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 :) )