How to prepare a freshly cut wood for walkin stick making

There are several tricks to keep a freshly cut wood limb for your hiking and walking stick making project. Depending upon the wood collected for your hiking staff you will either need to strip the bark off right away or leave it on to give a more rustic walking stick. If you are collecting a willow, aspen or similar thin bark wood branch we suggest that you strip to bark right away when the wood is still damp to prevent hassles in the future. When you strip the bark off the wood leave about 2 inches on the ends intact to help prevent the wood from cracking during the curing process.

    If you are collecting pine or fir for your hiking stick project then most likely you will leave the bark on the limb.  One way to prevent pines and firs from splitting is soaking the end in a wood glue solutions. As glue solutions dries it helps to cement the wood together and prevent the cracks as the wood dries. When you make a walking stick or hiking staff you need to let the wood cure before making you hiking stick. the amount of time it takes to cure the wood is different for different types and harnesses of woad collected to carve walking sticks.

One of the more interesting woods I recent used to make walking sticks is Malaluca .  In south Florida
Malaluca trees were introduced over 80 years ago as a way to drain the wetlands so people. South Florida  use to be on big swamp full of nasty critters and bugs. Along came the Europeans who brought with them Malaluca. The Malaluca trees soon because a good idea gone a muck! The tree started to take over everything and soon was considered something to destroy at all costs. Anyway, there are many areas of eucalyptus  trees and saplings ripe for walking stick making and hiking staff carving.  

The Malaluca saplings make great walking sticks and are easy to work. Plus, if you get the plants from South Florida you are doing the area a favor! The only hard part is peeling the paper like bark off the wood before carving. If you plan to wood carver walking sticks using the wood you need to wear a mask or haev very good wood carving air filtration system. The wood can cause irritation! 

If you pull a sapling to make you walking stick take some of the roots ball. Strip the roots and polish them to make interesting shapes for you hiking staff or stick making project. Its better to get a young tree or sapling for the walking stick project.  if you have an usual wood for your hiking stick making project or wood carving project let us know. If you want to trade wood let us know and we will post the request. Yes, we I will trade local hikgin stick making wood for wood from other areas. Let me know!

Basic how to make hiking walking sticks and canes

Basic wood carving and tools

Many experience woodcarvers work with almost any wood beginners should start with softer woods such as basswood, balsa, aspen and pine. Don’t start with hard woods such as walnut, cherry, mahogany and oak until you have a few detailed projects completed.  When selecting wood consider the grain of the wood and the direction of the grain which adds appeal to projects.

Carving Instruments

You can spend thousands of dollars on wood carving tools to make on hiking stick . However to start out a few basic stick carving tool will handle beginning to moderate experienced stick carving workers. The primary tools consist of very sharp knives of various sizes and metal angles. Many people use utility types knives and they never go beyond these tools. They consist of a couple handle that hold very sharp thin disposable blades.  

Project Ideas

     Beginner wood carving walking sticks consist of geometric designs on wood. Then as you gain experience in how wood works progress to simple eagle heads and then wood spirits. Do not go directly to wood spirits.  Try a few simple designs an extra wood before attempting more detailed your walking sticks projects to prevent mistakes that can destroy a good hiking staff. Remember to start simple.

Preserving the Finished Project

Preserving your walking stick is as simple as rubbing on some stain onto the wood and then coating with shellac. We recommend at least three coats of shellac on your walking stick project.

carving a eagle for a walking stick how to make project

How to carve a walking stick eagle head

Carving designs onto a walking stick does not need to become a major project. Some of the simpler designed such as a carve eagle head  creates a great hiking stick making project. The image attached to this post is the top of the walking stick and the carving was created using just a pocket knife. Yes, most wlakgin sticks are thicker but the concept is the same. The image does not show the completed eagle head wood carving for the walking stick about it is 90% completed. 

It's a simple design and when finished it adds a rustic look to the stick. Beyond the image the carving needs to be sanded and finished with a few coats of clear shellac or other wood finish. Yes, you can paint the eyes black or drill a hole to give it a more depth. This is a great project to do while at a camp site or a quick hiking stick and staff making project in the evening.

One aspect not covered here is the shape of the walking stick top. When you collect your walking stick material to make a hiking staff  think about the finished project. I prefer curved tops to give movement to the eagle head or other animal that I plant to carve. May times I leave branches on the collected walking stick until I determine the final design stick making design. Also, the hardness of the wood needs to be check before starting your hiking stick making project.  The walking stick guides gives good details on wood selection, what to collect, carving, staining, deigning and other aspect of walking and hiking stick making.

Hand make your own wood walking and hiking sticks

When walking or hiking trails with a single walking stick, hiking staff or pole can give you an extra point of stability. If you are in the desert it even gives you added protection against snakes. Many people travel with their walking sticks so a two part stick is convenient. When creating your own wood walking stick or hiking staff think about making a comfortable grip, use strong light wood, and even mount a compass. Inserting a compass into a walking stick you make is easy!

If you hike in wet climates you should consider the type of finish you use on your walking stick project. When making your hiking stick put several layers of shellac (natural resin) or other clear coating on the wood to protect it from the elements. If possible stay with natural resin finishes instead of marine poly based ones which add weight to your walking and hiking stick projects. In between coats lightly sand the stick with fine steel wool when making your walking stick.

When you cross streams rubber bottom walking sticks are a hazard due to slippage. It's much better to have a pointed metal tip for better support on slippery rocks and on loose gravel areas. Rubber bottoms walking sticks are good for cement trails and level dirt trails. Just like football players, spikes give you traction when you need it while hiking with your own made wood walking sticks.

Scout hiking stick making project

     Creating your own hiking stick is a scout tradition. Here is an another idea of a possible new tradition for hiking stick making for your scout troupe or competition between states. Why not have a group hiking stick making pass around walking stick project.  Many wood carvers create projects where each persons puts their own individual style on the project.

    This is how it works when doing a hiking stick making group project. First, select around 3 to 10 people who want to make a scout hiking stick. Each person is assigned a portion of the hiking stick to add their own personal touch. The catch is that you will need one hiking stick blank for each member who contributes to the project.

    If you have 5 scouts making a hiking stick then you need 5 hiking sticks. Each person is assigned one section on EACH of the 5 walking sticks. If you are doing the hiking stick making project between 3..5 troupes then assign each troop one section and the put the EXACT same design on each of the walking sticks. This way after  all the sticks are passed around they will all have the same design on each stick.  This way each troupe or person who participates in the project will have a group made walking stick to call their own. In the end, each troupe or individual scout will enjoy a group walking stick making project and get design ideas from others for other walking stick making scouts areas.

   We recommend starting with simple designed and progress with more complicated walking stick making techniques. Start a project with troupe emblem. Get a group of scout masters from your state to commit to adding their emblem suing the same techniques (paint, stain, drawer, or wood carve). Each troupe is assigned a section and a completion date. Each group gets one stick of the same type and does the design. Then mail/pass the stick to the next group until the walking stick making project is completed.

How to making hiking sticks and walking staffs

Proper and staining of your walking stick making project is a critical step. When making a walking stick or hiking staff you need to protect the wood from the elements such as water, snow and dirt. However, once you stain and coat the stick are you finished making your hiking stick?  have you considered other techniques of sanding off stain for contract or making images on you walking stick by sanding off stain? these are just a few methods shown in the walking stick making guides.

First before you do any staining make sure you walking stock wood is very smooth. I recommend to sand the wood in three steps starting with 80 grit, 220 and finish with either 400 to 600 grit.  I always go to 600 grit on my project to give me a better surface foe staining and painting. Yes, you can use an electric sander in the first rough step. However, I recommend hand sanding 220 and higher so you have better control on your walking stick making project.  After you sand the wood use your bare hands to feel the wood surface for imperfections in the are you plant to carve, paint or other aspect to make your walking stick project unique.

The image on this post uses a method of  blocking stain from certain areas of  walking stick to make a design on the wood. There is a trick to this method of preventing stain from adhering to some areas of the wood and not other areas. Beyond circles you can create whole images on your walking stick making project and create great shading effects.  Combine this method with other stain colors or paints to recreate scenes and add more personalized touches to your walking stick project.