Harvesting a walking stick with the cinci machax

Good vid tobiism. I might have ring the doorbell on a house in the neighborhood and ask if they mind if I chop their's down.

beckerbrain said:
Nice.

I made one a few years back out of a thick piece of bamboo, and coated it with some marine epoxy, it turned out awesome but I left it in GA when we moved. Got another in progress right now, I'll post some pics if anyone cares to see it.
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I'm interested. Bamboo is much more common around here.
 
Once they bloom, all growth is over. The bloom stalks will vary in diameter by species.

Sotol and agave stalks are much larger than yucca stalks.

Sotol stalks run about up to 16 ft long and are usually 1-1/8" to 1-1/4". (And make very good Southwest Native American pipes.)

Agave stalks can be up to 5" in diameter (Agave americana - century plants) at the base and as tall as 25 to 30 feet. Century plants only bloom 1x, near the end of their 10 to 30 year life span. Other species of agave bloom annually in the spring.

At least in Texas, the yucca flower stalks I am familiar with range in size from 3/8" to 1" and none of them make good walking sticks (too light and brittle when dry).
 
I found an old dried out Agave stalk on a hike and I can attest to their very little weight but sturdiness.

I feel silly but we had two of them from our agave out in our front yard and I cut them down and put them in with the bulk garbage... :grumpy:
 
tobiism said:
Living in Arizona we have a lot of Yucca and Aloe vera plants. The stalks that grow out of them make excellent walking sticks once they've dried out. Today as I was leaving a job I saw a very tall stalk that looked ripe for harvesting.
Short and boring, but it was a fun break from work.
[video=youtube;CWdM4klLhnI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWdM4klLhnI[/video]
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i like how you left a 1.5 foot long punji stick for some cyclist to fall upon when they are pushed off the road by some incident or other :D
 
Hey Tobe.....

That blade sure brings back memories for me!!!!.... Thanks for the post and the quite excellent vid...... They were not pretty but, they got the job done.......

Thanks again.....

Ethan
 
Bladite said:
i like how you left a 1.5 foot long punji stick for some cyclist to fall upon when they are pushed off the road by some incident or other :D
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Hahaha thats a good one. First theyd have to negotiate the two 10 feet tall saguaro that flank it on either side and at least the punji stick would put an end to the suffering provided by all the thorns on that plant!
 
DunkEm said:
Good vid tobiism. I might have ring the doorbell on a house in the neighborhood and ask if they mind if I chop their's down.



I'm interested. Bamboo is much more common around here.
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f8fxawE.jpg




Not trying to hijack the thread, sorry OP. Just responding.

I used a different epoxy for this one

I think I'd like the yucca staff better, or maybe cure/dry the bamboo for longer. The inner circular segments on the bamboo seem to deteriorate and break down. It still feels stiff, but a little hollow (bamboo duh) but I prefer more solid feeling walking sticks. I guess bamboo is strong enough, but my 1st one was a better width and felt more hefty. I'm thinking about wrapping it in 550.
 
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tobiism said:
Hahaha thats a good one. First theyd have to negotiate the two 10 feet tall saguaro that flank it on either side and at least the punji stick would put an end to the suffering provided by all the thorns on that plant!
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Not to mention that the agaves spines by themselves are extremely gnarly:

4478d1.jpg


You fall into one of those and you're having an extremely bad day/week/month...!

Landscaping in Arizona is a hazardous occupation.
 
orezona said:
Not to mention that the agaves spines by themselves are extremely gnarly:

4478d1.jpg


You fall into one of those and you're having an extremely bad day/week/month...!

Landscaping in Arizona is a hazardous occupation.
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absolutely! Never fails either when you bump into one you get stuck at least two more times just trying to get away from it!!
 
orezona said:
Not to mention that the agaves spines by themselves are extremely gnarly:

4478d1.jpg


You fall into one of those and you're having an extremely bad day/week/month...!

Landscaping in Arizona is a hazardous occupation.
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supposedly you can use that to stitch yourself back up... nature is cruel but kind? :D
 
Bladite said:
supposedly you can use that to stitch yourself back up... nature is cruel but kind? :D
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You could but it would be like using a sharpened crochete needle... No, if you're going to use a cactus spine to stitch yourself back up, you're best bet is probably some sort of cholla variety:

35_closeup_jumping_cholla.jpg


Good luck harvesting a spine without getting about 100 stuck into you!

Actually, just kidding. The spines are indeed BARBED so no bueno having any contact with human flesh. :eek:

micro-discovery-spine-tip-of-cholla-cactus-20u9rw2.jpg


You know what? Just stay clear of cactus if at all possible.
 
orezona said:
You know what? Just stay clear of cactus if at all possible.
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+1 to that!!! I spent 9 months in AZ in my teens and did a dozen or so desert hikes. During that time I developed a borderline phobia of cacti. Nothing worse than going to take your socks off and discovering thousands of hair thin little needles all over your pants, socks, shoes, and now hands.

If you really need to stitch yourself up, use big ants like in apocalypto! Hahaha! Anyone remember that scene? I think I actually yelled out bullsh*t in the theater.
 
beckerbrain said:
If you really need to stitch yourself up, use big ants like in apocalypto! Hahaha! Anyone remember that scene? I think I actually yelled out bullsh*t in the theater.
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You know what's crazy (to further derail this thread), using driver/army ants (Dorylus) as sutures is a real thing! They are however, not in South America but rather in Africa and parts of Asia.

Anyways...

Damn-Nature-You-Scary.gif
 
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