How to drill perpendicular to end of stick ?

I've been in a quandry over this post.

There are machines and techniques that can do what you ask. However, not cheap, handmade especially. (want to know? I'll drive you crazy with instructions)

For a handmade connection point, just hand drill to the best of your abilities, then square the face of your drilled surface with a rasp or file. In Other words, drill your hole, then make the mating surface 90 degrees to your hole. 5 degree "out of square" on a curved stick is imperceptable.

OK, real world scenario:

Your workbench is about 42" tall.

Your stick you want to drill is a long hiking staff of 62"

Clamp your stick using spacer shims to your workbench until you get the vertical centerline you want. (I keep a lot of shim stock at work. The 5S team has learned to keep their hands OFF, they don't understand why a stack of shims are so valuable. After much verbal abuse, they tolerate me.)

Clear off your workbench so that you can stand on it. Then climb up on it.

You can drill straight down, Right? Use the smallest pilot bit you can, that will tell you whether you are out of vertical. Just do it! Then follow with final size! Now get off the workbench before you fall off.

Finally, use a rasp or file to square the face of your stick to your hole, and you're done.

Normally a friendly word will get you what , most people dont mind a few sticks its when it get into large qauntites they object after all keeping plants strong encourage further growth and some of them need coppicing

Your laws may be diffrent from ours but not. much. The right to roam is a very powerful tool that we have by law but if you obey the countryside code most land owners are okayBut yes you will come across the difficult ones

A lot of the paths that are used go way back and to medievel times and people will always have the right of way these oftern cross farmland /private property and even run through peoples gardens but nothing can prevent people from using them.If they do by any means the local council would be forced to act upon it to ensure that is reopened. because of the right of way Some farmers are strongly against it but the ramblers association is a powerful vioce when it come to things like the right of way most land owners would aviod a case that they know they would lose

But you must also have right of way Over here if a path is used for 7years or more and can be proven it becomes a right of way.A landowner by law must close the path once a year to prvent this from happening

normally there isnt a problem with walkers.

just have a friendly word with land owner about gathering a few to keep coutryside carfts alive normally this will hep

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I like bark, so I'm leaning to not stripping it. Natural sticks is what I have in mind.

I do have old deadwood elm, that has naturally lost its bark. Those are the ones the wife keeps pointing at and saying "make a stick of that for me!" She is half Lakota, and the elm are native, so maybe the wood sings to her. There are almost straight bits of it, with just a slight curve, I 'll try to make her happy.

Of course, she hasn't seen Sakakwea Silver Buffaloberry, or Oahe Hackberry, (Neither have I), but I know where to go at least see if they will make good sticks. I have seen ( and eaten) Buffaloberry, but I wasn't paying attention to the wood, just the berries. They are tall, dense shrubs, 10 feet tall at the highest. The Hackberry is a mystery as of yet, but two arboretums have examples of them.

I forgot to mention earlier in my stick hunting post, I also have a lower branch of Juniper, about 6 feet long, nearly uniform 1 1/2" diameter. It is still amazingly flexible, even though I pruned it just last summer. I've wanted to make some Gin of the berries, but don't know how to ferment them, and don't have the equipment to distill from the fermentation. Of all the Spirits, Gin is my favorite. It doesn't kick my head the next morning.