Do you ever have enough sticks?

I have about 40 shanks 3years old 50+ 2years old and about30 1 year old .

I can make 3 a week when not playing croquet but the season is over and hopefully start making 1 per week.

I spend more time looking into different species of waterfowl , one of my favourite subject matter but hopefully will try carving some dogs toppers , seem to be very popular here.

you just cant have enough shanks although I am getting more particular on the quality on size ,colour and defects , and it must be straight , but that's the advantage of hazel shanks they don't check and are easy to straighten and offer a wide range of colours.

BigDaddy said:

Currently I have about 40 sticks to carve on... dried and shed stored for close to two years I believe. This winter I am going to cut twice that much but have to go out now to mark the species. Mostly Maple. I never feel that I have enough sticks! Anybody else have tgat problem? Lol

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I started collecting diamond willow sticks in January and I have more than 300 in my workshop now. I still want more. It is an obsession.

I wish I could find Diamond Willow here in Ohio... I have never carved on it...

The main problem with letting the stock takeover is storage, and the time spent sorting and grading by shank quality. If selling to supplement income then yes, stock is important but for the hobbyist less and well selected is better especially when space is at a premium.

got admit my garage is a mess and they do take a lot of space

I'm planning an out of state move, so right now I don't even have a quarter of what I'd like! Wife's orders!

I wish I had more room but I can only house about 20 or so sticks at any one time. Nice looking stick holding jig Big Daddy.

I just started about a year ago. What I'm learning is the sticks I collected then aren't ones that I would collect now. I'm beginning to get a better idea of what I think makes a good stick and my older selections just aren't up to current standards. I'll use them because I have them nut I plan to collect more this year with a better eye to quality.

Good thing about it, I enjoy gathering them as much as I do making them.

Rodney

Rodney said:

I just started about a year ago. What I'm learning is the sticks I collected then aren't ones that I would collect now. I'm beginning to get a better idea of what I think makes a good stick and my older selections just aren't up to current standards. I'll use them because I have them nut I plan to collect more this year with a better eye to quality.

Good thing about it, I enjoy gathering them as much as I do making them.

Rodney

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I'm in the same boat as you, Rodney. I started less than a year ago, and in my enthusiasm, I wasn't as selective as I could have been. I have lots of gnarly sticks that have plenty of diamonds, but aren't straight enough to be a walking stick. I just need to think of a use for them. I've learned to be more selective now. It's hard to resist a beautiful, gnarly stick that's loaded with diamonds!

I'd say no, wife would say yes. As others have said. It is easy to go bonkers looking for sticks, as you progress you get more selective about what you take and keep. I've gone back through and culled mine severely. Plus I haven't done any carving this whole year, but I didn't collect last year either. I still have about 50 3+ year old sticks.

have to agree to the general concessive its better to go for quality rather than quantity but keep you eye out for a good natural thumb stick there difficult to find a good one.. also watch for a stick coming from the main stem and if can cut it leaving plenty of material each side it would make a great natural crook.

In Colorado there seems to be not as many trees down on the high plains as In Ohio where I'm from. In the mountains around me is National forest areas. I am pretty sure they wouldn't want me rummaging through there.

Today I did find a lumber yard near my house and I bought 2 logs of aspen 8 feet long and they have all diameter sizes. So I cut the two down and now I have 4. . . . . .

Clearly this is not enough.

I did however find an airbrush gun that i bought 9 years ago and used it for the first time today. Maybe I can use the air brush on some sticks in the future. Once I learn how to use it well

Presently I have about 25-30 sticks in the inventory that are ready for some work. As stated by all, space is my limitation as well. Some of the pieces I collected early in my "career" I wouldn't look at twice today. Some of those pieces I have cut into smaller sections and carved toppers out of, others have become campfire wood.

Jesse James said:

In the mountains around me is National forest areas. I am pretty sure they wouldn't want me rummaging through there.

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In regards to National Forests, dead standing or downed wood is perfectly OK to harvest. With the pine bark beetle killing off the trees at an alarming rate unfortunately there is a huge supply of dead standing timber available. I have collected a few good pieces of lodge pole pine. It makes for a very straight stick.

Thanks for this thread. It motivated me to go through my sticks and see what I really have. I have been keeping my sticks long while they cured with intent to trim off the portions I wouldn't be using when I made them into walking sticks. It works out ok for only a few sticks but it was getting messy in what is an already small and crowded shop. I spent some time yesterday going through my sticks trimming off the portions I know I wouldn't be using anyway and culling out sticks that I no longer think are suitable. .Most of my sticks ended up much shorter, suitable for canes and will need handles attached. I'm going to focus more on getting blanks suitable for one piece sticks this year.

Rodney

Yes Rodney did this myself earlier in the year got a sizeable amount of "why the hell did I harvest that one" shanks, chopped em up and distributed to family for kindling. Nice to do a bit of recycling.

My scraps end up as firewood for the grill. Nice thing about it, hardwoods make a nice smelling smoke.

Rodney