Walking sticks and canes...

[Guest Jamie]

Here's a tip for you Jamie - the stick I'm using now is sassafras with a big root knob. It's not heavy, surprisingly stout and it smells good!

I cut my grandmother a "snake stick" out of a sassafras sapling, some 20 years ago. It was about 5 ft long, 1-1/2 inch in diameter, and tapered down to an inch even. I think my mom might still have it.

We've got plenty of sassafras trees around here too, so that may be another one I need to add to the collection. It's been so long since I did anything with the stuff, I don't remember much about it except that it did have a nice smell...

[Guest Letereat!]

Well, they oughtta be cool as all gitout. Nifty that they're gonna be TN wood.

- OS

+1^^

:puke:Sticks are pretty gay tough, I dont know why anyone would bother.

So what are you drinking tonight anyway?

I never said that............ someone must be using their Secret powers to alter my posts. Ive heard all the mods are Sons of Masonic Grand Masters........

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Some items in this post should be considered drollery,i.e parody,tomfoolery,jest,joke or wisecracks. The author does not accept any liability for confusion and all querys should be directed to Macgyver, TGO David or other moderating force.

Edited January 13, 2011 by Letereat!

[Guest Jamie]

I never said that............ someone must be using their Secret powers to alter my posts. Ive heard all the mods are Sons of Masonic Grand Masters........

You've been chewing on the foil that they use to seal the absinthe bottle with, haven't you?

I wonder if it's made of tin or lead...

[Guest Letereat!]

You've been chewing on the foil that they use to seal the absinthe bottle with, haven't you?

I wonder if it's made of tin or lead...

Kida sweet tasting....lead i guess.

Are we gonna see some pics of the Staff "billits" Sunday eve??

[Guest Jamie]

Found a prize earlier today... It seems there's a dead dogwood tree right behind my back fence, that I'd missed in all the foliage this summer. It doesn't seem to be rotting yet, and the main part of the trunk is about 8 to 10 inches in diameter, and about 5 ft. tall.

I'm gonna have to wander up there and cut that puppy tomorrow, I think....

For those of you not familiar with dogwood, it's harder than all get-out, and as strong as anything you could want.

It is rather tough on saw blades and such though... especially when it's well-seasoned.

[Guest Jamie]

Got the dogwood cut down, cut up, and drug back to the house. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to get it milled into useful pieces...

Also, I was mistaken on the Osage Orange/Bodark... That's not what I have here... I have it's close relative, Black Locust. ( There are Osage Orange trees here close, but not on my property. )

Given what I've been reading concerning the material properties of Black Locust, I'll take it... 'cause the stuff apparently makes Hickory look rather wimpy when it comes to strength, flexibility, and impact resistance/strength, and general toughness. I know the piece I cut was no easier to deal with than the dogwood was.

So, it looks like I'll have plenty of materials to keep me busy for a while.

Edited January 16, 2011 by Jamie

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Got the dogwood cut down, cut up, and drug back to the house. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to get it milled into useful pieces...

Hi Jamie

Was studying small bandsaw and chainsaw lumber mills.

Some small mills cost in the thousands and look pretty good.

Some are merely inexpensive brackets that clamp onto chainsaws, though the simple ones would require good skill and at least a replacement chain special-designed for ripping. Supposedly it is impractical to do even small amounts of ripping with an ordinary crosscut chain.

Watching various demo videos, the procedure is to make four side rips to turn the log into a square beam. Then the square beam is easier to rip smaller using various methods. After it is square you can run it against a saw guide, regardless if you do the finish ripping with a chainsaw or a bandsaw or what have you.

I had some maple limbs I tried ripping, but that stuff was like trying to cut rock. Finally gave up. Was not feasible with the tools on hand. Never bought a cheap hand chainsaw adapter. That looks too dangerous in my hands.

One experiment that perhaps would have worked on softer wood or with a different saw or blade-- Built a U-shaped channel out of 1 X 6 scrap boards. Set the limb in the U-shaped channel, clamped it in with some wood screws, and ran a handheld electric bandsaw across the top of the channel. The objective was to make the first flat side, and then rotate the branch 90 degrees in the trough and make a second flat side.

Given two flat sides, it could be further machined with table saw or table bandsaw.

But the hand-held bandsaw just couldn't rip that maple. Never tried it on softer wood or looked around for a different handheld bandsaw blade than the "general duty" blades I had.

Apologies for rambling. Just thinking out loud

Edited January 16, 2011 by Lester Weevils

[Guest Jamie]

Hey, Les...

No, it didn't get named "Rock Maple" for :poop:s and giggles.

My grandparent's house had rock maple floors, and they stood up to 3 kids, 8 grand-kids, several dogs, and I don't even remember what else. It's certainly some hard, tough wood. I suspect that's what you were trying to cut.

As for the chainsaw mills, I would do that with any of the other stuff I have here - oak, poplar, locust, etc. - but the dogwood is just too expensive and hard to come by to be wasting what roughly amounts to an inch-thick board every 4 or 5 cuts.

And part of what has me scratching my head with this particular piece is that it has a fork at the end that I'd like to cut in such a way as to make a one-piece handle with... which isn't going to work with a table saw, or even my trick with a skilsaw. :-\

Fortunately, I have some people locally who have big industrial band saws, so may be able to pay one of them to slice it up for me...

We'll just have to see how it goes, and what I can manage. I do know I'd hate to waste lumber that's usually sold by the pound, rather than the board-foot.

[Guest Hillbilly Dan]

I use a walking stick on a daily basis. Mine is wood . The man who does them goes out and searches and cuts them from Mountain Laurel in the NC Mountains which is where I am from originally. My neice lives near the man who makes or cuts them near Ashville, NC. He goes out and searches untill finding and cutting the right stick. He then skins them and turns them into the neatest crooked stick you have ever seen. They are crooked, light, but sturdy and you would not want to be hit with one. It even turns to form a handle.

I call it a crooked stick for a crooked ole man.

I lost a leg some years ago and my balance is so bad that I must have some help. I can tell you that when needed there is nothing as good as a walking stick. I had metal at first, but I got this wooden one and will have nothing else. I get comments on it all the time. I get to carry a little piece of home with me all the time. Between my stick and my gun I feel secure.

Hillbilly Dan

NRA LIfe Member

Friends of NRA

[VERO1]

My son and I made a stick for my dads Christmas gift. It was a small tree that he had dug up from their property in N.C. Mom had car so loaded down he could not take it back to Fl with him. Snuck over and brought it home and stripped/ sanded/ployurethaned for him. I will try to get my son to shoot a pic of it. I forgot to but dad was impressed with it. Flew to Fl last week to deliver it.