One of those polarizing debates within the martial arts community revolves around the question of training with sticks to learn knife and sword work.  Can one "train the stick to learn the blade?"  Proponents of this idea like the low cost and forgiving nature of sticks, as well as the benefits of training the basics of multiple tools through one set of implements.  Critics assert that a stick is not a blade, does not handle in the same way, and is not necessarily used identically.

Let's take two roughly analogous weapons:  the rattan stick and the machete (or a similarly sized cut-and-thrust sword).  Training with sticks has obvious advantages over training with machetes.  The sticks cost less, are easily replaced, and present less potential for injury.

Depending on to whom you speak, stick arts (Escrima, Arnis, whatever you want to call them) are derived from blade arts driven underground by persecuting conquerors.  I am being deliberately vague because no two accounts I've read (and no two sets of FMA argot) seem to agree completely.  Regardless, it's true that you can do things with a stick that you cannot do with a blade.  Disarms that involve grabbing the "blade end" of the stick or snaking in and around its length are good examples.  It is theorized that as the blade arts were practiced with sticks, they evolved and were tailored to the specific nature of the cylindrical wooden weapons.

The way we hit with sticks and the way we strike with blades is intuitively different.  We tend, at least initially, to use more of a drawing, slicing motion with a machete than we do with a stick.  We hammer or whack with the stick, cognizant of its blunt profile.  The weapons also weigh differently, meaning they handle and move with substantive differences.

Critics of the "stick to blade" training theory will also point to edge orientation or the lack thereof.  Picture, for example, the Kendo shinai.  Students practicing sword techniques with this flexible and cylindrical training "sword" may develop bad habits, flailing away to smack their opponents with no real concept of their "sword's" cutting edge.  The same problem can develop when using sticks to learn fighting with machetes or short swords.

While there's no denying these problems and differences exist, they can be overcome through intent and through diligent training focused on that intent.  By remaining aware of the potential pitfalls, students of the stick can make the transition to the blade – and do so with confidence in their methods.

Before practicing any technique, the students must ask themselves:  "Can I use this technique with a blade and do so safely?  If they believe they can, they should test the technique carefully and under proper supervision.  If they cannot, their training should be biased against that particular technique or theory.  Sifu Eric Winfree's Kali students, for example, regularly train with sticks and blades, applying their stick training to machetes as shown here.

Diligent practice can retrain the way we strike with sticks, replacing one's intuitive hammering impulses with more goal-oriented technique.  A powerful hacking, slashing motion is extremely effective with a rattan stick, imparting both snap and power.  This becomes devastating when the same technique is used with an edged weapon.  With proper snap in one's technique, even a foam training weapon can become quite powerful.  Sifu Anthony Iglesias, armed with a foam "stick," once performed a witik – a whipping wrist motion – to strike my weapon hand.  He left a bruise.  Picture doing that with wood and, better yet, with a machete.  The machete would not move as quickly, but it would move quickly enough and do much worse damage.

Differences in weight do make a difference in the handling of weapons, but you must always take this into account whenever taking up any implement.  I have thick hardwood fighting sticks that are easily as heavy as a light machete. They handle differently than my rattan training sticks.  That's just how it is:  sticks of different materials and lengths weigh differently.  Knives and short swords weigh differently, too.  I don't believe any serious student thinks he or she can master the blade arts while never picking up a live weapon to do so.  Training the stick to train the blade trains the basics that these weapons platforms have in common.

Edge orientation can be trained with sticks.  Students learn to be conscious of a reference point on their hands:  the second knuckles of their fingers.  They practice knowing that if their knuckles are not properly oriented to the target, they are striking with the "flat" of the "blade," not the imagined edge.

There is no substitute for live blade cutting and practice to achieve true proficiency with an edged weapon.  Stick training, however, will go a very long way towards achieving that goal.  It will, in effect, truncate the learning curve for the blade.  Such training must be done with a keen awareness of the differences across weapons platforms, of course, and it must be done with an eye for identifying and eliminating bad habits.  Combined with judicious use of live weapons to complete the training, a "stick to blade" curriculum helps students learn to use both categories of weapons – and to use them well.

While I understand the points made by critics of this training theory, they must in turn understand that proponents of this idea do not present it as the only way to learn the use of edged weapons or to deploy those weapons in self-defense.  It is, however, one sensible way, because it capitalizes on training time and maximizes the utility of that time.  Learning one body of principles causes less confusion and makes teaching easier and more efficient.