Ashenstride Hand Made White Ash Bo Staff | 50 Inch Length | Steel End Ferrules and Three Cord Grip Wraps with Burned Knot Maker Mark | Martial Arts Gift | RK-1898

Ashenstride is a hardwood staff turned from white ash, fifty inches long, with a steel ferrule capping each end, three bands of natural cord whipped around the shaft for grip, and a Celtic knot roundel burned into the wood near one end. It comes with a canvas sleeve so it can be carried and stored without picking up dents. It is a training and display staff rather than anything with an edge, and it is the simplest thing we make.

Ash is the wood every staff tradition converges on independently, from the Japanese jo to the English quarterstaff to the shafts of Viking spears, and the reason is in the grain. Ash grows with long straight fibres and very few knots, which means a stave splits cleanly along its length and resists breaking across it. It also flexes a long way before it fails, so a struck staff absorbs shock into the wood rather than jarring it straight into the hands. Ashenstride is turned, sanded, burned, wrapped and finished by hand by hand in the Czech Republic.

Ash is used for hafts and staves because it bends a long way before it breaks, and steel, wood and leather covers why. Keep it somewhere sensible and out of reach of children, which is the short version of the safety and storage notes. The rest of the Norse home pieces sit in the same corner of the shop.

Specifications

Why fifty inches and why the cord sits where it does

Fifty inches is jo length rather than full bo length, and the difference matters more than it sounds. A six foot bo is a two ended staff you work at arm extension and it needs a lot of room. A staff around fifty inches sits at roughly shoulder height on most adults, which puts both ends inside your reach without stepping, so it can be worked in a normal room and can be brought up from a resting position without a wind up. The three cord bands mark the two quarter points and the centre, which are the three places the hands habitually go. Whipped cord gives a dry, positive grip that does not go slick the way a varnished shaft does once the hands warm up, and because it stands proud of the surface you can find each position by feel without looking down.

The wood, the ferrules and the finish

The stave is cut from kiln dried white ash, selected for straight grain running the full length, because a stave with grain running out at an angle will fail at that point no matter how thick it is. It is turned round, then sanded up through fine grits and finished with a penetrating oil rather than lacquer. Oil soaks into the fibres and can be topped up forever. Lacquer sits on the surface, chips at the first hard contact and then peels. The steel ferrules are pressed onto the ends and pinned, and they exist to stop the end grain from crushing and splitting, which is where every unprotected staff eventually fails. The knot roundel is burned rather than printed, so it is part of the wood.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On Ashenstride the burned knot roundel is the marked position, and a rune line runs well along the shaft between two of the cord bands where the hands do not sit. See the engraving page for what fits on a curved wooden surface.

Handling and balance

The staff balances at its centre, which is the whole point of a symmetrical staff, and the slight taper toward each end takes weight out of the tips so it changes direction quickly. At around a pound and a half it is light enough for long practice sessions and heavy enough to feel like a real object rather than a dowel. Take the centre band with both hands for close work, or slide to a quarter band for reach. This is a training and display staff. It is not a striking implement for use against another person, and a staff of any length needs a clear space around you before it moves.

Care

Wood care is mostly about humidity. Keep the staff out of a hot car and away from a radiator, since dry heat shrinks ash and can loosen a ferrule. Wipe it down after use and re oil it once or twice a year with any furniture grade penetrating oil, applied thin and buffed off, which keeps the fibres supple and stops the surface going chalky. If the cord bands ever loosen, they can be re whipped, and we will do it under the warranty. Do not varnish or lacquer over the oiled finish. Store it flat or hanging rather than leaning in a corner, because a staff left propped against a wall for years will take a slow bend.

Hardwood wants an occasional wipe of oil the same way an axe haft does, and the haft and edge care guide covers that.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This staff is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Ash varies enormously in tone, from near white through to a warm honey, and the grain figure is different in every stave. The burned roundel sits at its own depth, the cord whipping has its own tension and width, and the oiled finish deepens with age. The length, the diameter, the fittings and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is fifty inches a bo or a jo?

Strictly it is jo length. A traditional bo runs closer to seventy two inches. We build at fifty because it suits indoor practice and most home ceilings.

Can I use this for contact drills?

We sell it as a training and display staff for solo forms and handling. It is solid ash and it will take incidental contact, but we do not sell it for full contact partner work.

Will the ferrules mark my floor?

Polished steel on a hard floor can leave a grey mark. If you practise indoors on wood or tile, a strip of felt or tape over the ferrules solves it entirely.

Can I have my name burned into it?

Yes. Choose the engraving option and give us the text. Your line replaces the knot roundel rather than sitting beside it.

How do I stop it warping?

Store it flat or hanging, not leaning in a corner, and keep it away from direct heat. Re oil it once a year. Ash treated that way stays true for decades.

Does the canvas sleeve close?

It is an open ended sleeve that protects the shaft in transit and storage rather than a fitted bag with a zip and a strap.

What is in the box

• Ashenstride white ash staff, 50 inches, oiled finish
• Canvas carry sleeve
• Care card covering oiling, storage and re whipping the cord
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the build and the fittings
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Browse the Norse arms, the axe handles and hafts, the accessories, and the guides.

Close to this one

For a straight comparison, see the Longstave accessory. Worth putting side by side with this is the Chainoak accessory. In the same category sits the Fletchbane accessory, pattern welded Damascus.

From the same corner of the shop, there is the Kingsflight Viking game. Nothing here exactly right, build one to your own spec on the design your own page.