[firie000]

Hi,

My name is Mick and I'm from Albion Park (about an hour south of Sydney).

After visiting UK and buying several thumb and walking sticks i have decided to

pursue stick making (whch i have always been interested in) as a hobby.

Luckily, I have been able to source some nice straight shanks from a relative near Mudgee in central NSW -

black pine, forest oak and hickory. No hazel or blackthorn around here that I can find. Anyway It's good timber and

while I'm wating for it to cure I have a couple of hazel shanks from UK to work on.

I'm interested in learning from the other forum members and in particular about the longer sticks rather that the traditional

smaller crook shaped sticks.

Álso looking for stick making book recommendations from forum members dealing with these types of sticks - especially staining/oiling and otherwise treaing the wood for a good look. I have David Dawson's "Making walking sticks for a hobby" but it is not detailed enough.

I would also like to know if there are any other Australians on this site.

I look forward to being on the forum.

Cheers

Mick Thompson

 

[cobalt]

welcome to the site

Plenty of people here have some experiance of stickmaking and you may find some older post useful.

As for stickmaking there are some books mentioned in "book review" which are pretty good

1 "STICKMACKING A COMPLETE COURSE" by Andrew Jones & Clive George

2 " CARVING ANIMAL CANES&WALKING STICKS WITH POWER" by Frank Russel

Style of stickmaking do vary The Americam is quite different to the english style but most people carve in there own style with the tools they prefer ,there isnt a right or wrong in it its just a matter of enjoying what you do

The terminology also varys its just a case of suck it and see and if your not sure just ask , someone will be willing t help

 

[Rad]

Welcome to the site Mick!

 

[Lacumo]

Welcome to WSF!

 

[gdenby]

Cool to find someone from such a different place here on the forum. When you said you had access to a kind of oak, and hickory, I was about to respond that those are among my favorites for sticks. But upon doing some searches, I see that "hickory" in Australian may mean a kind of eucalyptus. And, that forest oak may refer to "rose she-oak" scientifically allocasuarina torulosa. I'm eager to see some samples of the wood when you get them.

 

[smalltowngirl13]

Hello and welcome to the forum Mick!

 

[Fordj]

Welcome, Mick!

It's good to see someone from Down Under.

 

[firie000]

Thankyou all!

I will post some pics and and very short video ASAP to give a bit of an idea of the

timber I am using and where I got from.

Cheers and thanks again for the warm welcome.

 

[firie000]

Hi All,

As promised some pics of the shanks I collected near Mudgee inCentral Western NSW.

My wife's Uncle Brian is an accomplished bushman specialising in leather work (whips, belts etc) and he

put me onto Hickory, Black pine and River oak. I was pleasantly surprised at how straight the sapplings were I have attached some pics but did not get any River oak. RO sapplins grow in a very straight single trunk and . there were hundreds to choose from. Trust the quality as some pics are video screen grabs.

Have also included a screen grab of the countryside. As you can see it's very dry. Most of western NSW is drought stricken. Tough times for the locals indeed.

Cheers

Mick

Sorry can't get stick pic to stand up! Timber left to right is Hickory , river oak (x2), black pine (with rough bark) and another hickory.

 

[Rad]

Very interesting Mick -- thanks for sharing the pics! Nice straight stock to work with.

 

[cobalt]

Always good to see the coutry side where people live

 

[CV3]

Hi Mick. Thanks for sharing you pictures.