Fall great time to start you hiking stick making project

     Fall is the beginning of 90% of make hiking stick and walking stick making wood collection period.  The saplings and limbs are starting to flow less sap and when the leaves fall you can see the limbs for walking stick making easier.  It's always best to collect hiking sick wood such as willow, aspen,  ferns, popular and others when they still have some moisture flowing in the limbs if you plan to strip them.

     Once the limbs dry out it becomes very difficult to stripe the bark from the walking stick making wood you collect.   If you plan to leave the bark on to carve then you can until later Fall and even into winter before the trees get their first coating of snow/ice.

   Many people ask about exotic woods and tropical woods to make hiking sticks. I live in south Florida where popular, aspen, willows and other woods for stick making are just dreams.  I have experimented with various tropical woods and a very few are good candidates and most are poor candidates for hiking stick making projects.  Flamboyant is a good one but stringy.  Bottlebrush trees used in landing scaping here works well but is extremely hard wood.  Scrub oak is a poor choice unless you get it young. One f my favorites is cypress saplings which when dry extremely light but are very strong (supports weight).

   There are several different types of cypress and make sure you do not collect walking stick making wood from the everglades or other parks. It's best to see where building are clearing land and ask if you can get some of the limbs/sapling they are digging up to clear the land.  One plant that is a nuisance in south Florida is the melateuca tree. It's an invasive tree from Malaysia over 100 years ago to drain water form the land - needles to say this is a tree you can have as much as you want. It bark is lik paper and makes interesting walking sticks. 

Make a willow walking stick how to make a hiking stick

   The willow wood is perfect for making hiking sticks and walking canes.  Its a very recognizable tree species and is ready available in many parts of the USA. The willow trees love water and grow along rivers, streams and lakes.  the last willows I collected for walk-in stick making was in Utah and Colorado.  The best time to collect them is in the fall as their leaves fall so you see the limb size the best. You want to collect ones that have a diameter of around 1" to 2".  Its was not a weeping willow which its branches are too thin most of the time to make a hiking stick.

 The willow I collected he willow wood it had a red brown exterior which makes it a perfect wood for making a hiking stick with the skin/bark left on.  When I made the willow walking stick I left sections of the outer skin/bark on and carved several trout fish on the peeled away area.  Then I painted the fish and added some carved river rocks below the fish to make it look like it was swimming in a stream. The walking stick turned out great and now my father is using it when he hikes/walks.

  The walking sick guides has a fall leaf bonus project using willow  sapling. The walking stick and hiking stick making project has several fall leafs carved and painted. then a copper wire is added to the  give the walking stick now pizzazz.

How to collet walking stick making wood Make hiking stick

Do you plan to make your own walking stick from self-collected wood? Before you start your walking stick project you need to collect the wood. First determine the correct size of the stick you need before collecting wood from a forest for a neighbors tree cuttings.

We recommend that you collect the wood for your hiking stick making project longer than what you need by about 12” if possible. This gives you the ability to cut off bad ends or to adjust the height before you add the ferrules.

First, look for fallen wood or wood  cut form the trees.  Check to see if the wood is stiff and will support your weight. Do not collected wood that is protected or in a place where it is not permitted.  If you are in a desert look for fallen cactus with hard skeletons that make great walking and hiking stick making projects.  In the forest, know you wood because some wood is very difficult to carve if you plan to cave on your hiking or walking stick.

The how to make walking stick making guides is a great resource on what type of wood to collect, how to get the right length, how to carve your waling stick, how to add  weave para-cord onto your walking stick and other aspects of walking stick and hiking stick making.

 If you are taking wood that is alive from a tree or a sapling for your walking stick making project try to get it from an area that is overgrown with the same type of tree. Do not collect rare or protected trees even if not in a nation forest. If possible, when collecting a sapling try to leave a portion of the sample intact so it can regrow.