How to make walking hking sticks by hand guides details

Excerpt from the beginning of How to easily make unique walking and hiking sticks by hand.

Ok, we all want to rush straight into Making Your Own Unique Walking Stick. However, we need to cover a few things first. Please, before you jump into things, read this section that has important information on various aspects of the hobby that you need to know before you start. 

         The guides are assembled in a manner to progressively take you from basic stick making, through wood burning images to carving.  It is a building process and it's highly recommended to review each chapter before you get started.  Many useful tips and tricks are revealed along the way that will give relief from hassles to make this hobby a great past time.

         Each How to make unique walking sticks and staffs guide Chapter will have a question and answer section. The Q & A area is reserved to answer questions by people just like you who need additional help; have suggestions; or just have a general question answered about stick making.  

         The making hiking sticks and walking staffs guides are designed to give you the knowledge to create unique walking sticks, hiking staffs or wizard staffs with little or no previous stick making experience.  If you have questions, need additional help or want to offer suggestions, please go to our blog.
 
       Many of us did not know if the walking stick wood could be worked. Is the walking stick wood the correct height? Or weight? Diameter?  We rushed home and started to work on the walking hiking stick and staffs What happened? In many cases the end result was trash. The wood cracked. It was too heavy or too short. In some cases we damaged the stick while trying to do something with it. In the end, frustration took over. Did this ever happen to you?

       Walking stick making is a great hobby or even a side business.  Who needs frustrations? With a bit of knowledge you will learn what to collect and how to work it. Let's get started!

How to hand make hiking sticks and staff ferrules

   How to make your own walking sticks ferrules takes a bit of knowledge, however, when compared to rubber bottoms they add a special finish to your walking stick or hiking staff project. The majority of the store bought walking sticks and even custom made ones that you see in specialty stores have those ugly rubber bottoms. Rubbers great  if you are walking on cement or hiking on dry asphalt but a steel tipped copper or silver ferrules add extra ground stability and added traction in when hiking.

    Metal ferrules are especially helpful when climbing steep terrain, crossing ice or water.  If you snow hike add a large metal ring right above the spike for added stability in deeper drifts.Depending upon your hiking stick making project you may want to use a steel (silver), copper or brass ferrule to accent you hand made walking stick or hiking staff. However, the tip should always be steel on your walking stick or staff.

   The image to the right shows you a finished hand made ferrule as describe in the how to make unique walking and hiking sticks staff guides.  It uses commonly found hardware items (metal pipe, screws, nuts, etc.) and simple tools to create the walking stick ferrule. Yes, over a long time the ferrule wears down if used on a hard surface, but that just gives you an excuse to work on you favorite stick again or make a new walking stick or hiking staff  for yourself.