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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
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    UK
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    349

    Default Blackthorn Walking Stick

    Skull stick.jpg Blackthorn can be a really nasty wood ! this stick started out as a horse head but was cracked & checked right through as well as badly wormed - so an emergency change of plan necessary after roughing it out !

    Mike

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Perth
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    470

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    Well I think that was a very good "save" ,I like the skull, you can see how you started as a horses head but the skull works fine. Blackthorn? never heard of it, a UK wood maybe?

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
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    UK
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    Thanks Rob, yes , I'm not surprised you've it is not a commercial wood at all - its a small, scrubby European thorn tree (30 feet max). It is never sold in a lumber yard but is highly prized in stick making circles for its black bark & knobbly profile caused by where the lethal 4" thorns used to grow out from . It is rare & very expensive & a bitch to dry without cracking up entirely !
    Mike

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    McBride BC Canada
    Posts
    3,543

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    Great save and a conversation-starter to be sure. Is it good under the hand?
    I have to lean on mine (sense of balance damaged) so it's a concern for me.
    Mine's got a handle fatter than a big banana.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Ponchatoula, LA, USA
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    342

    Default

    Nice work!

    Claude

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    349

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    Quote Originally Posted by Robson Valley View Post
    Great save and a conversation-starter to be sure. Is it good under the hand?
    I have to lean on mine (sense of balance damaged) so it's a concern for me.
    Mine's got a handle fatter than a big banana.
    I'll sell this for what I can get ! ????? - cos I'm in the fortunate position of not needing to use a stick , quite yet ! But an emphatic YES ! it is good under the hand .
    I hate making anything practical that isn't well up to the job it is intended for - any beauty or interest is useless on top if basic function is flawed. ( although there are many cane collectors who never use them !)
    That's not for me though , I leave the stick over long & when it's sold , I send them info on how to measure leg length etc & cut it to fit them .
    Then I fit brass ferrule bottom of differing designs depending on their usual terrain.
    I see first job as functional & second decorative, even if it's a very decorative one.
    Mike.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    FRANCE
    Age
    59
    Posts
    3,495

    Default

    Nice work!

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    england
    Posts
    247

    Default

    missed this post
    nice job a one piece is often problematic to carve .Blackthorn love it but what a devil to harvest and season
    Your right about being well sought after and you do need to be mad to harvest them it probably shreds your clothes and skin to bits trying to get it . but loads of us do it

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    349

    Default

    Yep , It's a bitch to dry too !
    Thanks Cobalt.
    Mike

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