Fighting Irons

Queequeg · 23rd August 2008, 02:14 PM

I just finished reading Tai Pan, by James Clavell, and in it he describes several characters as using a weapon known as "fighting irons".

Unfortunately, he doesn't describe them very well, and a google search isn't revealing much.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...y&start=0&sa=N

I had to filter out the words "shirt", "tshirt", "dodger", "fork", and "Jeremy", which gave me only 200 hits, including 2 websites about weapons laws in Hong Kong which say that "fighting irons" are illegal.

Does anyone know what these weapons are?

I don't think they're either the 7 or 9 section whip chains, by the way. What little description Clavell does give suggests that they're heavier and have less sections. Also, he has European characters using them, and I doubt any 19th century Englishmen studied wushu.

23rd August 2008, 02:14 PM	#1
Queequeg Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Detroit (New Mayapan) Posts: 96	Fighting Irons I just finished reading Tai Pan, by James Clavell, and in it he describes several characters as using a weapon known as "fighting irons". Unfortunately, he doesn't describe them very well, and a google search isn't revealing much. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...y&start=0&sa=N I had to filter out the words "shirt", "tshirt", "dodger", "fork", and "Jeremy", which gave me only 200 hits, including 2 websites about weapons laws in Hong Kong which say that "fighting irons" are illegal. Does anyone know what these weapons are? I don't think they're either the 7 or 9 section whip chains, by the way. What little description Clavell does give suggests that they're heavier and have less sections. Also, he has European characters using them, and I doubt any 19th century Englishmen studied wushu.