Stick for the Camera

Early this spring I cut this oak sapling while clearing some brush. This was to be my first attempt at making a walking stick from scratch. I shaved the bark and prepared the ends with wax and left it in the garage to begin drying. This piece began a bit over 6' and had plenty of room for cutting it down if either of the ends split. This turned out bad as my garage gets quite hot in the summer and there were a couple pretty large cracks along most of this piece. I cut away the worst of the sapling and was left with a piece around 50" with nice character. It would be good for a cane if I ever get the request to make one. There was a 10" crack just under the 'elbow' that didn't seem to bad, so once the stick was dry I experimented with injecting lacquer to fill in the space. I still had no real use for this sapling and I let it dry in a cooler dry place for the remainder of the summer. Throughout the summer I would be tempted to admire the stick and was sure it would make a nice cane.

My youngest daughter is very competitive in high school soccer and is hopeful to continue playing at the college level. The wife and I purchased a video camera recently to capture some shots to post for prospective colleges. (Shameless Plug: check youtube Emily vs Corning gravedigger mix and Emily at UE) My first attempt at video capture was very shaky (Emily vs Corning) so I decided to take the stick I saved and make a monopod. After drying since the spring I began hitting the drum sander and sand paper. I carved the tip down before more sanding for a nicer transition and whittled the end so the 3/4 copper coupler sits flush. For the camera mount I found a bolt that fit the camera and a fender washer with a larger circumference than the stick. I cut a few inches below the top where I thought would be ok for the 'break'. I drilled the shaft of the stick to fit the bolt leaving about 1/4" to attach the camera and used epoxy to set the bolt and washer. In the cap I drilled the same hole and gently pressed a nut to indicate where I should whittle away. Once this was done I epoxied a nut into the cap. I used my grinding wheel and drum sander to shape the edges of the washer and blend the pieces together. It was a little difficult and took some time to get the cap to screw on and seat where the grain of the wood lined up. Once satisfied a little more sanding. I finished with two coats of stain along with three coats of clear lacquer. You can see with the second video (Emily at UE) the stick makes a lot of difference.