The Venerable Ball-head Warclub

[@420JackG]

I'm glad I found this channel. This is good work, adding the context of trained motion relating to martial skill gleaned from other more mundane essential tasks and chores.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@420JackG thanks 👍👍 I look at things holistically

[@thestoicjourney3355]

Hey brother, i love battle related history, as much as agriculture, and cultural beliefs. It warms my heart to see people do what they love, please keep it up!

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@thestoicjourney3355 thank you🙏 I will keep going

[@thestoicjourney3355]

@@the.wandering.warrior Merry Merry btw

[@Niklaialeksahkin]

My ancestors, the Oneida (Iroquois Confederacy) and the Absentee Shawnee have used these. Thank you for making this video about much overlooked military history.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@Niklaialeksahkin and thank you for watching 🙏

[@mattnobrega6621]

The ball head warclub could also be used in the same way as the gunstock warclub(my favorite) by using the back edge/spine of the ball head warclub in a blunt strike edge then when coming back, spinning it around to come back down with the ball head for a killing blow. You could also hook the leg to take down the opponent and finish then on the ground with a deadly downward blow to the face while they are on their back. There are so many applications. With the mind as your weapon, your tool has endless uses. Thank you for covering the ball head warclub

[@thelostcosmonaut5555]

Your "three pronged approach" is known as a holistic approach in anthropology. Nice video, my man!

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@thelostcosmonaut5555 thanks!

[@greywendigo7026]

Mikmaq here, we were known and recognized to be extremely proficient with tomahawk and war clubs against the British during 1600 and 1700s. We sunk a considerable amount of naval ships and schooners around nova scotia. Also had defeated many mowhawks and rangers hired by the British and eventually forcing general Cornwallis to resign from office In Halifax.

[@jonathanschadenfreude9603]

we? Seeing the generations below us i can assure you that those of us whom are children of the mi'kmaqi are NOTHING like our elders who had to deal with the "this is mine now" crowd who wore white wigs and came with a cross! Really screws with ignorant people seeing natives with white features too lol

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@greywendigo7026 hell yeah, I've read about that 👍

[@shadowphoenix8962]

You have some good moves. Not easy to control a front weighted weapon.

[@shadowphoenix8962]

Espada e dagga,I've trained that with tomahawk and knife.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@shadowphoenix8962 similar principles yet different in the details 😁👍

[@deanwebster7332]

Excellent video! I live near Richmond Va,and the fighting skills of the Native tribes are still well remembered!❤

[@MichaelBlackburn-n1y]

You are contributing in many ways thank you

[@flhxri]

The Abenaki kidnapped several of my great grandmothers and a great grandfather. They were sold them to the French. They were ransomed but chose to stay in Quebec.

[@stevekirkman7687]

Made myself a version of the ball club from a walnut tree on my property. I've marked it with a bear paw as the bear is my totem spirit for it's strength. Making things from the earth around me gives me a connection to it.

[@digimonsho0123]

Loving the historical part. Thank you

[@nazarnovitsky9868]

Thanks for this video ! 😊

[@ejdrexmann]

Awesome video. Love the multi-faceted approach. I'm subbed and look forward to more vids!

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@ejdrexmann 🙏

[@BladeFitAcademy]

Extremely interesting! Thank you for the presentation.

[@matthewlawrence7056]

So some thoughts mostly around some of the Afro-Caribbean arts along with little bits of tomahawk (and fokos): 1. At longer range, with body feints and redirections you can have a lot of variability. You can play with indirect paths especially with loose shoulders and hips. 2. Tactically you might also be able to chop which is part of the mid range options. Similar to swinging a hammer or repeating a chop of an axe you can deliver pretty impressive power without full swings (or at least my dad can, ehhh I don’t work quite the same because I work in an office not a trade with my hands). 3. At mid range and with grappling, you can utilize the crook to hook. Depending on the mix of weapons it’s a powerful option to either enable controlling positions or attacks with an offhand knife. Similarly with shields it can be useful to manipulate the shield. Cheers!

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@matthewlawrence7056 hey thanks for commenting, I agree with all the above, especially 1 and 3 I briefly alluded to but will make another vid on... but I'll reply to 2 by saying you definitely can chop at mid range rather than swing all the way through but I think that is less of a general "strategic doctrine" and more of a countermeasure. I'd argue it's an important option but not the inherent "strategic doctrine" to fight in mid range ..I say this cause, I think generally with clubs if you can strike down the opponent at your longest range with your maximum power and with minimal defensive movement but setting it up smartly with tricks and positioning (or sneak up on them) it would be more ideal so it'd be the strategy you'd pursue if possible because it preserves max lethality

[@matthewlawrence7056]

@ makes sense, looking forward the next video. And that makes sense as far as strategic doctrine. Cheers!

[@loupfeu]

I hope you fine. For the Mohawks' Native store(Wolf's Den) in Kahnawake in Quebec province in Canada, I've made 37 of these balled war club with their 3 clan styles; turtle, bear & wolf. I guess most were sold to the Warriors. If one wants to break fast a sphere(skull) using a smaller sphere is such a great idea & it won't get stuck in the skull= no waste of time or time of being vulnerable. Bang ! Next & goodbye ! The Iroquois really knew what they were doing with this concept. :)

[@ibaryabaq9197]

The herdsman in east africa also use those...I tried to bring on back on the plane and they called it a "bong/bang"...probably the same onomatopoeia that the Natives in America were employing.

[@slappy8941]

The herdsman? There's only _one_ herdsman in East Africa? 😮

[@the.wandering.warrior]

Yeah man those clubs are really really cool, glad you got to play with those!

[@the.wandering.warrior]

Hey you really don't need to go around policing people's spelling and grammar it's okay - there's better things to do

[@Imanifesto]

@@slappy8941herdsmen, for the typo police 👮

[@corychartier7961]

Nice approach to the weapon and the history

[@whowhatwhenwhyhow9265]

Excellent video presentation , demonstration and in depth analysis of how to use the tomahawk. Thank you.

[@malcolmrobinson4652]

Top quality presentation of weapon explanation, demonstration and history.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

I appreciate it 👍 please share with friends you think would like this

[@johnnyhighwoods1780]

Really informative video. The War Club you have is just beautiful! Please make mire videos on this and hiw weapons were made. I live at the base of the Catskill mtn where there is a stone burial pile and stone teail markers that were light dated 1350-1500 AD. The Ramapo peoples cane here a few year's ago and confirmed the stones to be a burial. They also were here for the Solstice and made a ceramonial fire to pay tribute .

[@slappy8941]

Bruh, put your glasses on when you type, and remember that apostrophes don't make words plural.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

Thanks I appreciate the kind words, I'll keep making this kind of content 👍 please share with anyone you know who'd be interested

[@the.wandering.warrior]

By the way - living at the base of the Catskills? Sounds beautiful

[@johnnyhighwoods1780]

@slappy8941 your right, l didn't have my glasses on. I am an older guy who is loosing my sight .

[@johnnyhighwoods1780]

@the.wandering.warrior I'm at the base of Overlook mtn in the Catskill mtn range. I feel this mtn was of great importance to not just the Lenape people but even the Mahican from western Mass and other tribes to the east that can see this mtn. There is a distinct rock face that can be seen from many miles away(40) maybe more. I remember it being called "The great Wall of Manatou" . Lenape had lived here on what is my farm and a mile east of me you can still see the foot print of 3 long houses. My friends elder told him that an old woman saw those long houses when she was a girl of 12 back in the 1800s. Wi Ni shi

[@phillipmargrave]

Keeping the war club “loaded” is similar to the Scandinavian hand axe style “always in motion.” Any weapon with the weight out front, let inertia do the majority of the work and redirect as needed. I really liked your example of a possible grapple and cross strike. Perhaps as similar to the axe, a wide side swing and sharp inward redirection to strike the back of the neck, or catch the shoulder and pull opponent off balance?

[@the.wandering.warrior]

Yes there going to be similar principles for sure. What you describe is definitely feasible. I think any club or hatchet type weapon you're going to prioritize an efficient well set up long range swing and hit if possible where hooking, grappling and so on is a plan B... then there's always throwing the weapon too.

[@BryanKoenig379]

Amazing info man thank you

[@BraedenGrimsrud]

great channel, thanks for showcasing lesser known or talked about weapons

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@BraedenGrimsrud absolutely - niche folk martial arts and weapons are my thing, thanks for watching and please share this video!

[@BraedenGrimsrud]

@@the.wandering.warrior thanks for the reply I forgot to subscribe. will do

[@Khankhankhan420]

Please make a video about the sword club I’ve never heard of it. I’m of native decent and this is very interesting.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@Khankhankhan420 👍good request, I'm planning to but it might take a little while. In the meantime I've got a lot of folk martial arts videos of you're interested.

[@BenjaandAwe]

Great video. You remind me of myself. I actually make native American war clubs too but I specialize in southeastern styles.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

That's awesome! Do you have a photo gallery, website or social media page? I'd love to see your works.

[@RS-xq6je]

Very nice enjoyed that

[@harsharya08]

Excellent video, surprised by how much your video made me interested in the topic. +1 sub

[@the.wandering.warrior]

🙏

[@michael3088]

The root ball is what majority of clubs of most world cultures used to fashion their weapons from(depending on the style of club of course)

[@MichaelBlackburn-n1y]

And I would like to say that I really appreciate if you could put more videos up weapons of war but also on cultural ways of living you know like building shelters in organized how they organize themselves as a group and as well as their techniques of making different clothing and things of this nature but I really appreciate this

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@MichaelBlackburn-n1y hey Michael I appreciate that, I don't know how much of the cultural and crafting aspects I will get into, but if given the opportunity I will definitely put up some stuff - my channel is more focused on martial arts and its context and culture and less on the culture overall but I also don't want to ignore that stuff

[@jeancena3556]

I remember they tested this thang on zombie go boom. Very underrated weapon

[@MichaelBlackburn-n1y]

I really like your KZbin video appreciate the knowledge of the weapon known as a war club and the other knowledge you gave about the little war game and the New England they had a wrestling match like in the history of the design on the war club for each individual I'm a particular family or tribe and how the tattoos related to that that were used

[@spacewolf9585]

Well thought out and presented, looking forward to watching more of your videos now, after I hit the like and subscribe buttons!👍🤙🖖

[@jasonashley4579]

Always wanted one of those, my barong is gonna have to do for now.

[@M60gunner1971]

I have the cold steel model. Potent weapon indeed.

[@НиколайЛамберт]

I wonder how they made such clubs without metal tools, must be a complex process. Even with the metal tools it seems like a thing made by a really skilled woodworker.

[@V3ND10L4]

Thank you for your analysis and embracing different cultures! 👊🏾🙂🙏🏾❤️👍🏾

[@V3ND10L4]

Also, what type of wood is the war club made out of?

[@Treblaine]

It's obvious that in movies they're swinging around very light safety props, the real deal isn't so fast to swing around.

[@KingPhilipsRideshare]

It looks like you are at Mt. Hope… rest in peace to the mighty sachem Metacomet.

[@davidsummerville351]

How is the ball attached?

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@davidsummerville351 it's all one piece of wood, made from the base of the tree by the roots

[@DoctorKwack]

Great video, I'm interested in learning more about wooden throwing clubs and sticks from around the world right now. I'm curious how much were clubs like this thrown? and how far and how accurate? Very interesting topic.

[@nihongochopsocky808]

Love this content! What your martial arts background? Keep it up!🙏

[@FightsMicsNMedia]

Yes. We called it Bear Wrestling in the Eastern Woodlands; although we all had different languages &/or dialects for it and some had different names all together, but most of us called it Bear Wrestling. By the way, we were not primitive people and rarely did ANYBODY in the Eastern Woodlands walk around bare foot. We literally created the concept of most boots you see today with hard soles. We had leather sole, rubber sole and fur sole knee high boot & low moccasins. The vegetation in the Eastern Woodlands would cut your feet to shreds.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

I didn't say primitive My impression is that with moccasins it's often good to take them off in marshy ground so they don't get soaked The benefit of the minimal sole footwear is healthy and strong feet and being very fascia connected - which is important in athleticism

[@FightsMicsNMedia]

@the.wandering.warrior I could care less. Just telling you the facts.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@FightsMicsNMedia you cared enough to write so I'm writing in reply 👍 so thanks

[@FightsMicsNMedia]

@@the.wandering.warrior I'm talking about what you're saying. LOL! I'm always going to care what people say about my people. This's our home. We're not the visitors.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@FightsMicsNMedia I get that. Also never called your people primitive. Mr "I could care less" had smart ancestors who knew when to wear shoes and when not to and were athletic, all good things👍

[@JerseyRichard]

Sokka fans rejoice!

[@michaelnewswanger2409]

Did the natives use shields? If so the use of the weapon will change slightly, the shield would probably initiate contact on the enemy and parry strikes. Given the design of the club I could see hooking and pulling against a shield as well.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

Some did although it doesn't seem like they all did. In a war party generally not every Warrior would have a shield, nor armor, but they did have wooden and hide armor and shields on the eve of European contact which were quickly abandoned once they learned about firearms and started using them

[@michaelnewswanger2409]

@@the.wandering.warrior I would expect that most records we have are after European contact. Pre contact would likely have more shields and armor given the prominent description of shields and armor by Spanish explorers. The population of the tribes were already in collapse by the time the English arrived. It's likely that the culture of the tribes was changed by the time the English were writing.

[@capuchinhelper]

"Deathe hammer" goes hard

[@the.wandering.warrior]

Hell yea

[@loganater45]

As one martial artist to another it is immediately obvious humans were built to strike with almost any tool over your bare hand. Even a small knife makes a human being so much more dangerous.

[@peter4Flags]

Hi , How did the ball get fixed to the war club? Or is it all one piece? Thank you for your vid enjoyed it. 🙏

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@peter4Flags great question it is all one piece carved from one piece of wood near the roots

[@stephengarrett8076]

Great vid 👍thanks for sharing 👍👍👍🇬🇧

[@Talon-4kg]

SOKKA!

[@bellakaldera3305]

What kind of wood is it made from?

[@gj1234567899999]

I was curious why this design. Why not just use the tomahawk axe instead of this? My ideas: 1) before natives generally speaking had just access to stone and not metal. A bladed stone axe while being able to cut would be brittle. The stone blade head might shatter, or fracture off when parried or blocked. However this does not explain why they still used this type of weapon was still made after metal blades became common after contact with European trade. Or perhaps metal weapons were still relatively rare and people had this as a “backup”. 2) this was a weapon not intended for killing as the foremost option. Just like today, people carry around batons, blackjacks, or brass nuckles instead of a knife for several reasons. There’s a huge difference in wacking a mugger in his hand and having him yell and slink away, and using a knife and potentially having to stab him to death and deal with cops and legal system. Perhaps something similar was at play with natives. Perhaps this was self defense tool where you could defend yourself. Similarly it’s one thing breaking the arm of the guy from the next village and another thing to kill him. You don’t want to trigger “war”. Speaking of war, there’s more than just war, there is simple banditry and raiding that may have been not too dissimilar than people getting mugged today. Very violent, but not war. Another purpose of this in war could have been to merely subdue an opponent for capture to make him a slave or hostage rather than kill him. With a metal tomahawk you can’t just use it to beat someone into compliance, you would kill him. This club gives you that option which may have been relevant in their warfare: taking captives and slaves rather than killing.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@gj1234567899999 this is a good assessment, I was thinking of talking about this as well. I think for the stone axes the celt is a time consuming ax head to make so risking damaging it in war isn't ideal. It IS good for both killing and captive taking I agree with that. I think in addition to retaining cultural importance and being a backup weapon for when a metal bladed tomahawk was not available or favorable, most Ball-head Warclubs also have little chance of getting stuck in an enemy skull, so that could be one perk

[@annoyed707]

When they catch and hold the club, it is still a lever and they just connected to it.

[@slappy8941]

You mean they _are_ just connected to it. Learn English.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

That's true but in the moment that you are swinging if they just happen to catch it early and intercept your movement they have a temporary advantage

[@TheSilence1]

You should consider a fourth swing. The first part of this swing blocks an attack to the left side of your head (which is to be expected because most people are right handed) and the second part of the swing launches a counter attack to the left side of your opponent's head. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3LKo6SDZdmWfJo

[@bearpaw5675]

Dang, Sokka is a KZbinr now. Go team Avatar!

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@bearpaw5675 he was one of my favorite characters

[@DarkReverand666]

15:10 looks like you conjured some ancient tribal ancestors doing your act lmao they walking behind you 😂

[@the.wandering.warrior]

😲🙄😁

[@sachawilliams7731]

Didn't some tribes use shields? Would be a complete game changer

[@MrPotatoesLatkie]

I saw a video about the woodland style of warfare at the beginning of the encounter with the French and British. They fought in large groups, and wore wooden armor and shields! When they discovered that the danger of muskets, the tribes apparently dropped with armor, and changed their fighting style to more open formations and ambush.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@sachawilliams7731 yes! But when the musket came along, things changed big time. Still even on the arrow and armor era, hunting and ambushing enemies was still preferable to open battle and sieges

[@Zane-It]

Ive see one shaped like a hand holding a stone

[@the.wandering.warrior]

I've seen that too, and others with an animal with the ball in it's mouth, really cool artistry

[@veldrensavoth7119]

*SOKKA*

[@unclejohnbulleit2671]

My ancestors (Cherokee and Powhattan) would have carried these clubs to war.

[@andrewsmith9174]

I would not parallel native wrestling to free style Greco Roman styles. I would more assume a similarity to Senegalese wrestling, or Mongolian wrestling.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@andrewsmith9174 awesome can you show me some examples?

[@andrewsmith9174]

@, it was the illustration that you showed in this video that made me think of that style of wrestling. Senegalese wrestling is interesting as it’s a “stand up” style with some blows also being used. Greco Roman wrestling is too formal (for lack of a better term). Do a KZbin search for it. I studied Anthropology years ago in university and one of my professors was an expert in Connecticut tribes (Dr Kenneth Feder). I like your information and the simple way of presenting it.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@andrewsmith9174 thanks Andrew, I've seen a little bit of senegalese wrestling but I'll watch a little more 👍👍 And yeah I see what you mean, I didn't necessarily mean freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling as far as the formality and coaching and infrastructure but more so that there might have been a similarity in certain emphasized techniques, especially if they were not utilizing a jacket like in Judo or Shuaijiao, kures or mongol Bökh

[@NyxtoX6]

I prefer a Shillelagh. I sub tho.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@NyxtoX6 good

[@jeffzeiler346]

Little mention of shields, which would have been a commonplace against weapons other than firearms - arrows, spears, knives, trade hatchets/tomahawks, clubs. And a club etc, would have been little use against firearms anyway. Whole lotta missing elements to this discussion.

[@the.wandering.warrior]

@@jeffzeiler346 😂 thank you for watching, and if you made it to the end of the video you'd noticed that there's a video with a little bit more of the context. By the time of European contact and shortly thereafter shield use mostly disappeared in the Eastern Woodlands while the use of War clubs and tomahawks continued, and archery as well but firearms increasingly more prevalent

[@letsdothis9063]

​@@the.wandering.warrior yup. My Choctaw ancestor was still running around with clubs I'm his teens (late 1700s-early 1800s). Firearms were definitely around, but probably rare, even for someone of his status (his dad was chief of the Okla Tennap, and he would later become chief himself). He did use firearms in several battles, including his role in the Battle of New Orleans. But,he always kept a club or hatchet handy.. No mention in the sources of him having ever even seen a shield.

[@thatonecousin]

Tomahawks are more like little axes

[@michael3088]

It should be noted that the metal axes they used are actually boarding-axes which they got from trading with the British and the French used for ship to ship fighting and ship maintenance. True first nations tomahawks are made of stone. I see alot of Americans misnaming the European style baordingaxes as tomahawks which isn't technically accurate even though First Natuons peoples adopted them as such

[@GT-eo2to]

This is what the Irish took for themselves and called it 'Hurling'.