This is a hand made walking staff I carved....(pic link)

Kodiak PA

Kodiak PA

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 3, 1998
Messages
2,447
One of my hobbies is hand carving walking staffs. I usually use pieces of drift wood or black birch but this particular stick was made from a piece of mahogany I had.
View


See more pics HERE

I made this stick for a good friend of mine. It is hand carved...I used my Ed Fowler proghorn and an Allen Blade talonite Tad Pole. It took over 30 hours to make. I stained it red mahogany and used tung oil for a finsh. It has 2 inlays. One wooden and the other bone. The handle was made from over 30' of tarred sail twine. The lanyard tube is nickel silver and under the non slip is a metal bit so the stick can be used on the ice. The lanyard is cowhide and for a protectant I finished the stick with paste wax.

Mahogany is very difficult to carve so I had to mostly plane this. The stick feels very durable.

I hope my friend likes it. If he doesn't, any takers?
wink.gif


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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska

[This message has been edited by Kodiak PA (edited 07-15-2000).]
 
You're welcome Clay. You've been a good friend. My kids look like punks wearing those bandanas you sent them! Hehehe.

Packaged up and ready to go.
smile.gif


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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska
 
Greg, very nice work, good to see some pics too!
How many of these have you made so far? Not the special inlay like this but Walking Staffs? I remember about 5 or 6?

Piece of history there!
G2
 
Greg . . . I agree with G2 . . . very nice work. You'll be competing with CRK soon!
wink.gif


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- - - - - -

ralph
 
Thanks G2 & Ralph,
I think I have made 5 this spring and summer. I think all have an inlay or 2. Mostly I have been using grizzly paws and heads but Clay likes wolves and I was able to get 2 nice pieces done by Alaskan artists. I have always wanted to make something and though I always wanted to make a knife I am starting with these. I do us techniques I read about here on BFC such as the laynard tubes and finishing the wood like some of the guys do the handles, etc.

A lot of work but fun. This stick took me about 30 hours or so. Shaping the stick took the longest since mahogany doesn't carve well at all so I had to hand plane and sand it for hours. And getting the inlays in takes a bit too but it seems to look better with them then without them.

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad my wife got that digital camera.



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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska
 
That's a beaut. I really like what you did with the helix over-wrap on the handle.
 
Beautiful work, Greg -- all the more wonderful as a gift.

Just curious: did you use the Talonite Tadpole to whittle/plane the staff? How well did it "perform"?

Glen
 
Greg,

Great job on the walking staff! Thanks for posting the pic.


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John Foresman
Lifetime member Buck collectors club
Member NKCA
Member AKTI
 
Thanks for the nice comments guys. I appreciate it.

Glen,
The mahogany proved too brittle when cut into with the tad pole or the proghorn. It would make decent bites but more so than I could control and I was concerned that there would be some deformation of the stick. It is just the nature of this hardwood so a friend suggested I plane it and that worked much better.

Other stickes I carved such as black birch and driftwood were much easier to actually carve and those sticks saw a lot of knife time. This particular stick saw a lot of Craftsman time.
smile.gif


Regards,


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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska
 
Greg,

Impressive stuff! thanks for sharing the pictures too. Now the germaine question is "When ya going to be taking orders and how much?"
smile.gif



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-=[Bob Allman]=-

I did NOT escape from the institution! They gave me a day pass!

BFC member since the very beginning
Member: American Knife & Tool Institute; Varmint Hunters Association;
National Rifle Association; Praire Thunder Inc.; Rapid City Rifle Club;
Spearfish Rifle & Pistol Club; Buck Collectors Club (prime interest: 532s)
Certified Talonite(r) enthusiast!
 
Wow, Kodiak!
That's a BIG Staff!

Your hands must be HUMONGOUS!
L

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"Hey Renfield, you gonna eat that last spider leg?"
 
Beautiful work. Any references you can pass along for tying that double-helix wrap you used?

Thanks!
 
Bob,
Not sure I would want the pressure of dead lines. My problem is I get all too consumed with my projects and my wife yells at me for not doing anything else.
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Steve,

I'll try to explain the helix method.

I take an equal amount of sail twine (lots of it, an 8 inch handle can take over 30 feet!) and tie a half knot just like the first step in tying a shoe.

I start on the right and make a loop behind the stick and then pass the bitter end thru the loop. I pull tight, very tight and then singe backwards to knot the twine. I then do the same thing on the left side and then reverse the whole process. It took over 2 hours to put the handle on Clay's stick.

The hard part is finishing it to secure the line. You run 4 or 5 loops on each side and then run the remaining bitter end in the loops to lock it in. You then have to hand tightened each pass and there is a lot of line thus it gets confusing.

I find a single strand over wrap much easier. You only have to tie it one way and it gives a nice over lap pattern to it.

Believe it or not a Coast Guard dentist taught me how to do this....LOL!

Again, thank you for the nice comments guys, I appreciate them.

I took the remaining bit of mahogany and made a nice short baton with it. Came out really nice. A light cherry red stain. I'll try to snap a picture of it.

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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska
 
Here's the baton I made from the left over wood from Clay's stick
View


Specs:

Completely handed planed and sanded. The only thing electrical that touched this was my drill to drill the lanyard hole and that was a cordless.
smile.gif
This billy club took about 12 hours for me to shape and stain this.

Wood: Mahogany
Size: 23 inches--slight tapered towards the handle
Wt: Not sure, pretty light
smile.gif

Handle: Single over lap #24 tarred sail twine
Stain: Very light Cherry red
Finish: 6 coast of clear tung oil and an application of paste wax
Lanyard tube: Brass
Lanyard: Cow's hide (gotta make it still)

When I made this short baton I figured this would be a good club for a woman or someone who didn't want to heave around a heavy club. That and the smaller size makes it more compact. Mahogany though a hardwood is surprising light. Not sure if I want to keep this since my wife doesn't want it. Anybody wanna trade for a knife? LOL!

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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska

[This message has been edited by Kodiak PA (edited 07-18-2000).]
 
Hi' Greg. Good job on the baton, also. Here in MN. we have lots of paper birch and yellow birch but I have never seen any black birch. Any chance of a picture? I'm curious what that looks like. Thanks.
 
Greg,
You are quite the craftsman. The walking stick and baton look excellent. The walking stick, is it light or a little bit heavy?
Why are trying to get rid of the baton? You afraid Winn is going to whack you with it? (hahaha) Do you plan on getting those boys of yours involved in your craft? That could be very rewarding, as well. Greg, we'd like to see more pics of the stuff you make. Keep us posted.
Chris
Top of Texas Knives
www.toptexknives.com
www.toptexknives.com/christman.htm

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Greg,

Thanks for the description. I will have to see if I can finger it out from there.

 
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