[dww2]

I decided to take another shot at a fully turned nose since the last one snapped off while cutting it out. I had a few cherry burls which had been kicking around for 10-12 years so I took the best looking one into the shop and sliced a nearly 2 inch thick slab out of the center. Has some worm damage but it was in pretty good shape.

I drew a handle pattern on it and cut it out. Did some shaping on it and was really impressed by the grain. It is glued to a chestnut shank with a buffalo collar waiting for the epoxy to set. Camera batteries ran out of juice before I could take any more pics though.

 

[MJC4]

Well done! Cherry is one of my favorite woods. Charge up those batts and post us a pic of the finished product!

 

[woodsman]

Coming along nicely keep up the good work. You have a lovely grain on that wood.????

 

[Rodney]

Really nice looking crook! I still haven't done a full upturned nose on one.

Rodney

 

[dww2]

It turned out pretty nice. The shank still has a bit of an S curve to it but overall looked nice.

 

[nameless]

I decided to take another shot at a fully turned nose since the last one snapped off while cutting it out. I had a few cherry burls which had been kicking around for 10-12 years so I took the best looking one into the shop and sliced a nearly 2 inch thick slab out of the center. Has some worm damage but it was in pretty good shape.

I drew a handle pattern on it and cut it out. Did some shaping on it and was really impressed by the grain. It is glued to a chestnut shank with a buffalo collar waiting for the epoxy to set. Camera batteries ran out of juice before I could take any more pics though.

It is such an elegant form! Always has been!

I'm wondering, though, about that little turn-up.

What happens to it when one drops the stick, which is inevitable, and it lands on the curlicue??

Just snaps off? Mashes? Put on a bumper? *__-

 

[dww2]

Well, choosing the right bit of wood helps a lot. Since this was a bit of cherry burl with some fairly gnarly grain, it makes it less likely to snap under ordinary use. I very much doubt that anyone would take this stick out for a hike or other places where the likelihood of damage would be increased, but accidents happen. One way to avoid damage would be to saw through the nose and slip a bit of plastic or maybe a few sheets of veneer going in different grain directions.

A previous stick was meant to have a fully turned nose but snapped off during cutting because I ignored the grain strength issue. In the first pic you can just make out my pencil marks for the turned nose. Second pic is after it snapped off and re-shaped. Third is final product.

The ideal material for this sort of stick would be ram's horn or water buffalo, but I don't have access. (Well, I do have some small bit of buffalo horn, but just for making spacers)

A bumper would make the stick kind of ugly, but maybe some hidden airbags.

 

[Rodney]

That grain issue is one of the reasons I haven't done an upturned nose. The piece above started as a perfect piece for a crook. No short grain at all.

Nice job on the cherry one.

Rodney

 

[dww2]

Thanks, Rodney. The girlfriend thought the shank of the cherry one was a bit too pale in contrast with the handle so I gave it a couple of coats of cherry flavor Danish oil. It did make the grain stand out a bit more.

Here's a couple more I've been working on. I had a beech handle kicking around for a while that I had put polyurethane on. It was a bit large to be comfortable so I re-did it and stuck it on an elm shank with a deer antler spacer. Another with a dogwood shank, a wide antler spacer which I might try doing some carving on, with a sort of serpentine ash root handle. The ash handle was on a different stick which I didn't like the way it turned out so decided to take the head off and put it on a different shank.

 

[cobalt]

nice looking crook you have there

peole make loads of crooks without the handle breaking just get the grain direction right

Alternativly you can always use a hardwood dowel in it to strengthen the crook

 

[Gloops]

Good quality plywood makes a interesting and strong crook as shaping through the laminates produces a good looking piece.

 

[dww2]

That is very true, Gloops. I was wandering around the net looking at various styles and found a Dutch maker named Emil Oomen who does a lot with plywood and laminates.

I'm not sure if this will make a working link, but his site is http://www.emiloomen.nl/