinging motion. I don't think the average street punk would expect that.

Not that it would happen, since my cane is much more legal, easier to use, and often in hand.

Karl
 
Ive still got a pair I made in high school, they stay under my seat in the car.
Im nice to cops so they never ask to search my car, they probably wouldnt like the machete in the back either but its a legitimate camping tool.
I feel sorry for the mofo that gets cracked with them.
They are about 14 inches long of around 1 inch diameter aluminum tubing thats pretty thick walled.
I used a short 1500 pound test purple mountain climbing rope, about 3 inches long span for a fast reponse swing. Simply drilled a hole looped through and around.
Then I filled the tubes with wax and sealed them with shoo goo, then rapped them with black electrical tape.
They have lasted 20 years and are easy to use. I can still pick them up and whip them with devastating force. Never failed to impress and they have been to several dances. (Dont get me wrong, I m a pretty peaceful guy, I just dont like to take a lot of ****.)
I can slip them up my sleeve, in my back pocket or down my pants. They spin fast as hell and dont have too much of a rebounding problem.
I once tried to destroy them by beating on the steel posts of a batting cage. Got several good smacks in with little effect then whanged them about as hard as I could. The clang just about deafened me and they bent about 15 degrees in the middle.
I was so impressed I put the bent stick in a vise and bent it back straight. Its been a trusted weapon ever since.
Ive thought about getting an ASP but I think now-a-days they are seen as much as weapons as the chucks are.
And I think the chucks are more impressive in this form than the average ASP.
 
I'm not at all a nunchaku user, but when I lived in Taiwan, a Taiwanese friend of mine trained nunchaku under one of my Sifu there. That's the only martial arts training he would do, because he had a slight deformation of his hips, but though he was not proficient at empty-hand fighting, he was very, very good with the nunchaku, and IMO was probably the best guy at performing nunchaku I've ever seen, bar none. He also trained impacting the weapon on targets.
The pair he used were, I think, custom-made, two stainless steel sticks connected by a chain, functional but not beautiful. One night a man had tried to rob him at knifepoint in Taipei, and according to him, with two movements, he snapped the knife out of his hand, then snapped the nunchaku into his head and knocked the guy out. Nothing fancy, just two forward flicks with very good accuracy. I have no reason to disbelieve him.

Jim
 
Yeah, I have a set of nunchuks that I bought about 20 - 25 years ago. Hardly ever use them anymore. My teenage son gets a kick out of them, though. They're great fun, but I would never dare to use the 'chuks in a fight. I'd rather have a baseball bat.
 
I have hm... 5 pairs.... no 7..

I practise somewhat regularly. I train not to fight, but for fun, and to master this art, much like I do balisong manipulating.
I currently practise my wrist twirls/flips and some katas that I've made up. Trying to do them as fast as I can without making mistakes.. :cool:

Mostly I use a foam pair at home, so I don't mess up any furniture or the floor. In my "dojo" I practise with a hard rubber pair or a 14" lightweigt wood pair.
 
Originally posted by Safety Guy
Also have a pair of octagonal 14" wood string connected ones which I prefer, since they "fit" better and are lighter. I can't stand the 12" models (except for the Monadnocks, which make up for it with their WEIGHT!). I don't play with these much, although they are usually in the "weapons bag" for "show and tell" at OSU S-D classes. I'll wail on the heavy bags some about once a quarter, just to keep my hand in a little. As a general rule, I don't let students "play" with them, but I also have a pair of 14" rubber training ones they can try if they just have to.
Click to expand...

heh... i remember you were watching me to see if I'd knock myself out with em when I grabbed em in class. :)

I'm with Gigante.. I have about 6 pair of different sizes, one of which is a homemade pair I did with some dowel rods for practice. I've been doing nunchaku since long before I got into martial arts study. My dad had studied karate in his younger days and would show me fun stuff. That and watching TMNT (which should give you an idea of how old I am) really got me into kobudo weapons.

I'm currently working on being able to manipulate 3 nunchaku at once.
If you stop hearing from me for awhile, you might want to have someone check my apartment:)
 
Hey guys.Where can you get the monadnock chucks at.I read this post last night,and spent about an hour trying to locate them.I really wished mine would not have been stolen,i had a pair in the late 80s,but they were stolen,along with other goodies in 93.Thanks for any help on this.---M.R.
 
Originally posted by golok
Back about 20 years ago when Bruce Lee was the rage, nunchakus were THE thing to carry.

Funny thing is, Inosanto says Lee called 'chuks a "worthless piece of sh*t" and they were only good for movie fight scenes.
Click to expand...
 
Lee also thought Wing Chun was useless, but still got hammered by Yip Man when he would come back to visit the old master. :)

I think Bruce might have been talking out of his royal arse if he truly said this. That's just my opinion though. I still respect a lot of Bruce's philosophy.

If they were legal, I'd carry them. Since they are illegal to use, I might be almost willing to agree that they're worthless, but I tend to use them for a good warmup at the very least.

..tm
 
I used to know a doorman who carried telescopic 'chucks' (sounds weird, they looked weirder) after the police confiscated his telescopic baton. He told me that when he was scared he hit his opponents too hard anyway. With a baton he could make himself hit muscle groups on the lower body, but with nunchukas he found himself consistently striking his opponent high and to the head, because this was the way he trained with them. He worried about serioulsy hurting someone and eventually stopped using them. I wouldn't doubt their efficiency as a weapon because I know that he succesfully knocked people unconscious on a monthly basis with them.

To me, they seem better put to use as the tools of manipulation and pain coercion, not just for braining people with.

Personally, though, I feel they shout 'hey jurors, I'm a trained martial artist' just a bit too loudly.
 
Originally posted by TomMarker
Lee also thought Wing Chun was useless, but still got hammered by Yip Man when he would come back to visit the old master. :)
Click to expand...

Actually, lin sil die dar, centerline and motherline, immovable elbow, hip bow and rooting from the bai jong are all critical to JFJKD and come from WC.
 
I love playing around with the chucks once in a while. Its a neat coordination tool. I figure just about any weapon uses the same basic moves.

I saw a few things about Bruce Lee and the chucks. He used heavy ones to exercise his wrists & forearms. His forearms were a big concern to develop. I also watched a video where they showed Bruce's "bloopers." They showed his human side slip with the chucks a couple times. So, even Bruce himself was able to make mistakes when flipping the chuck.

However, another demonstration video (from the 70's) "The Warrior within." I saw was very impressive. They had a student hold 2 apples out to the side, palms up. Another apple was placed upon his head (well 4 "afro). Then the narrator explained that the nunchucku can generate 1800 lbs of centrifugal force. At the same moment the instructor is smashing the apples he is holding very quick & precise. The narrator then paused to finish "The human skull cracks at 8 lb.." He smashed the apple on the head. 1,2,3 as quick as that. Very impressive argument.

I was wondering myself if this day & age a set of wood chucks with traditional rope instead of chain would be an option to carry. I suppose If you were proficiently trained you'd be able to defend yourself, even against a Samurai.
 
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