Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => E-Buygumbay => Topic started by: kenkew on February 05, 2008, 19:55:04
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I've posted my finished walking companions before, (Check the links below) and I've been asked a few times what's involved in stick making, how they start off, get worked on, and how they are finished.
Well, rather than keep repeating things on PM's I thought I'd make it a topic of interest and post it more generally.
I've put it here because it tally's with other posts on the same subject and also because all the sticks I make are for sale; I don't do it for profit not when you consider the hours/days spent in their creation, but anyone buying one helps me to restock on stain/varnish/beeswax/polish/rubbing paper etc and there is always a site donation.
Best thing is; If you do buy one, you get a unique walking companion like no-other. If you don't buy, that's OK too. Either way, the making of a walking companion is a joy and a joy I enjoy! As a member of the 'UK Stick Makers Guild' I am in awe at some of the creations my fellow members come out with. I only wish I had the patience to spend weeks on just one stick, allas, I tend to concentrate on more practical walking pals.
So; How do stick makers make sticks and walking companions?......
Well, first thing to do is find a place where sticks grow!....so, here we go on a photo walk through the 'art' of what making a walking companion is all about.
First pic is the wood: A good starting point! As days go by I'll add pic's as I work on a piece of wood that I will hopefully pick up tomorrow.
(Hope it's not raining)
The below links are from my previous postings.
Ken.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,16386.0.html
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,16453.0.html
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Every year the council take to the woods and thin out the saplings and undergrowth. A few time in the year I spend a weekend as a volunteer helping out.
The pic's below were taken yesterday - in the rain! and likely walking stick pieces make it back to my workshop.
Sticks have to be stored with the ends sealed for quite a few months before workable, so the sticks I'm working now were actually collected back in December 06 but came from piles of cleared saplings like these.
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Sticks collected, sorted and strung. Should find a few good ones among these. Just have to seal the cuts and wait a few months now!
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Now January this year. 12 months since the last pic. I work 4 or 5 sticks at a time, this one is the current one. The bark wasn't in too good a condition so off it comes.
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Bark off and the stick gets a light knife scrape and a quick pass with a rasp removes splinters and levels any bumps.
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From here it's a case of rub/damp/dry/rub along the shaft and a bit of work at the handle end removing damage and trying to figure out what shape to try and end up with!
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Hi Ken, great thread.
One question - with what do you seal the cuts?
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When I get the sticks home, first job is to clean the whole thing and cut off the stick bottom back to clean sound wood. The handle or thick end is also done the same but where there is a root, each bit has to be cut back. Those new cuts are an invitation to disease spores and even wood boring insects so I coat them with a diluted white spirit varnish solution. Knotting would also work but it's a bit pricey!
The sticks are then bound tightly in bundles and left under cover but hung outside for at least 4 months.
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A bit more whittling here and there.
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A bit here; A bit there.
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Ken, your sticks are show pieces.
The one we have is brilliant a work of art. Highly recommened.
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Ta! 'Buds. Did a bit more today on this and other ones.
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...and now taking out a slight bend in the shaft.
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And here's a couple of others I'm 'playing' with. Any ideas on how the bulky one should end up? Looking a bit like a skull just now!
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How creative you are! That looks like a wonderful project- the best ones are where the end is a mystery right up until the finale.
Question: So you don't have to worry about which type of wood it is? No requirements on flexibility, strength etc?
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I do like a challenge, and while I'm working a stick, I'm always wondering myself how it will turn out. Sometimes it's almost a last minute thing....depends on how it feels in the hand as I whittle and sand away! It's more a matter of comfort, practicality and handling rather than for the sticks' artistic finish. (Although all my sticks for sale are worked and finished to a high standard.)
Nature is great; Every stick is different. Those sticks, even after many hours of work can turn out to be 'not fit for purpose' and those I take back to the wood and prop up against a tree by the path for people to pick up and take for a walk!
I don't damage my local wood by digging up saplings or cutting off branches, I rely on 'clearings.' That does restrict me a bit to choice, but I'm always lucky enough to find Oak, Rowan, Hazel, Holly and the occasional Blackthorne, so I'm never short of material.
Some people like a small, light stick just to hold while walking. Others like a 'proper' walking companion and there are those who prefer a stout stick. I make hand grip sticks but I also make shaft sticks (straight but heavy without a 'handle') and I also make quite a lot of thumb sticks of late. (Sticks with a 'Y' at the top.) I made a few 'Blackberry picking sticks' last year...long, thin, flexible and with a hook at the top!
All very interesting to work on.
Ken.
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I have to prune out some lilacs and pear. How do you think that wood would be?
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I've worked apple and pear and they make good sticks. There is a bit of a problem with them due to how they grow. Because they are fruit bearers, growth is not only slow, it tend to develope knuckle joints (week points) with branches that are rarely straight with enough length for a decent stick
Never worked Lilac so far but would think getting a 2metre or so straight branch might also be a problem as lilac developes flower buds on quite low branches, different to Oak, Rowan etc.
Having said that, check what you intend to prune....you might be lucky enough to find a suitable piece.
Ken.
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Another one suffering my efforts!
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Do you ever imbed elk teeth or some such thing for eyes like rifle stock carvers do?
He looks like a happy duck with or without eyes.
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Sometimes I add 'something' but not very often. Mostly it's a collar or Turks Head.
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They each have such personality! Great job (we need a clapping smiley here.)
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I sold one today but I don't seem to have a close-up of it. Don't know how that happened, I thought I had a pic of them all. It's the second left of the taller sticks here.
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Ken
Many years ago I made four 'shepherds crooks' , one for me and my now ex-wife and the two children. Each was made using a good piece of straight hazel cut to the right size and then finished off with a horn from a sheep. This was boiled and then shaped to the appropriate curve and stuck onto the hazel stick and then rasped to remove all the rough edges. The whole thing was coated with clear varnish.
I use mine regularly and it has a lovely feel in the hand. Also useful for hooking branches etc to pick fruit from the hedgerows.
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Nice work there, Toadspawn. I made a few when I was in the UK but that was before BSE, F&mouth and other problems which pushed the government into reducing drastically the older animals in a herd/flock.
Consequently getting hold of horn of a decent size these days isn't easy.
I don't suppose you have pic's of your work at all?
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I notice on this topic that the stick I've just finished is shown here back in January. Seems like time to sharpen my knives and work faster... ::)
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and I can thoroughly recommend Kens sticks. I have one which has just accompanied me along the Peddars Way, and will be propelling me along Gunnerside Gill and other places int' Yorkshire Dales in October ;D
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Yes i can second that Maggie our one is always in use its a work of art.
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Latest one under way is 'Bump'.
Very lightweight but firm and easy to handle. Still working on how he should finish up. If anyone's interested, jump in now and let me know.