What's the Best Escrima for You?

So you've fallen in love with escrima sticks, but maybe you aren't sure which material and type you're most compatible with. Well, don't worry, KarateMart has you covered. Come with us on a journey of escrima stick discovery.

If you're completely new to escrima sticks, it might be best to start with something soft and forgiving. Like a stern mother, the Blue Foam Padded Escrima Stick will hit you, but it won't leave any marks and it's for your own good, anyway, as you get to learn proper form without the all the pain.

While most escrima sticks are about an inch in diameter, these foam padded kali sticks are more like 1.25 inches, due to the thick foam padding over a plastic core that stays firm, even while the padding is pliable. You get your choice of color with these soft escrima sticks. In addition to the blue one, there are also black and red escrima sticks with foam padding.

When you've practiced enough that you can feel confident in your ability to thwack without dealing out accidental concussions, you can move onto more traditional materials...


Rattan is by far the most commonly used material for escrima sticks. It looks like bamboo but has a solid interior. Rattan is flexible, disinclined to splintering, and very strong. As a natural material, there is some variation in size and weight to rattan weapons, but the rattan escrima sticks on average weigh around five ounces. That's pretty light.

When rattan escrima sticks have their outer bark removed, such as the Skinless Rattan Escrima, the feel is smoother and more standardized. Meanwhile, the Unpeeled Rattan Escrima still has its skin, making it a little bit stronger. We also have rattan weapons with burn markings like the Burned Rattan Escrima, which looks fancier but acts very similar to the unpeeled rattan weapons because the burning is light and doesn't damage the rattan.


Wooden escrima sticks aren't as traditional, but they tend to be designed with a nice look. Both the Solid Oak Escrima (made out of solid oak) and the Black Hardwood Escrima (made out of some sort of hardwood and painted black) have little notches to inform and improve your grip.

Wood can be a little heavier than rattan, but it's still pretty lightweight. But perhaps you would like something virtually indestructible...


As we've covered in a previous blog post, Polypropylene, also called poly-fiber, is nearly indestructible. The heavy-duty Indestructible Plastic Kali Stick is a little longer than your typical escrima, but has the segmented rattan design to give you a classic feel.

Similarly indestructible is the Polypropylene Training Escrima, which has a notched handle and even a wrist cord. Of course, with such profoundly modern materials science at work in creating these weapons, we thought we might create some of our own indestructible arnis sticks...


That's right. LED! We actually have two LED escrimas, which are similar, but have important differences. Our standard High-Impact LED Escrima is made from a single polycarbonate tube while the Deluxe LED Escrima is made with a combination of polycarbonate and machined aluminum. The Deluxe light-up escrima (much like the other deluxe LED weapons) is thinner with a seamless design. Both types look pretty awesome, but we think the deluxe ones look even nicer.

Both LED escrima sticks have six color options and are virtually indestructible (don't let the naming scheme fool you, our deluxe LED weapons are also "high impact"). They shine for hours and hours (and take just a handful of AAA batteries that are easy to replace).

But durable polycarbonate kali sticks aren't the only things coming out of our ninja forges...


We have gone on in the past about the benefits of our metal weapons, namely that they are durable and their extra weight gives you extra power and speed. The Solid Hexagon Escrima is a good example of this. The hexagon escrima weighs 21 ounces, which is like a pound and a half. The hexagonal design and rubberized grip also helps with making sure the weapon doesn't slip out of your hand and into your neighbor's yard.

Meanwhile, the High-Strength Aluminum Escrima Stick weighs a little bit less, since it's not solid, but still provides an unbeatable grip and takes a great deal of abuse.

This is not to mention our many other metal escrimas and even the 3-Piece Aluminum Escrima Staff that transforms from a bo staff to a pair of metal escrima sticks.

And that's escrima sticks in a nutshell. Be sure to check out our video below, where Corbin the Formal Ninja and Products Guy Ian talk about this same topic.




What was your journey of discovery with escrima sticks like? Comment Below!

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