My comments relate to secondary school canings, Male/male, applied to the clothed buttocks only, back in a time when corporal punishment of boys was accepted as the norm.
Doubtless, practices varied from community to community and over time. Even within a school, there was likely to be quite a difference between different masters using the cane and between different boys receiving it. The most skilled and resolute master may have caned a great deal harder and more effectively than the least proficient reluctant caner. The canes used may have also varied within a school. They certainly varied between schools and over time.