i have made ash hiking poles they do make good shanks so no reason why it wouldnt be handy
have a look around your area for hazel theres a suprising amount about
I havest mine locally most are good enough for working shanks but its sprising difficult to get a grade ones which i am after to try to make some compertition pieces
out of the amount i have very few would make show ones
A friend has some hazel she wants removing and there look to be some good shanks in there, on my way up later so hopefully there'll be a good haul. Unfortunately it won't wait until Autumn as she wants them gone so I have to make the best of it.
If you can get a few straight pieces out of it try to cut some including the main stem it may be good enough to make a one piece crook or suitable for a single piece carved topper
I always draw my own patterns and get several from images of the net then change them to suit my need . But you can down lad images and modify the size easily enough. .Alternatively just take a picture f the subject matter and modify that .
There are some good pattern books about
I bought a couple of amazon called "decorative decoy carvers patterns /The ultimate painting & pattern portfolio" by Bruce burk
there's about 12 different species of wild fowl including both duck and drakes .The patterns are ideal for wild fowl toppers and need very little modification and that's just the neck to fit the shank. I wouldn't recommend the painting advice its mostly for American brands of paint and I found the English paint didn't work as well
There isn't any carving instructions just patterns but for a total od about 24 patterns its a good price
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