walking hiking stick making inlay stone metal into stick

Tools how to make hiking stick inlay

    When making your own hiking sticks do not limit yourself to just staining the wood, carving an image or drilling a hole for a cord. Why not inlay rocks, a compass, metal or crystals when making your own walking staff or hiking stick?

    The image to the right shows all the tools you need to inlay an object onto a wood hiking stick. The carving knife, marking pencil and the actual item you plan to inlay.  If you know basic hiking stick wood carving techniques then you can inlay an object.

    The object to the left is a piece of agate on a Stirling silver plate. The silver plate is flat so I will create flat spot in the hiking stick first and then mark the shape of the object on the flat wood area. Next I will remove the wood from the area which I plant inlay the object. The how to make unique walking sticks and staff guides details inlay projects giving you complete step by step, picture by picture details on the process. Also, it includes special steps to make sure the object stays attached because if you just use glue you haev a good chance of losing your inlay.

Walking hiking sticks making stick woold left over project

How to making hiking sticks and staffs wood left over projects.  Making you own hiking stick is a blast especially if you collect the wood yourself. However, what do you do with the left over pieces of wood?  Why stop at just making your own hiking stick when you can make a wood knife? Wood vase? Wood tree holder or even a walking stick stand to hold your many self made walking sticks?
Some of these ideas are detailed in the wood left over project section of how to many unique walking and hiking stick yourself guides. The above wood knife  is an additional hiking stick project project that takes left over wood and a comfortable place to whittle wood.  The over all length is determined you your left over hiking stick material. I have used pieces as skinny as 2" round and as long as 14 long (Bowie design) to make my wooded knives.

There is no set rule in width, length or even if it needs to look exactly like your hunting knife. There are hundreds of styles of real knives so why limit yourself. Maybe make a wood knife that resembles a sword or a dagger?  Or use a big piece for a bowie knife design.  However, a word of warning, it can cause injury just as in the Dracula movies wooded knives/stakes can kill. When making your own  wooded knives keep them away from children. If you are showing a younger member of your family how to make them make sure you give them reminders about the danger of the knives to prevent injuries!  Enjoy your hiking stick or walking staff making hobby and  please if you have questions let me know!

Trading making walking sticks and walking stick wood

Several people haev asked about trading walking sticks wood collecting in different different regions. Its sounds like a great idea due to the fact there are always a few local wood used in hiking stick making not available in all areas. In my area, Southeast Florida, everything is a tropical wood. No maple, aspen, birch, popular, alder or other woods found in areas which get cooler weather. The only time I can obtain non-tropical hiking and walking stick making wood is either during trips or purchasing them online. Yes, I do collect some wood here in my area. In fact many of the wood I collect can not be found any place else in the USA except in the southern parts of Florida area.

One of the great things about making your own walking sticks and hiking staffs is using different woods. Yes, can you stick to the woods for making walking sticks or hiking staffs from your are but it will limit your wood working experiences. Wood hiking sticks from in a wide range of wood colors, harnesses and shapes.  Once wood from my area is use to is ornamental olive tree branches. the branches naturally grow in a minor zig-zag shape and it has thorns. Once the thrones are removed the natural shapes and strength of the wood makes it a great walking stick making material.  Another great one with a yellowish wood tone is flamboyant which is a natural canopy tree in our area. its very strong and once you learn how to work it makes a great hiking or  walking stick for anybody collection. Another one is king or queen palm tree fans. The trick is to collect them when they are just about ready to fall and to gets ones from trees that are many ears old. Palm fronds make unique walking sticks but you need to control their curing to make sure they do not split.

The point to this post is to see if there is interest to trade wood for hiking stick making. If you have an interest in trading walking stick making make a post here and if enough people respond then I will help with walking stick trading (add a are ion this blog for trading ) through this blog.  Creating making your own walking sticks and hiking staffs may become a great way to meet others with similar interests.

How to self collecting wood for your walking stick making project

This post is a specialized one for the south areas and similar treeless locations. Collecting wood in the south to make your own walking sticks and hiking staffs is a bit more difficult then in northern forest areas. If you live in desert areas it even harder. Here are some it ideas of wood for walking sticks in your areas.

I recently traveled in Arizona  on vacation and unless you live above flagstaff or near the white mountains you haev very little choice in walking stick making wood. One desert guide had a great hand made walking stick she created using Yucca. The yucca and similar plants grow tall stocks which produce flowers. After the flowers die so does the stalk. This stock if collect before it completely dries out make great walking sticks. They are stiff and very light once completed. The trick is to collect the stalk for making walking sticks and hiking staffs get it before it start to rot.

Many cacti have internal skeletons that make great walking sticks and hiking staffs. However, know your plants and area because some collecting laws are very strict and costly if you receive a fine. If all else fails you can purchase a cacti skeleton from a dealer for your walking stick project. Hand making walking sticks while on trips is a great evening project for families. We have met many families on trips while camping and created hand made walking sticks while sitting around campfires.

When collecting wood for walking staffs and hiking sticks  in desert areas do not be afraid to experiential with different things. If you are in an ear with a new housing development check to see if they are removing trees or large shrubs that many contain wood for waking stick or staff making. Not all wood walking sticks are tall - you my consider a short cane style when making your hiking sticks.

How to make hikint sticks self collected wood shape

Walking sticks ready to make then unique

 Many times people ask what shape should they collect when they plan to make a hiking stick or walking staff.  Usually the sticks are straight or slightly curved. But if you look in past posts you will see a few unusual shaped hiking sticks and walking staffs. When you select the stick to make your walking staff or hiking stick do not limit yourself to only collect perfectly straight sticks.

You will notice a few of the walking sticks ready to be worked have various bends in them. Many have branch parts still attached too. When I collect walking sticks to make, I almost always leave  few branches on it to give me options in the future.

Beyond the shape of he walking stick, right after you collect it you need to determine if you are going to leave the bark on or not. It is much easier to remove the bark when the stick if fresh than when it dries up. When making a walking stick you have many design options and styles choices. Do you plan to add a rope weave for the hand hold area of you walking stick project? Or wood burn images or use a fancy staining technique to create intricate designs on the wood? Making walking sticks with your own hand will give your hiking sticks and walking staffs uniqueness. It a great hobby and brings your vacations home with you if you collect your own wood.

Get ready to collect walking and hiking stick wood this fall

Now if the time to start to think about collecting wood for you next walking stick making project. Fall is just around the corner and in some areas in the far north has already arrived. Also, if you are in the eastern part of the US hit by hurricane Irene, first we want to offer our best wishes and second with all the fallen trees you may want to send a bit of time collecting wood to make a new walking stick.

May trees too to damage will never grow back so why not use them for you walking and hiking stick making hobby.  Just collect a few and then set them aside for a few months to cure.Remember to stripe the bark now when they are still moist and easy to peel.  even if you do not recolonize the type of tree it still may make a great hiking stick or staff.  when you store it keep it in a dry place to prevent wood rot and it's always better in doors to keep wood bugs from eating the wood.

If you are learning to wood carve walking sticks, hiking staffs or wizard staffs collect a few extra sticks to practice. Get great ideas and techniques on how to create unique hiking sticks and walking staffs with the guides. If you need help in what wood to select, how to cure wood, stain, wood burn  and even wood carve your own walking sticks and staffs then the guides will be a great help. Learning how to make hiking sticks, walking staffs and even wizard staffs is a great hobby and even a business.

how to carve walking sticks in progress

Here is a work in progress wood walking stick and hiking staff. Once you learn how to create great looking walking and hiking sticks most people start to carve.  It's great to learn how to make your own walking stick using staining,  rope working, wood burning images and other techniques to make great wood walking and hiking sticks staffs. However, when you start to learn how to carve them you gave the ability to bring all the techniques together to make truly make unique walking staffs, sticks and even wizard staffs.

The above image is in the stage of removing excess wood away from the actual images being carved.  You see part of the wood carved hiking sticks salmon and the rocks below.  Once the excess wood is removed the next process of carving the image details is started. On this project I will start carving the rocks on the river bed on this walking sticks. 

Once all the details are carved then wood will be prepaid for staining or painting. Learning the steps in how to make unique walking sticks but hand is important to prevent frustration with this hobby. How to make walking sticks and staffs guides is a great A to Z from collecting the wood, sanding, curing wood, staining, wood burning images, carving and much more.  Getting back to the above carving: I plan to use train modeling paint that works well on all types of  wood and comes in many many colors. I will not apply a clear coat first o the wood. I want the colors to run/mix together to give a more natural look on the salmon. Look for the finished wood salmon walking stick project images in the future to get more help with yourmakning walking and hiking sticks by hand yourself.