Depend..... if you want to break there arms and legs without it breaking I'd recommend oak. :shock: Alternatively, if you want it to snap before it inflicts kidney-stopping grade injuries perhaps pine would be suitable.
What exactly do you do with these poles anyway?
Adam
I hooked this off the internet, sounds like oak is the best for "combat use"
Wood Descriptions from top to bottom:
1. Pure Hickory Heart: A naturally occurring dark pigmentation of the hickory tree that comes from the center, or "heart" of the tree. The color can range from a dark honey to a rich mahogany.
2. Hickory w/ Heart Wood: As the term would suggest, this is a combination of the light hickory and heartwood. Mother Nature does a magnificent job of mixing the colors.
3. Hickory: This is one of our "standard" woods. It is a fine-grained, dense American hard wood, typically "bone" in color with occasional streaks of "heart" wood.
4. Oak: We use "white" oak, which is usually a dark khaki in color after it is soaked in mineral oil. The grain is more pronounced and open than hickory, but we would rate them both as our strongest woods.
5. Ash: Again, a more open grain wood than hickory, with some of the characteristic "look" of oak. Ash tends to have a slight yellow tint in some pieces, and is somewhat lighter in weight than either oak or hickory.
6. Walnut: A very lightweight chocolate colored wood, that can have some lighter colored streaks running up and down the grain. It is NOT what we would consider a "combat grade" wood, but works quite well in tournament canes, as it's lighter weight facilitates quicker spins and twirls.
7. Cherry: Our lightest and softest wood, cherry has an interesting grain that contains some interesting swirls of orange, not unlike a lighter colored hickory heart wood. Once again, we do not consider cherry to be a true "combat grade" material!