How to make walking sticks and staffs carving wood

    One portion of making hiking and walking sticks and staff is wood carving. Several people have requested information on how to start carving walking sticks wood spirits even before they know the basic of how to make a walking stick or staff. This is a big mistake. Wood carving images on hiking staffs and walking sticks with details takes practice.   Just like painting you need to know basic hiking stick making how to's before jumping into portrait painting.

   First you need to select the right wood and we highly suggest aspen, basswood, willow and similar wood for making your walking stick.  Stay away for hard woods at first because they require more effort to carve and more knowledge of wood grains.

  Now use practice branches smaller pieces of wood to carve basic shapes. Try to carve straight lines around the walking stick. Then do simple wood carving such as one described How to easily make unique walking an hiking sticks guides. I have seen many people trying to do more detailed wood carving then their experience and destroy great walking sticks and staffs. Making hiking and walking sticks is a great hobby. Take it step by step or you may fall into the trap of becoming frustrated with the hobby.

  if you have questions or suggestions please post it here for a quick response. Have a great time making your wood hiking sticks and walking staffs!

How to make walking sticks: Collecting walking stick wood to carve

First, not all wood is good for carving. In addition when collecting wood for hiking stick making the time of year plays a factor in most parts of the US. First, if you are in a snow bound area look fro fallen branches to wood carve practice and to used to make a hiking walking stick. Remember to cure the wood first. In other words, collect wood for hiking stick making now to use in the summer or even fall.

If you live further south now is the time to look for tree trimmings.  This is the time people start to think about spring  storms and tree trimming.  Walk around your area for trimmed oaks, popular,  cypress, fruit trees and other trees for walking stick making. In fact, I have talk to neighbors while going through their piles and now I have them looking for branches the right size/shape for me. I get on the average 20 to 30 great walking stick branches each season to making hiking sticks and staffs.

Check out the How to Making unique walking and hiking stick guide for details information on how to easily make unique  walking sticks and staffs. Learn how to carve wood, use wood burning to make images on wood simply, create you won rope handles and metal ferrules. It does not take any special skills to learn to wood carve a walking stick.

Wood Carving and walking sticks

Stop do not throw away your Christmas tree.  Wood carving walking and hiking sticks requires practice.

However, if you are like me, I do not want to practice on wood I self collected. In stead at this time of year I grab a few disguarded christmas trees for walking stick making carving practice wood.

    Once you collect the trees cut off all the branches then cut the tree into three sections. Once cut you will need to let the wood cure before carving or wood burning images. I would suggest at least 2 months of curing time before you start the practice walking stick carving making project. yes, you can make a walking stick out of the Christmas tree however, they are usually too thick at the bottom and require quite a bit of wood trimming for your hiking stick.

Once its cured you can split the larger sections and practice wood carving. Again test the wood first to make sure its cured. the how to make walking and hiking sticks guides gives more details on wood selection, curing, carving and other walking and hiking stick making processes.


Actually collecting your wood hiking stick or staff is only the beginning. If you are looking for a great how to make hiking and walking sticks for to  www.walking-hiking-sticks.com . You will a complete guide and many bonus material on how to make unique wood walking and hiking sticks by hand

How to making hiking sticks wood carve and wood burn walking sticks wood selection

Most of the wood used for hiking sticks are self collected during vacations or in the area I live. Since I live in a tropical area (Miami) I have a limited few wood types (many tropical woods are way to heavy) that carve or wood burn well. First of all I only collect wood limbs and saplings that are not rare, endangered or protected by law. I prefer collecting wood limbs to make hiking sticks from recent tree trimming. Locally my favorites are Flamboyant limbs (hard top find straight), oak, ficus aero-roots, cypress, eucalyptus and even pines to do hiking stick making and wood carving. However, I do not shy away from exotics trees that are trimmed. Each wood for hiking and walking stick making present different challenges.

I always get a few small pieces along with the longer ones to test wood burning and carving for walking stick making. The biggest draw back to being in the tropics is the moisture constant of the wood. When making walking and hiking sticks from wood you need to cure the wood first. Curing is the process of drying out the wood. Some wood cure better than others. If you are making hiking and walking sticks curing properly is important to make sure the wood does not crack or bend while drying. Nothing is more frustrating is when you wood carve a hiking sticks only to to see it crack down the middle of the carving a few months later as the wood dries out.

While on vacations I have collected Aspen (Great wood for wood carving), cedar, willow, and hickory. yes, there are many other great woods you can self collect for hiking and walking stick making. The how to make walking hiking stick making guides are a great resource for wood types, curing and all aspect of hiking stick and walking staff making.

After you collect your wood to make a hiking or walking stick do not rush right into the project. One of the great ideas from the how to making walking and hiking sticks guides is to wood burn onto the wood the wood type, month year collect and where it was collected. This serves helps you remember great hiking stick wood collecting sites and when you collect to track curing periods.

How to make a fall leaf hikign walking stick

      This hiking stick making project is great for the fall. The steps in how to make this wood walking stick project starts with a real smooth well sanded stick, The walking stick blank to the right is a willow branch collected in Utah.  Then place a image of a oak or maple leaf on the walking stick.

      Put the image around the stick and then used wood carving tools or a sharp whittling knife to cut the wood away from the image. Leave the image of the leaf as a raised image on your hiking stick making project

      This how to make a hiking stick project entails wood carving,  painting, wire wrap and then actual making of the rope handle. The image to the left is 3/4 the way through the walking hiking stick making project.

     The remaining parts of the projects are left for you imagination. When you make a hiking stick combine various aspect of wood working including wood carving, staining, wire wrapping, rope work to make a unique walking and hiking stick.

   Make you own great looking walking or hiking stick. Make a wizard stick or even a great wood spirit on your project. Learn how to make great looking sticks and get the details on this project and others.

HIking Stick Making How to Make an Elk

     It's been a few months. Here is the starting of a walking stick making project. The bark was removed from a aspen branch which was cut leaving a small branch as shown. One aspect of hiking and walking stick making is an eye for what wood to use and how to cut the walking stick wood branch while thinking about what it may look like in the future.

    When collecting wood for walking stick making it always better to to cut a bit longer stick than is needed and look for interesting branches so you have options when thinking about hiking stick making projects.

     The above stick is an easy one to imagine before you even start. It can be a deer, antelope, elk or other antler a animal. I choose an elk with a a white patch around the eye after looking through different pictures on the internet. Hiking stick making is more about imagination at first than the actual wood carving of the image on the stick.

   
    Now we are part way through the walking stick making and carving project. Now you get a better idea of what the finished woo hiking stick making project will represent.

    Once the wood carving of the hiking stick making is completed I will use paints and stains to bring out the wild of this elk project. Learning how to make walking sticks is a great way to enjoy the outdoors and to bring a vacation home with you.

Great how to make hiking sticks tips and wood burning for Beginners

One great hiking stick making idea is to use a simple wood burning to put images on your wood hiking staff. the image to the left is a free hand (no template) design for hiking stick making beginners. You will notice that the design uses lines of various thickness to create a design on the hiking stick or staff that looks like ducks flying over grass reeds in water. The size of the ducks makes then look far away.

Another great way to more details walking stick wood burning is by using templates that are traced onto the wood. Combine elements of wood carving, rope weaving and wood burning into your walking stick making project.


Making walking sticks is a great hobby. it's a great way to take a trip you took home with you. You can collect your own walking staff wood on your vacations, cure it and then start making great hiking sticks on your own.

One great way to start learning how to stain, wood carving, wood burn, make hiking stick rope handles and to avoid problems is by using  the complete A to Z guides to making great wood walking and hiking sticks with your own two hands.

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