Hey everyone! My name is Sydney Sokolva, I live in Oklahoma with my husband and Search and Rescue K9 partner Moon, and am a fantasy and science fiction writer. I’ve always loved working with wood since I was a kid (I was always running around with a handmade sword or bow in the woods and swapping creations with my friends) so I suppose this was inevitable.
I am involved in volunteer K9 Search and Rescue work and we utilize walking sticks on a practical level for our work to protect from snakes in the brush, to help with hiking through difficult terrain, and for tracking, measuring and keeping track of strides on the ground. I found a bundle of beautiful wooden branches that had been trimmed from what looked like a River Birch and cut one to make myself a hiking stick. A year later after seasoning, I sanded it smooth (had already stripped the bark before seasoning) coated with Polyacrylic to maintain the unusual very white pale color of the wood, and am now awaiting the ferrule and paracord I ordered to complete my new hiking stick!
In the meantime I’ve picked this up as a hobby and have been making hiking sticks for family and friends to surprise them, as well as some potential projects for events. It’s a very fun hobby and I look forward to learning more about it and improving my technique and craft!
St
