my mom had to go get her own switch when she was a little girl. that was in illinois in the 1930s. i'm surprised at how many here have said they had to do the same thing.
none of the kids i grew up with used a switch. it was always a paddle or, more often than not, just a spanking with the hand. my parents usually just used their hand with me, though i think my dad would sometimes use a wooden spoon.
at school we used to get spanked with a wooden paddle. in first grade, though, my principal had a leather razor strap, and i got spanked with that once. Only once.