Walking stick -- myArmoury.com

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Mon 17 Sep, 2012 11:49 am Post subject:

The last few pics: Maybe too many but various angles and close ups show up the grain of the wood and the fine line where the two parts of the head are joined that is almost invisible in wide or medium shots.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Thu 01 Nov, 2012 11:17 pm Post subject:

Stick number 11 in my list of recent sticks since I started taking pics and posting them.

Zebrano carved head, wire wrap between head and Octagonal Hickory shaft, stainless steel tube used as ferule half hidden by crutch tip. The Octagonal Hickory shafts made by Ken Speed in the recent batch he sent me are extra stout and of larger diameter than the one's he sent me before.

I think my Zombie Slayer re-handling sort of influenced the asthetics of this one: The decorative nails in the head does give it a sort of a wooden mace/warclub feel to it.

The Zebrano turned out this time to darken substantially after oiling, much more than the Zebrano slabs on a previous stick ? Strange when the same wood gives very different results after being treated in a very similar way ? My theory is that the Zebrano was very very dry as it seemed to soak up the boiled linseed oil like a sponge !

I think if I want to be sure that the Zebrano remains light in colour would be to seal the wood before oiling so that the oil only penetrates very shallowly.

I think that Weldbond can be diluted 5 to 1 to use as a filler.

The tip has a cut section of stainless steel tubing instead of the usual tip furniture: I made this twice as long as I usually would because after putting on the crutch tip at least half of the steel remains visible. This was to avoid the metal tip being completely hidden like the copper caps end up being hidden by the rubber tips.

I did a series of varied wood burning patterns as deep lines in a checkerboard pattern on the shaft, and after darkened the entire rectangles to give it more contrast.

The lines are still visible but they become texture in the dark areas. The light rectangles sort of look " Ivory like " I think.

After using the boiled linseed oil for many applications I decided to use something else that seems to dry faster and gives a more glossy surface: CIRCA 1850 ( Brand name ) Antiques Danish Oil.

Still building this up and will use MINWAX Paste finishing Wax as a last finishing step. ( By the way used this wax on another stick and it gives a very nice gloss that seems wear resistant ).

As you can see a series of decorative nails in the head and some tacks holding the wound stainless steel wire: The wire wrap was easy to do as the wire would bend and change shape on the corners of the octagonal as I pulled it tightly around the shaft. I first drilled a pilot hole for the first nail holding the wire looped around it at the top and did the same for the nail at the end of the wire. I then added smaller tack nails around the shaft at top and bottom of the wire wrap to keep the wire tight.

I also use Weldbond glue below the wire and wiped some over the wire and cleaned off the excess with a wet wipe.

Each pilot hole for nails or tacks was filled with a drop of Weldbond before I hammered the nails/tacks in the head and shaft: The wire is firm and has no creep or looseness to it and I managed to wrap without any large gaps.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Thu 01 Nov, 2012 11:20 pm Post subject:

A few more pics showing it in hand: There is some distortion depending if the head is tilted towards or away from the camera.

The top part is 2" in maximum diameter but looks bigger in the pic where the head is inclined towards the camera.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Wed 20 Mar, 2013 12:28 pm Post subject:

Repost of the last stick I made that disappeared due to the " myArmoury " crash.

Some in progress pics followed by finished pics.

All Ebony stick, the head built around the rectangular piece that forms the main shaft of the stick and built up on the sides and faces.

Carriage bolts at the ends of the head and stainless steel wire wrap above and below the hand carved spirals.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Wed 20 Mar, 2013 12:34 pm Post subject:

More pics of the roughed out stick followed by finished piece pics.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Wed 20 Mar, 2013 12:42 pm Post subject:

And more pics including angled shots and how it looks in hand.

The stick using the wrist strap is very comfortable in use as one doesn't need to have a " death grip " on the walking stick head, and one can keep the hand very relaxed. The stick acts like a pendulum and it takes almost no effort for the stick to keep pace with a fast walk.

The rounded handle is also very very comfortable in the palm of the hand, the finish of the Ebony is satiny smooth and feels very nice.

D. S. Smith · Posted: Sun 24 Mar, 2013 9:02 pm Post subject:

Very nice Jean! I really like the most recent one. You definitely have some skill in woodworking. This recent staff looks like it could serve as a formidable weapon if it had to, yet still very dignified in appearance. Well done.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 7:39 am Post subject:

Juan Cocinas · Posted: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 10:43 am Post subject:

This piece is truly gorgeous, Jean. I really like the aesthetic that you've created with the spiral carved grip bracketed by the well-executed wire wraps. Keep the projects coming, sir Happy

Greg Ballantyne · Posted: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 1:33 pm Post subject:

I got a little inspired by some of these posts last year, and I cut a dozen or so saplings along the edge of my woods where a garden needed a little clearing anyhow. I kept six of the smaller ones, sassafras and one cherry. I got inspired again, and since the snow kept me home today I started on one of the sassafras saplings removing bark. I only got about half done with a lock blade, earned a couple of nice blisters for my efforts. These saplings were cut about 7 1/2 feet long, my intention is to make wizard staff size walking sticks with some, smaller 4 to 5 foot sticks perhaps as well. If I ever finish with a reasonable result I'll post a few pics...... don't hold your breath

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Sun 02 Jun, 2013 8:36 pm Post subject:

This time more of a Walking Staff at 48" long, right at the maximum that I think works in a city stick context: Just short enough that at the movies my stick doesn't block the people's behind me view of the screen. Wink

A friend of mine bough a new house and in renovations he took apart an old staircase that had these 3" diameter brass spherical decorations and steel brass plated collars at each end of lexan posts: I chopped up one of the brass spheres for stock material for the top of a stick.

The brass is a good 1/8" thick.

The steel brass coated collars I did some file work on using a chain saw sharpening file for scalloped edges and cut finer line with a dremel cutting wheel.

The head is made from Grenadillo with both heart and sap wood for a two tone yellow on one side jet black on the other side top of stick/head.

Used the usual cut down White Oak martial arts " Bo " staff for the shaft and the usual steel spear butts from KoA.

Sanding and burnishing with 1200 grit sand paper and synthetic extra extra fine steel wood + the usual boiled linseed oil hand rubber finish.

The point of balance it a few inches above the centre of the stick and it balances well when used for long walks.

The brass top was ground on the edges to match the top of the head, epoxied on and I additionally used some round headed nails to both secure it even more and for decorative value.

Oh, on the top of the White Oak I used a cooper tube that fit the shaft with just a little sanding and by coincidence this copper tubing fit the inside diameter of the slightly larger steel plated collars perfectly when everything was epoxied together + the usual 1/4" X 8" long steel pin joining the head to the shaft.

At this point anyone who has read the previous posts will know that this is my usual way to make things as solidly secure as possible in assembly.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Sun 02 Jun, 2013 8:44 pm Post subject:

More pics showing different sides of the two toned wood top piece and angled pics of the top.

Ken Speed · Posted: Mon 03 Jun, 2013 5:41 am Post subject:

I particularly like this latest stick, I think the control Jean exercised in carving the two tone head from the piece of Grenadillo is remarkable as is the metal work. The long graceful tapering lines put me in mind of a modern interpretation of a French nobleman's cane. I can see that it isn't just a pretty stick and I'm sure that it balances and handles sweetly for long excursions.

I should point out that Jean does all the work on his sticks with hand tools supplemented with a power drill, as far as I know, he uses no additional power tools.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Wed 05 Jun, 2013 4:30 pm Post subject:

Thomas Simpson · Posted: Fri 12 Jul, 2013 3:15 pm Post subject: adze

HI Jean - I really like your work .

Black locust is a really strong wood that makes a great stick , it grows around Montreal .

I was wondering where did you get your adze from ? price , country of origin too .

thank you

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Fri 12 Jul, 2013 5:21 pm Post subject: Re: adze

Thomas Simpson · Posted: Sun 14 Jul, 2013 11:06 am Post subject:

Jean - thanks for the link ! Adzes are the poor mans bandsaw . Happy

Black Locust likes sunlight , it often grows along the edges of fields and roads . The golden heartwood is very strong , cut it roughly to size as soon as you get in home but 6" longer because it will check on the ends , so seal the ends with some ordinary glue to slow down the checks. Let in dry slowly in a cool shady place for 6 weeks or so.

Radovan Geist · Posted: Sun 14 Jul, 2013 10:29 pm Post subject:

This is very inspiring! I´ll start working on couple of walking sticks myself, so it´s great to see your projects.
Btw, does anybody know about any book on historical waking sticks? I´m particularly interested in 16th-17th century. I saw couple of pictures here and there, plus some are depicted on period paintings, but I had found no systematic source so far. Thank you...

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Tue 16 Jul, 2013 9:34 am Post subject:

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Wed 11 Sep, 2013 9:13 pm Post subject:

Shorter version of the last Walking Staff, shorter Grenadillo head with less of the yellow sap wood, but still enough to give it a little bit of extra " flair ".

I initially used the butt spike from the Hanwei lance but the total length wasn't comfortable holding the stick over the top, and too short to hold it around the head, so I removed that tip and substituted the longer socket from the lance point after cutting of the point.

This worked great and the lines of the socket flow directly from the tapering White Oak.