First Order

Two Short Sticks has completed its first customer order!

Two pairs of tahn do liga were ordered: one to be carved with the initials of our Taekwondo school as well as the Korean hangul for patience/perseverance (innae), and the other to be similar in style to the square pair I posted a few weeks ago.

The first pair were carved with the initials of our Taekwondo school (TTF) on one stick and with the Korean characters for "in nae," patience and perseverance, one of the tenets of Taekwondo, on the other.  The ends of the sticks were rounded off and smooth.  The pair were treated with a wood hardening agent and feature three coats of a warm cherry-colored stain.  They were both then finished with a polyurethane finish for smoothness of handling and to protect against moisture.

The second pair were carved out of a square-cut hardwood.  They feature a similar I Ching motif to the previously posted square pair (heaven/earth and fire/water, as surrounds the Um/Yang on the South Korean flag), as well as the hangul for "baekjool bulgool," or indomitable spirit.  They were singed in an alternating pattern on the middles and ends to further reflect balance and endurance.  Nickel-colored hardware on the sides and bottom of the pair add a decorative beauty as well as combat utility.  The pair were treated with a wood hardening agent and were finished with polyurethane.  No stain was applied so as to preserve the beauty of the wood and the effect of the singeing.

Both pairs were connected using 550 paracord, which allow a fast, smooth action of the weapon, and a strong connection between the sticks.

Indomitable

This pair of tahn do liga features square sticks, as opposed to the more often seen round sticks.  From a combat perspective, the hard corners make for a more vicious striking weapon.  I can attest to this as a carving slip resulted in me scraping a knuckle across one of the corners and removing no small amount of skin from the knuckle.  Similarly, the corners make for more effective pain compliance techniques.

I carved the Korean hangul for "baekjul bulgul" or "indomitable spirit" into the center of the opposing sides of the sticks to reflect the hardness and combat readiness of the weapon.  I then employed an I Ching motif for the ends.  Each stick features the I Ching trigrams for heaven and earth on one end and fire and water on the other, representing balance within existence.

I also experimented with singeing the sticks in order to give the "indomitable" pair an aged look.  To this, I added brass antiqued colored hardware.  While I used my typical wood hardening agent and polyurethane finish, I did not apply any stain to the wood this time, so to preserve the aged look.  I was pleased with the end result of an artifact-y, steam punk-y kind of look.  (No, I'm not sure those are real words, but, hey, they fit :) )