Bob wrote:At the beginning when you learn a 3 sectional staff and/or chain whip wear a football helmet - you'll avoid some of the self inflicted mishaps
Nah, just take the pain-- that's how you learn to move out of the way!
Since I had some friends that were interested in learning, what I ended up doing was making a couple out of dowels, chain, and eye screws from the local hardware store. The end dowels were slightly smaller diameter and I glued pipe insulation on them to make them padded. Obviously not suitable for contact, but good for learning the basic spins. I think some of the wushu guys use ones made from bamboo or rattan, which would hurt quite a bit less than the hardwood ones I learned on.