The dichotomy of weapon training 

You don't know if a technique works until it's pressure tested. I couldn't agree more!

This is a really well balanced approach to the issue. Sparring (whether it's stick, Taekwondo, fencing etc) gives some bad habits and in some respects creates a comfort zone (people get used to the safety of a mask for example and might not have a healthy fear of having their eye skewered) but sparring is still better than not sparring. If nothing else it gives you a non-compliant opponent and one who is trying to hit you and trying to not get hit while you are trying to do the same. You've done a good job of expressing a nuanced view. Now because I have said "sparring gives some bad habits" some people will inevitably jump on this and say "he think sparring bad, he no think sparring good". To reiterate, I think sparring is better than not sparring. The trick is to not make this binary and to utilise sparring alongside other types of drills or exercise.

Thanks Nathan, great video.

Very good video and analysis. Personally, I think it's a "both/and" scenario; there should be training with full sparring, with imitation weapons (which should resemble the real ones to a degree), and there should be training with real weapons in scenarios that give the user a sense of and familiarity with the weapon's ability and feel. You will fight the way you train, and doing both forms of training will (hopefully) get you to integrate those training applications should you ever need to use them. We have this in my Wing Chun training. We do chi sau sparring and reaction exchanges in which we use empty hand techniques to hit each other with modest-powered techniques. But there are other techniques which are VERY dangerous, like eye gouges, throat strikes, and kicks intended to damage opponent's legs. These are used in either controlled exchange drills, or executed full power on a dummy. Ideally, we have safety in sparring matches, but the additional full power training with the more dangerous techniques will serve us should we ever need to use them. Keep up the videos!

What if I am only interested in conditioning by myself and understanding the art?

Its not likely that any of us ever being involved in a fight with swords or axes, and so our training is not the matter of life and death it once was. Sparring is both enjoyable and necessary as it teaches timing and distance, and we become used to what happens when we get hit. Is it realistic? Dan Inosanto emphasised training in an environment that includes doorways, stairs and so on, and poses questions such as what will you do if you find yourself fighting on ice. I seem to recall as c a child being told a story of an Irish champion being challenged to a duel and choosing to fight it the water of a ford.

Is a proper medical walking stick with the hook handle the only type of walking stick legal to carry in Ireland ?