How to make walking stick from unusual wood an material

Living in South Florida gives us the ability to make walking sticks and hiking canes using unusual tropical woods and unusual material. In south east Florida you an not go anywhere without see hundred of  palm trees of all different types. The palm wood is very soft and its not a candidate for making making sticks. However, the palm fronds are a different matter.

I have experimented with different large fronds form queen, silver and king palm trees. The one that seem the best suited fro walking stick making is the queen frond whihc gets over 8 feet long.  The fronds are not as frond as say maple or birch to make a custom hiking stick but they are great for short cane walking sticks.  You need to start with a large frond over 8 feet long and use the thick first 4..5 feet.

Once you select the frond to make your hiking stick strip all the leaves off. Then let the frond complete dry out before working it. the frond makes a very unusual walking stick and its a bit pliable when in use. I highly recommend that you put 3 to 4 coats of shellac on the frond before your self made walking using.

Yes the palm frond wood can be carved but make sure you have very shape knifes becasue its stringy.  it's not recommend that you make a hiking staff using the palm frond.  Its best for a short walking stick used in the woods.

how to make custom hiking sticks and canes

Hand made hiking sticks and canes s a great project  for all ages. Boy scouts have been making sticks and earning badges fro many many years. They use their hiking sticks to show their abilities to carve, paint and work wood.  Medallions are added/inlay on to the walking sticks to show where people have traveled.

Making your own walking stick for extra point of stability while hiking provides a great way to spend time with young adults and even a life long hobby. .Many hiking stick makers create great custom hand carved and accented wood walking staffs for themselves and friends. Yes, you can buy a hiking stick but what is the fun in doing that when you can do it all starting with collecting the wood on your next hiking/camping trip?

When making a walking stick add you own special touches. Start with simple sticks and then start adding details and you learn new methods that are simple to do with the making walking and hiking stick guides.  No you do not need fancy tools and gadgets to make your own walking and hiking sticks. Just the wood, whittling knife and some time. Thousands of people make their own walking and hiking sticks from self collected wood - why not you?