A homeless chef armed himself with wooden fence pole after a drunken confrontation in a Devon town centre.
Thomas Turner was sleeping rough after losing both his job and his tied housing and had been on a drinking binge before the incident in Bideford in October 2014.
He started drinking while watching a football game in a pub and had downed six or seven pints of cider before closing time.
He picked up the fence post to protect himself after clashing with a group of men in Mill Street in the early hours.
Turner, aged 22, of no fixed address, admitted having an offensive weapon and was ordered to do 120 hours unpaid community work and pay £420 costs by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court.
He told him: "This was a completely stupid act committed after you had been drinking cider and when you were apparently followed by other men you picked up a fence post with nails at either end.
"It was good fortune that the police turned up when they did. One does not know what you might have done if matters had developed.
"You dropped the fence post and did not seek to threaten anyone with it. It was crass stupidity to pick it up but you did put it down again."
Miss Beth Heaton, prosecuting, said police were called to Mill Street in Bideford when Turner was seen with the piece of wood after a confrontation with a group of men which started when a window was broken.
He told officers he had drunk six or seven pints in a pub while watching football and had another can from his rucksack after leaving it.
He said he had picked up the fence post to protect himself because he felt threatened.
Mr Richard Crabb, defending, said the case would have been dealt with by magistrates if Turner had not also been charged with a drugs offence which has now been dropped.
He said at the time he was at a low point after losing his job as a chef and the accommodation which went with it, but is now starting anew career as a floor layer.
