Make a stick!

[fhaggis]

Hi all, looking for advice on how to make a stick! Yup, a stick. My little girl actually wants a stick for her her 6th birthday!

When we are out in the woods she always gets a big stick and gets really upset wen they are not allowed or too big for the car and isn't allowed to take them home etc.

So she's insisting on a stick.

I plan to get her a stick and burn her name into it etc but I want it to last and look really good, thinking of a big wizards staff type stick!

So what wood should I or shouldn't I use and how to a make it last? Do I strip it? Paint it etc was thinking of some white birch but don't know how topreserve the whiteness etc.

Hope this makes sense and any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Robson Valley]

"Hiking sticks" are quite popular here, particularly for the decent so you don't tip over.

There's a rustic furniture shop down my street which makes 25-50 as a time and they sell well.
I don't remember how they fit them to a person's size. I watched but have forgotten.

Most have all the bark removed. They have been air dried under cover for a year or more.
Usually some sort of transparent polyurethane protective finish.
Carving or other decoration seems optional. Best discussed with the new owner, yes?
Thumb notch? Wrist thong? Hardened lower tip point?

 

[Stew]

Sounds like a great thing to do!

I shall go dig out my copy of Walking & Working Sticks by Theo Fossel and see what his top recommendations are.

 

[Stew]

So for Birch, he says

"Birch has always been regarded as a 'protective tree', and it's presence in the house was thought to ward off the 'evil eye'

Quite a nice idea of something to gift your daughter.

He later goes on to write

"It rots easily out of doors but makes very good walking sticks, which are light and yet very strong. Both the bark and peeled/fumed stick are very effective."

I think that's a winner. I made a number of different sticks when younger - knob sticks as they had fancy toppers as opposed to actual 'handles'. Could be a way to fancy it up a bit. I can try find some examples if you like. Cut a bit of all thread / bolt to connect the knob to the stick. Bit of copper pipe for a ferrule to stop it wearing away.

 

[Klenchblaize]

I would say holly but compared with hazel it's heavy so less than ideal for a 6-year old if you're going for the Lord Of The Rings look and height.

Also far easier to find an interestingly shaped hazel stick from copice than a holly bush.

K

 

[Robson Valley]

There are stick makers (guild?) in the UK that carve the finest toppers that I've ever seen.
Dogs and the most realistic birds. Google could chase them down.

Birch, because it's a local native species, is the only hardwood that I carve. Very nice.

Stew: Might you post the ISBN ## for that stick book by T. Fossel? Please and thanks.

 

[fhaggis]

So for Birch, he says

"Birch has always been regarded as a 'protective tree', and it's presence in the house was thought to ward off the 'evil eye'

Quite a nice idea of something to gift your daughter.

He later goes on to write

"It rots easily out of doors but makes very good walking sticks, which are light and yet very strong. Both the bark and peeled/fumed stick are very effective."

I think that's a winner. I made a number of different sticks when younger - knob sticks as they had fancy toppers as opposed to actual 'handles'. Could be a way to fancy it up a bit. I can try find some examples if you like. Cut a bit of all thread / bolt to connect the knob to the stick. Bit of copper pipe for a ferrule to stop it wearing away.

great! thank you! you should i strip the bark or not, can i varnish the bark etc do you think? the attraction of the birch is the bark though! thanks very much for the "protective tree" info, me, the girls and my better half will love that!

there's some great ideas but i just want something than i can personalize (ill get the pyrography set out) and thats big enough and looks pretty! ill also need to make one for my 2 (going on 20) year old!

 

[Janne]

Hazel. Dries nice, hard and light, but the end towards the earth needs protecting with some kind of shoe.
If you search carefully, you can gind a hazel that has a nice shape where it attaches to the other stems.

And maybe he can carve some designs into the bark before it dries?

It is fun when children want something like that!

Birch? If you take a branch, you might damage the tree severely, and it is not easy to find a sapling thin, straight and long enough.

Birch bark does not varnish well, the bark does not absorb the varnish as well as wood does.

 

[fhaggis]

Hazel. Dries nice, hard and light, but the end towards the earth needs protecting with some kind of shoe.
If you search carefully, you can gind a hazel that has a nice shape where it attaches to the other stems.

And maybe he can carve some designs into the bark before it dries?

It is fun when children want something like that!

Birch? If you take a branch, you might damage the tree severely, and it is not easy to find a sapling thin, straight and long enough.

yeah, i was delighted when she said it out the blue, my friend didn't believe me and when asked she said a "stick"! i only have just over 3 weeks so dont know if that will be long enough to dry?

 

[Stew]

great! thank you! you should i strip the bark or not, can i varnish the bark etc do you think? the attraction of the birch is the bark though! thanks very much for the "protective tree" info, me, the girls and my better half will love that!

there's some great ideas but i just want something than i can personalize (ill get the pyrography set out) and thats big enough and looks pretty! ill also need to make one for my 2 (going on 20) year old!

You're right, the bark is definitely a hit with Birch! You can keep it if the stick is seasoned and the bark is tight to it. Really you should be using a seasoned stick, even if you intend to peel it as if you peel before seasoning it will likely split. Yes you can, and should, varnish to help preserve it.

Birch will be perfect for some pyrography on some shaved back sections.

 

[Janne]

No, time to short, but it is OK?

Have fun searching for the material.
Have fun shaping/ carving it.
Use even if not 100% dry. It does not matter.

I always make myself a temporary walking stick on my nature outings. I look for it during the time before the first stop and rest, carve it during that rest.

Nothing fancy of course. Just good enough to support my crappy knee, and fend off the Warewolves!

Personally I do not find carved Birch esthetic, as the inner bark is so thick and brown. Of course, more sensible people than myself think it is beautiful!

 

[fhaggis]

You're right, the bark is definitely a hit with Birch! You can keep it if the stick is seasoned and the bark is tight to it. Really you should be using a seasoned stick, even if you intend to peel it as if you peel before seasoning it will likely split. Yes you can, and should, varnish to help preserve it.

Birch will be perfect for some pyrography on some shaved back sections.

it will likely be a fresh-ish piece of birch that i will use, shall i just keep the bark on, carve/ burn etc and varnish it? it will most likely be kept indoors or the shed?

 

[Janne]

It is the first time I have heard that Birch is considered magical!

Rowan is though. Rowan makes good w. sticks too.
( most trees do, if you can find a suitable piece)

 

[Stew]

it will likely be a fresh-ish piece of birch that i will use, shall i just keep the bark on, carve/ burn etc and varnish it? it will most likely be kept indoors or the shed?

Work on it and get it varnished, then you can just have it seasoning for longer. It'll take a year to season if unvarnished, and two if varnished. It'll not be a problem to use it while seasoning - just keep an eye for it bending out of the shape you want and if it starts to go, just try to bend it back each day as you walk past it. It's a recognised technique for straightening useasoned sticks. You could also hang it and attach a weight to the end while it's being stored in the shed.

 

[Laurentius]

My basic goto for stick making is willow, I debark it and use boiled linseed oil. Willow is easy to steam into shape.

 

[Robson Valley]

I need to walk with a cane to keep from tipping over. Mine is a twisted length of very decorative diamond willow.
The hand pad topper is 2" wide so that I can lean on it and the load is spread out a bit.
The compression strength of seasoned willow is slightly better than human bone. It's used in Crash Test Dummies for bones.

 

[Nice65]

I’ve got the beginnings of a perfect Lady stick I’m my garage, ready seasoned Hazel with the parts of the side branch where I cut it to create wood for a nob. Needs a bit of carving and sanding for the nob and a few coats of Danish or whatever and I t’ll be plenty strong enough for a 6 yr old, but it’s no Gandalfs Staff. I’ll sort a pic if it’s any good to you.

And if your name is indeed haggis, we need a word together.

 

[Toddy]

Whereabouts are you Haggis ? roughly ?
I have a seasoned hazel rod, some willow ones that were cut seven months ago, and I think there's an apple one in the shed too.
Blackthorn makes a really good stick, but it's inclined to be heavy-ish.
I know where there's hazel growing that has honeysuckle growing around it tightly enough that it's forming twisted 'magical' staffs Just three or four twists up the length. If you're in the west side of the central belt you could go and cut one for your daughter.

 

[Andy T]

You wont get a fresh cut stick to dry in three weeks. It will dry quicker with the bark removed but not even then in three weeks.
You may be very lucky and find some dead standing suitable, or better still take Toddy up on her offer.
Do not use varnish, especially on a stick thats still needs to season, all you will do is slow down the drying by sealing moisture inside.
When its dry use oil, boiled linseed oil is good, although it may darken the stick slightly.
Oil is better as it soaks in and gives better protection.

 

[fhaggis]

Whereabouts are you Haggis ? roughly ?
I have a seasoned hazel rod, some willow ones that were cut seven months ago, and I think there's an apple one in the shed too.
Blackthorn makes a really good stick, but it's inclined to be heavy-ish.
I know where there's hazel growing that has honeysuckle growing around it tightly enough that it's forming twisted 'magical' staffs Just three or four twists up the length. If you're in the west side of the central belt you could go and cut one for your daughter.

Hi, I'm in sunny coatbridge, not far from Glasgow!