A while back, I saw something I've never seen before: my teacher was demonstrating a sayaw (form) and there's a move where you hit the ground with your stick, and his stick broke in half, right along one of the nodes. Has anyone else seen this? Is it more common than I think?
The conventional wisdom is that rattan sticks are better for training because they don't break as dangerously as other sticks, which is something I've seen happen. Rattan generally deteriorates into a more fiberous form, like a bound-together broom, so it doesn't end up with sharp edges and/or splinters. But seeing that one crack like that got me wondering how often that stuff happens.
I believe it was a fairly old olisi he was using. He's an old guy and doesn't exactly go through a lot of sticks doing power drills these days, so who knows how long he's been using the same one.