A sea story

[Whittling]

A few years ago, while walking on the beach near our home, my wife and I came across a piece of driftwood which I thought would make a nice walking stick 'one of these days'. I think it was Malaluka though I'm not sure as it had obviously spent some time in the ocean and there was no trace of bark on it but it did have those deep depressions around the base of shooting branches, typical of Malaluka. In any case, I took it home, set it in the corner of the shed and waited for inspiration to come knocking. Inspiration was a bit slow in arriving and it was only this year that I eventually decided to try a nautical theme given that it was after all.. a piece of driftwood.

Originally the stick was about 55 to 60mm in diameter. I thought to reduce this and at the same time maybe get rid of some of those depressions. I spent about 15 minutes on it with a draw knife and realised that if a walking stick were every to evenuate, it was going to take power tools. The stuff was HARD. I've never come across anything like it before for hardness. My hardest and sharpest tools were just skittering off it. I know Malaluka is hard, but I think that its time in the sea must have increased this characteristic by quite a bit.

In the end, I roughed it out with an Arbortec Pro wheel and did most of the carving with an Archer rotory carver and a variety of bits. I'm not very skilled with these tools, prefering a blade of one sort of another but in this case, that was just impossible. (I broke two blade tips trying)

The photos may not show them terribly well, but there are 4 small crabs climbing up the shaft. I call the stick... wait for it... 'Crab Stix'

[movay_2008]

That's special. I love those sort of simple jobs. It sure looks like melaleuca to me. I have one I found one while hiking in the Blue mountains fifteen odd years ago and is still in great shape - looks very similar to yours with that bulbous root ball and friendly character.

[underfoot]

Nice one Whittling
this would be one of my favorites

[Whittling]

Thanks guys... and thanks Movay for the correct spelling of 'melaleuca'. I couldn't find a dictionary with it in and my wife... (the brains trust of the outfit), was unavailable at the time so I just spelled it as it sounds.

Its one of those 'one of a kind' pieces due largely to the fact that I'll never find another piece of wood like it. One advantage the hardness of the wood does have... it polishes up beautifully. Its a beautiful lusterous finish with just sanding and grape seed oil. Gotta love wood!

[artme]

That really is special Whittling!!

Like they way you have symbolized the origins of the piece with the crabs!! Top marks.

[cookie48]

That is one awesome piece of work. You should be very proud of that one.

[Iggy]

I like everything about that one

[Claw Hama]

Yep top job Big W, like it a lot.

[kcam]

2tsup:Whittling, love the addition of the crabs, really makes the walking stick a stand out piece.
For the last few days I have had a photo of drift wood taken at the mouth of Arthur River Tasmania (Edge of the World)as my computer wallpaper and I have 3 pieces of the collected unknown twisted specimens sitting in the garden waiting for that "inspirational moment" will get to them one day !!

[Whittling]

Thanks Kcam. You are fortunate in that you remembered to take the 'before' images. I really wish I had. I've no record of what the stick looked like before I started it.

I'd love to see what you do with the drift wood you've found when the time comes. Don't forget to post a photo or two.

[kcam]

This is some of what was for available at the mouth of the Arthur River.....I think l have a bit of Blackwood and one of Myrtle the other one ??? I have never seen so much in such a small area....plenty of options for the serious sculptor.