Hiking Sticks

Pawlonia's other name is the princess Tree. It produces clusters of purple flowers around mothers Day along the area around the Mason Dixon line. I build lots of corner shelves and stuff for hanging on walls out of pawlonia. I started a grove when we moved here and the trees aren ow 15 yers old and about 9 " DBH

Id seen lots of checkering and fancy carving in gun stocks using the high speed pneumatic carvers. They move at about 350 000 rpm , like a high speed dentist drill. The detail that good carvers get includes such things as undercarving on animal silhouettes.

The high speed carving tools also make it easy to carve the inside of a screeching eagle's mouth -- fine detail of the tongue and such.

But I'll stick to the hand tools.

I hate the noise and dust generated by the power stuff.

Im a power tool nut. Cant waste time with honest craftsmmanship, when horsepower and gearing can waste a wood block in seconds. I have a deadly mix from Arbotechs down to teeny handpiece Pfingst aaero tools.

I saw a piece on MD Outdoors re an older couple hiking the Appalachian ridge line while fully "empacked".
the narrator reccomended the Double hiking sticks made out of Aluminum and that telescoped.
Wherear rog, gus, and my suggestions re: wooden sticks-- are a bit more substantial for long walks with a pack.If you have access to some white pines(small ones) , just thin some trees and take the center stem and dry it and cut it at a convenient height for your use. i like to use ones that are just about shoulder high with a lanyard and a carved grip.

Ole Missus Perkins allus cair't a Dogwood stick with a silver ferrule.
Said it wuz good fer keepin' away the werewolves... and reduced the chances of gettin' sass from the young'uns.
No-one ever sassed HER twice.

Dogwood! Don't I wish it grew around here, for the flowers, if not the wood. I was offered redbud as a substitute when I was in a tree planting mood. Obviously, my nurseryman and never compared the two when blooming.

Oooh, I have two cornus capitata, lovvvvvvvely flowers. New to me, being from LA before hereabouts.

Cornus capitata? Will you, for once in your life, speak English?

I dunno, beheaded dogwood? or, maybe, headed dogwood.

Cornus decapitata, then.

http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/eud/de/product/7427/1

Well, my flowers are prettier, have red streaks going inward from the edges of the petals, really lovely. The bigger tree is full of fruit now, I am watching them in wonder (what next?)

We simply don't have them here, with our without heads. That's one of the few things I miss about eastern Oklahoma.

On the other hand, I've heard a rumor that LA doesn't have lilacs because they need a good freeze. Those poor souls.

That's right. No lilacs in LA. And when I was a kid in Chicago environs, we had a yard full of them. Sigh.
You can get them far inland, people make a big deal of going lilac cutting, but it ain't the same thing.

There are some here in my immediate north north CA area, but they're better blooming a few miles inland.

My favorite walking stick is one my father got in the Phillipines in WWII--intricately carved with a dragon head, hollowed out with a ball in its mouth that rattles when you shake it.

I also have a neat one I found in the woods--some kind of oak sapling, I think, but it was wrapped tightly with a vine. We unwrapped the vine, revealing a spiral pattern along the stick. Cut it to length. A sturdy beauty.

But for a practical but stunning hiking stick, you can't beat bois d'arc (which we pronouce bodock). Lasts forever, has a lovely yellow glow.

Hi again, ya'll. Right you are, but I've also heard it pronounced bowdark (excellent for making bows). In Kansas, they seem to pronounce it Osage Orange. Lasts forever is right. The hardest wood in North America, and termites won't touch it. Too bad it tends to grow so crooked.

You know, I think Farmerman and I discussed this on Abuzz, at one time

Ah, Roger, when our pal CatFisH makes it safely back from Mobile ( where he's helping care for an elderly relative in the hospital), perhaps we can revive the discussion. The wood is not worth a hoot for construction because of its crookedness, but it's superb for carving walking sticks, bowls. etc. Yes, we're familiar with the name Osage Orange as well. (I once had a dog who loved to chase bodock balls...Gawd would they get mushy after a few retrieves!)

yes Roger I recall our discussion on osage Orange wood.If the bowdock of which you speak is indeed Osage Orange, we have many of these huge trees of it on Md Eastern shore where it was a staple in the shipbuilding industry way back when.If left unmolested and grown in a forest, they actually get fairly strait and tall, and girthy, but with a tough stringy wood Because it was so tough and gnarly, they would use it for keels in some fairly big ships. They would lap joint sections with a sort of dovetail in the vertical direction so it could be fit with pegs and pitch. they just rebuilt a baltimore Clipper in Chestertown Md a few years ago and had this bright yellow keel . They had to search far and wide to get the trees and cut them and driy them for use.So , it too had its use as dimensional wood.

We have honeysuckle that curls around fence wires and posts. These can develop a real snaky growth and get an inch or more thick. Some bastids go around cutting farmers fences to get the twisted vine stems..

Nother thing about osage orange balls, the eastern shore people would gather them and poke clove buds in them and sit them around as a sort of a room deodarizer. If they fall from a roadside tree , they can bust a windshield if they hit it falling

Wow -- Gus, did you really carve those sticks? They're beautiful!

It is interesting how different kinds of woods perform differently. I don't care for metal sticks. Mr.P uses a metal TRAX (I think it is called) but my favorite is a plain hazelwood walking-stick that I bought in Scotland for a pound. I brought it home on the airplane (Despite Gautam saying they'd never let me board.)

Wooden walking sticks have more give and flexibility. A stick as tall as a point halfway between your shoulder & your elbow is perfect for me. It is also important for me that the shaft not be too big as my hands are small. They're super when crossing a stream, or testing snowbanks and how muddy the trail is, as well as helping you get up and down hills.

I also have a great stick that came from a watershoot on a Thundercloud plum tree that we left way too long. I thought it would be brittle, but it's going strong after five years. Mr.P cut it to size, and that's all that has ever been done to it. It is a little tall for hiking -- just a few inches shorter than I am, but it's very handy when walking around the pasture and good at keeping the dogs & horse in line, too. A stick like that becomes an extension of your reach. That one is straight with a slight curve at the very top so it has a nice rake to it.

I started as Jespah did, just finding something along the side of the trail, but sometimes a good stick is hard to find. I have used cross-country ski poles when back-packing, and if I were carrying a big pack, I might consider them again, but I prefer having one hand free. Hope you find the perfect stick for your trip!

Oh, they're priceless when crossing streams. We have crossings on the Vallacito trail made up of a couple of skinny aspen trunks. You'd break a leg, at least, if you fall. I use a rubber crutch or cane tip on mine. I see that some of the metal ones use a steel or carbide point. That might get better traction than I would expect, but boy, are they noisy on stone or pavement.

I just started using the trekking poles two months ago---that's like a hiking staff in each hand, and you have to learn how to walk effectively with them. A little like learning how to cross-country ski. I use them for moderate to strenuous trails in the Smoky Mountains.

The effect is pretty dramatic---for one thing, using the poles removes about 30%-40% of your pack weight from your lower back, like you're walking on 4 legs instead of 2. Again, it takes a period of adjustment and practice, but when you hit a good rhythm, you realize that the poles really ARE increasing your stability and endurance.

Using only one hiking stick has its drawbacks---one stick doesn't really enhance your balance as much as you think, and repeatedly leaning into a single stick on one side can lead to some painful elbow and shoulder problems.

As far as wood vs aluminum goes, I wouldn't use either. Wooden sticks are a hinderance and a burden; and, if you're going to go with metal, there are much lighter materials than aluminum. I use the Leki Makalu titanium poles (which can be rather pricey), but there are other aluminum alloy models out there that go for as little as $50 a pair. What's interesting is that the lighter weight the poles, the more expensive they are.

Many hiking poles and sticks have a pointed metal tip, and this really makes a difference on rocky surfaces. A good carbide steel tip will grab almost any surface, giving you solid traction. Cheaper metal tips tend to slide on hard surfaces, so watch out.

Beyond their obvious use as walking sticks, they also come in VERY handy for crossing streams and dealing with snakes---and some hiking sticks feature a camera mount screw, so you can jam the pole in the ground as a monopod and set up timed photos.

Velocity

Thanks, Velocity. Like I mentioned, I borrowed a pair, but only got to use them a short distance, and without a pack.