Thank you for the recommendations lads it really means alot to me and i appreciate it. Steve48 if you want to see just how good walking sticks/staffs can be, have a look on you tube for a video called "new staff av1" or for another called "dragon staff" both are absolutely stunning, much better than anything i can do, although i am working on one at the moment thats loosely based on the dragon staff that im hoping won't be too far behind it. It will be finished in a month or so and i'll put some pics up then. One small piece of advice, carving patterns or designs onto a staff is much easier than using antler inlay to form the design, as i've been finding out over the last month.