Best wood for walking stick

Although many people recognise the colour of ash or chestnut wood, they'd be less likely to know about its other properties. Walking sticks have been made from many crickbuzz woods over the ages, but which one is really the best? The most common woods for walking sticks are white beech, hazel, ash and chestnut.

If you just need help hiking up a tough hill, pretty much any reasonably sturdy branch in woods will do the job. But if you want to carve a beautiful, personal walking stick, then you need to choose a little more carefully. To help you get started, though, here is a chart of the trees I have carved and my notes about their suitability as both carving projects and walking sticks: CLICK HERE to download the chart. Both ends are likely to split or crack in the curing process, so you will have to remove them before you begin carving. You can cut off the branch sections after the piece has cured sufficiently. Or, you can work the side branches into the design.

Best wood for walking stick

W oodlands. The blog originally appeared in Contact email address is pj at gmail. Peter Jones and his sons make walking sticks on a serious scale using sticks they come across in the woods, where they do their forestry work. They use chestnut, silver birch, oak and hazel. But they avoid using willow, as it goes brittle once it's aged. Apart from finding the right stick to work on they need a steamer for bending the tops of the walking sticks and a good supply of sealant and varnish for protecting the finished sticks. As a result, he is able to trade these with fellow stick makers in more northern English areas - they give him carved tops for walking sticks in exchange for good twisted shanks. But even among twisted sticks there is variety: the slower growing trees such as holly and oak twist more slowly whilst the fast-growing chestnut twists quickly. Though he also corrected me pointing out that the maker of walking sticks should really be called a "stick dresser". Peter's first experience of walking sticks was 30 years ago when he was using sticks for "beating". He and the other beaters used sticks to get pheasants to fly up for the "guns" to shoot. For that exercise, he first started creating walking sticks and hasn't really stopped since. But he has become more sophisticated. The steamer, for example, boils water in a kettle-like chamber and the water vapour fills a second chamber where as many as sticks at a time can be steamed, ready for him to bend over their tops.

The best wood for walking stick can be easily peeled back, as can be seen in this Chestnut Hiking Staff with Stag Carvingresulting in a smooth, high-quality finish. After about a year you may have to refinish the stick. This wood has a natural pinkish tinge which lends it a touch of delicacy.

When I was younger I lived near a State Forest, and for a kid, there is probably nothing better. It gave me an appreciation of nature, a bit of independence, and tons of things to explore. Part of the forest was a fish hatchery for the state of Ohio and the other part was just forest. It was not a tourist place, so there were very few managed trails none in fact so me and my childhood friends did a lot of the trail making. During those days, weeks, months, and years exploring I always had a hiking stick of some sort.

Last Updated on June 20, by Barry Gray. A walking stick is far more refined than people realize, and that refined nature extends all the way to the type of wood used in its construction. If you thought that any old type of wood would suffice for this type of thing, then you would be wrong. Actually, only certain types of wood have the ability to withstand the pressure often placed on the walking stick and to do so without splitting and probably causing an injury. But I know that by getting you to think about it, it has now opened up a question.

Best wood for walking stick

Last Updated: March 9, References. To create this article, 18 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed , times. Learn more Would you like to make your own walking stick, hiking staff or wizard staff? You need to start by collecting wood.

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Maple is my preference. Native to the northern hemisphere, oak is a favorite among American woodworkers. I usually attach a lanyard somewhere through a knot if possible, it looks cool and the get a rubber ferrule and attach it to the bottom. Chestnut is sturdy and the perfect choice for a lighter-weight stick as it is less dense than other woods due to its fast-growing nature. There will be SOME checking no matter what, but if you do it right, in the drying tube, it will only be at the ends or end, if you used a crotch or branch to make a handle, the wood is denser here. However, you can find beech and chestnut sticks that have been carved to resemble bamboo. I would be grateful if you can ask Peter Jones to contact me. Do you have a favourite type of wooden walking stick? Maple is a precious wood that is exceedingly popular today because of its exceptional properties. Black Rubber Ferrule Style A. It is just not strong enough for this application. Apart from finding the right stick to work on they need a steamer for bending the tops of the walking sticks and a good supply of sealant and varnish for protecting the finished sticks.

January 24, Explore the various factors to consider when choosing the best wood for a walking stick, including durability, weight, and flexibility. Discover the different types of wood available such as ash, hickory, oak, bamboo, and blackthorn.

If not it will nick off. Read our latest blog to find out which kind of wood is the best for your next walking stick. Rare due to slow growth and high demand, an ebony walking stick will stay with you for years. If you have not cut down a tree before, here is a good how to: wikihow to fell a tree. Pete I 19 April, It gave me an appreciation of nature, a bit of independence, and tons of things to explore. Supplies You'll Need You'll need: 1. Classic Canes. There are many different things to consider when you're choosing your next wooden walking stick, namely the material that's been used to make it. Bamboo Iron Bamboo gets its name because its strength to weight ratio is better than steel. It is rot-resistant, and features appealing grain markings when quartersawn. The important part is using the wedge cut to direct the fall AWAY from you. For instance, the Collared Cherry Cane with Crook Handle is resplendent with the warm glow characteristic of the red wood.