An essential bit of kit if yer out and about on unsteady ground,dont know if theres much tradition of stick making in the states but its a fairly common thing here still,its one of our oldest common law rights is to cut a stick not thicker than yer thumb. Over the Christmas period i managed to lose my stick whilst out and about one evening....but thats another story! so there i am with out a stick and given that i was waiting in all day for a theraband order that didnt arrive i thought ide make my new stick. lurking by the fire side was a nice hazel stick i cut back in October from a local hedgerow,not overly straight,but then i dont like ultra straight stix ,for the collar i used a piece of scrap dimondwood from a catty i made and the stick top was an Exmoor deer crown from a 8 point stag i bagged a couple of years back. The stick,collar and top were duly drilled with my trusty stanly hand drill,then a section of threaded bar inserted and glued together with epoxy resin.Cup of sweet tea and a bacon butty later and it was good and solid ready for shaping ,and polishing with 0000 wire wool,job done. So many times i have set a coin in the crown of the antler,this time i thought ide do some carving,after looking in some books i fancied a go at a Tudor rose,this proved a tall order! so first thing this morn i started carving with the dremmel and an ultra fine routing burr having first drawn it out with a pencil,the job started ok but mid way i was very unhappy,and having spent 3 hours on it was a bit disappointed,time for lunch! Once the pheasant pasty was washed down with a pint of cider i set back to the carving,the cider had had the desired effect and things started going better,after a bit of buggerin about i darkened around the rose with wood dye and bobs yer muvvers bruvva! thanks for looking.
heheheh. Muvver's bruvver IS yer uncle. Lovin' the translations, got most of it from some Aussies when I was working in Asia. How long is the stick? Here abouts, a hiking stick would be on the order of 6 of the King's footsies (for the down hill parts of the trail.) Nice bit with the Dremel, too. Takes more patience than I would have.
Ah. The helps a lot. The head put me in mind of a cane rather than a stick. I can see some use for the spike.
thanks for the encouraging words chaps,a good stick is usefull to infirm ,old and healthy alike,it can fend off an attacker,carry a load,test the depth of a stream,kill game,and with the tine on can pull fruit down to easy reach!
Now you have to do a video of your best Gandalf impersonation. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Come on. You know you want to.
Very nice work! I have gotten a couple good sticks, but much more simple. No fancy carving - don't 'need' one yet, but I am looking towards my 'senior years'...... and they ain't that far off.
Wow that is nice... I've collected some hophornbeam and yew for walking sticks and staffs... what an inspiration... although your creativity and craftsmanship is just awesome!
i need one of these to replace my cane... but then i wonder if the TSA would let me carry it on an aircraft...
