Walking sticks

DH1

DH1

Joined
Nov 8, 2006
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Just looking for some general info on selecting a proper walking stick. Dead wood? A live branch sawed off?

I figured I might need one after I sunk my foot in mud a few days ago in the woods near my backyard....should have tested first:o
 
Live wood is the best. Choose a sapling that is relatively straight, and about 1" to 1.5" around. Chop or saw it down, and then grab yourself a straight piece that is about the same height as you. The most important thing is that the bottom of the stick lines up with the part you wish to grip. Any twists and turns along the way from the bottom to the handle really don't matter all that much. Strip all of the bark off, and then seal the ends where you cut with something like glue or epoxy, and let it sit in a dry place for about a month. This will dry out the wood fairly effectively, increasing it's strength and decreasing the weight. The epoxy is to prevent the wood from splitting while it dries. Once it is dry, I sand mine down a bit and round off the top and bottom with a knife or hatchet. After that, you can leave it as is, or coat it with something to help protect it from the elements, or just give it a cool look. The end result will be a pretty sturdy, durable walking stick that should last you for quite a good amount of time.
 
And don't be satisfied with just using it as a walking stick - it can be a digging stick, a dog attitude modifier, used for lowering a container to the creek to gather water, with a hook lashed on can be used for pulling down branches with edible fruit or to be used as spring poles for snares. Couple of small modifications and it is a bird trap (Ojibway). Out hiking? ground wet? want to hang your coat/pack/whatever and there's no convenient branch? Cow hitch a loop of cordage around the trunk of a sapling, etc., and stick the end of your walking stick through and hang your stuff on that. How about turning over that rock/log where old Mr. Rattler may be?

These are just a few ways a walking stick can be used for other than just walking. Anybody else?

Doc
 
"Dog attitude modifier" you gotta love it.

While I agree it may be best to harvest living wood, seasoning after harvest can result in a more resilient stick. A green piece of wood can take a bend more easily.

If you live in an area where ironwood,hickory or ash are available they are excellent choices.

A stick can be used to help prop up a tarpaulin as a shelter. In a pinch a blade or other implement can be lashed to the end as a short spear. If it happened to be eleven feet long you could use it to touch things you wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. :D
 
I agree about the 'dog attitude modifier' usage recommendation.

This has been tested by me on several occasions.

I prefer ash, or blackthorn, they both lose a lot of weight when they dry out.

Best to cut your stick in the winter, then they will not be so liable to split as they dry out.

Ash bark dries to a nice grey green colour if you leave it on for 12 months.

I have just fitted a nice 6" stag grip to an ash stick, very cool.
 
I usually use hornbeam, its got lots of charater in the ridges of "mussle".

I let it sit in the basement for at least 6 months, and I leave the bark on. Its a smooth bark but its hell to get off and very think. I think you get a stronger stick with hornbeam with the bark on. I notice most blackthorn sticks you see ahve the bark on. I just go over the bark with 0000 steel wool and stain and seal. Minwax products have worked good for me in the past.
 
I like the Gastrock Staff the best

GastrckHikingStaff.jpg


Although there’re many great walking sticks that they make:
http://www.gastrock.de/en/naturstoecke/marschierer.htm

DuluthTrading sells them:
http://www.duluthtrading.com/search/searchresults/95099.aspx?feature=Product_1

It’s a nice option to the composite or aluminum materials in modern staffs.
 
My local plant nursery sells bamboo sticks for less than $1. They are very, very light and strong. Can't beat the price.
 
Cool - ya bamboo is very strong and would make a great walking staff. Its easy to work with and inexspensive... and looks cool also :thumbup: Check out the crooked stem bamboo... might add a little zig to your zag :p
 
Casares said:
I prefer ash, or blackthorn, they both lose a lot of weight when they dry out.
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Blackthorn is always well regarded. Unfortunately, it doesn't grow over here.

I usually use hornbeam, its got lots of character in the ridges of "mussle".
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Judging by your description, you are using American Hornbeam, or Blue Beech (Carpinus caroliniana). I mention this because a lot of people call Hop Hornbeam ( a favoured bow wood - Ostrya virginiana), Hornbeam. And both trees are often referred to as Ironwood, at least around here.



Fraser My local plant nursery sells bamboo sticks for less than $1. They are very, very light and strong. Can't beat the price.
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and

Gakker Cool - ya bamboo is very strong and would make a great walking staff. Its easy to work with and inexspensive... and looks cool also Check out the crooked stem bamboo... might add a little zig to your zag
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I agree, Bamboo makes a great, light walking stick. I recently used one, but found the bottom splits from contact with rocks. Have either of you guys come up with something to protect the end?

Doc
 
If you live in a fair sized city you may see bamboo crosscountry ski poles thrown out. If you carefully use a good pair of wire cutters you can cut the basket off the bottom spike ferrule. This leaves you with a fairly durable spike on the bottom of a pole. Some of these spikes are not much more than a nail and so are not of much value . I have seen them with carbide tips that were awesome.

Its a lot better than these poles going to the dump. It also gives you a grip with a strap which is not unlike what people pay good money for in stores.

If you get a childs size ski pole they are of a perfect size for walking sticks. I don't know what kind of bamboo they use or if its hardened. Its sure tough stuff.

I only have a limited experience with thorn trees/bushes. I have found that a good piece of the thorn trees available in North America are darn tough stuff.

I think the secret with blackthorn and other thorned trees is how they are treated after harvesting. I am in the process of seasoning a piece for a hawk handle. I used to throw a piece of it for my dog to go fetch. It makes an amazingly hard durable sound when it hits the concrete laneway.
 
i make walking sticks from birch saplings that i like to cut when the sap is not flowing (just to keep my tools cleaner, but it won't matter other than that). i put them up into the attic for about two or three weeks for the preliminary drying, then i strip the bark, and put them back for anywhere from two or three more weeks to several months, depending on my time constraints. after about a month and a half of drying, assuming you are living in a reasonably dry area, i take it out and give it a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil. this creates a coat that soakes into the wood and won't rub off, and only changes the color of the wood a little bit. it also does not stink or seem unnatural.
at the end, i find a copper pipe cap that comes closest to being the same diameter of the stick without being larger than it, and whittle the end of the stick to a snug fit. i hammer the cap on and drive a nail through teh middle of the bottom. this wedges the wood outwards to hold the cap on tightly. i have taken sticks like this up and down a small rocky mountain, and it did fine.

i like to use birch, because it cures as light as a feather and as strong as iron. it is really quite good, and when you are peeling the bark off of the saplings, they smell like birch soda, nice and sweet.

also, i like to peel the bark off after a couple of weeks instead of doing it sooner or later is because sooner can mean that my knives get gunky with sap (which is quite mild in birch) and the wood can crack on the ends, though it has never been an issue really. waiting longer makes it nearly impossible to strip off the bark with anything less than a machete, at least on the birch.
 
My latest walking stick is made of dogwood, with the outer bark stripped and bits of the inner bark left to give it a unique look. I made a really nice short walking stick (37") a while back, I don't recall offhand what wood it is, but after I stripped the bark and sanded it down, it has some really cool purplish highlights. Incredibly sturdy, both of them. I tried yellow-poplar for a walking stick for my nephew, which dried really light, but it broke easily.

Josh
 
siguy said:
also, i like to peel the bark off after a couple of weeks instead of doing it sooner or later is because sooner can mean that my knives get gunky with sap (which is quite mild in birch) and the wood can crack on the ends, though it has never been an issue really. waiting longer makes it nearly impossible to strip off the bark with anything less than a machete, at least on the birch.
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question: will birch dry thoroughly with the bark on? I imagine it would take longer, but not too much since the bark is so thin. But I'm thinking if it will dry out evenly, and the bark wants to stay on then like you say, and ya put a coat of poly or something over it, it would look really pretty and be fairly durable. I've always thought white/paper birch is just about the most gorgeous tree trunk around... plus it's easy to find in my area, and reminds me of the woods across the road from gramma and grampa's house when I was little :)

Forgive me if these are dumb questions, lol.
 
Blackthorn grows all over the place here, especially on waste ground, near old railway lines and in all hedgerows.

It is painful getting at the piece you want - it does not grow very straight and the branches grow in very dense formation, so you can cut yourself to bits on thorns, fighting to cut a straight piece. Easiest is to find a field with blackthorn growing where sheep have spent time; they rub against it and break off the thorns near the ground. They love to shelter near it and you can sometimes find a branch that has been rubbed down pretty smooth.

When you have a straight stick, it is liable to crack and twist as it dries out.

You need to let it dry slowly, in a damp place, for about six months.
If you are unlucky, it might still split.

It will now be very hard and difficult to work. But, it looks nice - eventually.

There is a different thornbush that you sometimes see in woodland , sometimes called white thorn, with pale green bark - I have made sticks from that; it has fewer thorns and it is nice and light and dries very white. But it is still hard to find a straight piece.

My grandmother used to say it was very bad luck to cut any of these thorn bushes or bring the wood or flowers indoors, since it was used to make the crown of thorns for Jesus' head.

My grandad only used hazel or ash for sticks.

Birch is beautiful, but I have never made a stick from it, it is not common in this part of the country, it is more a western species, where there is more rain.
 
doc - I wrap the botton 6 inches of my bamboo walking stick with black electrical tape. It hinders the splitting. It seems to last a season on the AT.
 
I've heard of people using rubber tips from a crutch or cane, for their walking stick. IIRC I read someone using bamboo with those rubber tips on, because it afforded him a storage space at each end.
 
What do you guys think about sheathing the end of a bamboo walking stick in a pocket/finger of rawhide?. A piece of hide about four inches long and not just wide enough to fit around the circumference of the stick. If you soak the stiff hide it will become extremely pliable and enlarge enough to fit well around the stick.

take the hide wrap it around the stick and sew it into a finger or pocket shape.
You would need a stout needle or a glovers needle. A thick button thread,artificial sinew or better yet waxed linen thread. I would suggest sewing the bottom of the finger from the interior before placing it on the stick. This would give a convoluted rough surface to purchase upon rocks or other slick surfaces.

When the rawhide dries it would tighten onto the stick so tightly that no other means of securing it would be needed. The only drawback would be if it got soaked for a very long time. It may become slick. If anyone can think of a way to make it waterproof short of oiling it let me know.

I used the leather finger off a construction glove on the end of an ironwood
walking stick/Boken. I put rubber cement on the end of the stick, forced the finger on and stitched up one side to tighten it on the stick. It is less durable than rawhide. I mostly use it for city park strolls. I don't need a particularly tough sheath in this case.

The bamboo needs the encompassing inward pressure imparted by the tight rawhide to counteract any splitting,splaying forces inflicted by impacts with terrain.
 
Go to your local home center, and buy a large industrial mop with a wodden handle. remove the mop head, and you have a great walking stick. And you didn't pay out the ying-yang for it.
 
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