Stalking sticks

Spix

Well-Known Member
Anyone on here still make their own stalking sticks ? I cut a good 6'6" elder shank last autumn, very straight which is for me a rare find for elder of this length, light and and very strong, couldn't find another to go with it though. Peeled all but the top 12", stained the lower section. Handles really nicely but not telescopic !
 
I go stalking so often having forgotten my sticks, that I purposefully leave a roll of electrical tape in the truck so when it happens next time I can cut another couple of hazel sticks and tape tem together 8" from the top. Very Cheap, quick and easy. I invariably lose them soon after and have to make another pair. I also have a pair of telescopic ones that I try to use all the time, but keep misplacing. Terrible!
 
Oh yes!

Every Christmas morning for the last 8 years I've headed off to a secret location and taken a long, sturdy and perfectly straight single holly stick for seasoning.

My current “single stick” has been in use with no significant damage for 3 years so I probably now have enough spares to see me out!

K
 
I go stalking so often having forgotten my sticks, that I purposefully leave a roll of electrical tape in the truck so when it happens next time I can cut another couple of hazel sticks and tape tem together 8" from the top. Very Cheap, quick and easy. I invariably lose them soon after and have to make another pair. I also have a pair of telescopic ones that I try to use all the time, but keep misplacing. Terrible!

Yes, the big challenge with telescopic ones is reducing them to bipod length then leaving them somewhere, much prefer cut sticks !
 
A stickmakers dream ... I've yet to find one ! Do you season and retain the bark, I have heard that it is difficult to, or do you just let it strip ?
This is going off thread already, sorry OP. However Spix, Holly is very easy to straighten once it's dried out. Steam at the bent bit over a kettle and then put it in a vice with the bend just out of the jaws and over bend it in the opposite direction. If you over bend it just enough it will spring back to perfectly straight. A little bit of practise and anyone can do it. Don't try it on green sticks though because it will go straight back to it's start position! Obviously I'm not talking about straightening a boomerang stick. The nearer to straight to start with the better!
 
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get four bamboo sticks from from you local gardening shop cut at a little bit below shoulder height not much 2 to 3 inches will do. tie the tops of two together about 4 inches from the top. then repeat the process on the next two sticks . next place the two sets of sticks together open out on the ground till you get a V on both sets on the ground then tie the right legs together about a foot from the ground then repeat for the left legs/. last thing you will need is a foot of string to tie between the top V on each set depending on the lenght of your stock between trigger and barrell and then enjoy a fallow at 200 250 yards will test it out perfectly
 
This is going off thread already, sorry OP. However Spix, Holly is very easy to straighten once it's dried out. Steam at the bent bit over a kettle and then put it in a vice with the bend just out of the jaws and over bend it in the opposite direction. If you over bend it just enough it will spring back to perfectly straight. A little bit of practise and anyone can do it. Don't try it on green sticks though because it will go straight back to it's start position! Obviously I'm not talking about straightening a boomerang stick. The nearer to straight to start with the better!

Kind apologies accepted but unnecessary ... I am the OP ... however I was asking specifically about the bark, on holly, which I've read is hard to retain. Do you manage to retain the bark on your seasoned holly shanks or does it just strip off ? Certainly agree that nearer to straight to start is best. Thanks, S
 
jdevers ... This is one that I haven't tried and will do ; I grow black bamboo which should be perfect if I can get the right thickness, thanks, S
 
Kind apologies accepted but unnecessary ... I am the OP ... however I was asking specifically about the bark, on holly, which I've read is hard to retain. Do you manage to retain the bark on your seasoned holly shanks or does it just strip off ? Certainly agree that nearer to straight to start is best. Thanks, S
Sorry, So you are lol! Yes no problem with bark stripping at all. Maybe people have tried to season them too quickly? Mine get put in the eves of the garage and left there for a couple of years. They may be ready sooner but once you have a few there is no hurry as they last years and years. I lost my 'picking up' stick last year that was almost 20 years old and still had much of it's bark. It wasn't varnished or tarted up in any way!
One thing to remember is that when you cut the stick do not trim the shoots off the shaft too short as they will split as the dry right into the shank. Been there, done that! My first sticks were all found to be ruined! I now leave each shoot at least an inch long and only trim them when I want to start working the stick.

Good luck and feel free to ask if you have any queries.
 
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The time spent finding the right (straight) stick in the first place is well worth it.

The bark of holly does tend to shrink back leaving air pockets with attendant brittleness and peeling. I therefore adopt two approaches to shank finishing after 2 years of seasoning with bark left on:

A. Completely remove all bark and attain desired colour and pattern c/o a base dye and inks. Finish with matt yacht varnish as an oil finish it too easily stripped under field conditions and if using ink dyes they would run too.

B. Chip off all *loose bark and then sand back in a random manner that creates a camo affect c/o part or whole reduction. I then patch dye with a sponge using different colours to further enhance this affect then apply varnish and buff with ultra fine wire wool when dry. (*Note: After 2 years seasoning you'll know what areas of bark will remain in contact with wood and those that won't.)

One other convenient attribute of holly is it produces and oval rather than round shank that is better suited to the profile of antler. Indeed I have one extremely large holly stick married to a similarly huge lump of PD antler that is almost a perfect match.

K
 
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Sorry, So you are lol! Yes no problem with bark stripping at all. Maybe people have tried to season them too quickly? Mine get put in the eves of the garage and left there for a couple of years. They may be ready sooner but once you have a few there is no hurry as they last years and years. I lots my 'picking up' stick last year that was almost 20 years old and still had much of it's bark. It wasn't varnished or tarted up in any way!
One thing to remember is that when you cut the stick do not trim the shoots off the shaft too short as they will split as the dry right into the shank. Been there, done that! My first sticks were all found to be ruined! I now leave each shoot at least an inch long and only trim them when I want to start working the stick.

Good luck and feel free to ask if you have any queries.

I guess what I'm looking for is the method of retaining all the bark on a holly shank as I find it quite attractive ; perhaps it would be possible to varnish the entire length other than the ends immediately on cutting, anyone tried that ?

Here's a stick that I finished recently. The original shank was about 8', seasoned for three years. Should be easy to guess the species :

View attachment 29327View attachment 29328


And, no, it's not a twiglet !
 
Tne other convenient attribute of holly is it produces and oval rather than round shank that is better suited to the profile of antler. Indeed I have one extremely large holly stick married to a similarly huge lump of PD antler that is almost a perfect match.

K

Interesting, I've yet to find a decent workable holly stick. One of my landowners has a good looking one, but he's dead keen on keeping it growing in situ, on the other hand he has an heirloom antler which would look really nice adjoined, have to see if I can cut it next winter. Thanks, that's a good tip, S
 
I guess what I'm looking for is the method of retaining all the bark on a holly shank as I find it quite attractive.

Whatever floats your boat. I guess you could simply buff with fine wire wool and try some kind of oil or wax finish if you don’t want to use varnish. It was my attempt at this that made me realize it would look far more interesting if I randomly cut back with sandpaper, thus leaving dark and light mottling dependant on how hard you rubbed.

Even with the slowest seasoning there is no guarantee splits in the bark won’t appear.

Top tip re the leaving 3” or more of each shoot until ready to work and don’t cut shank to end-use length either.

K
 
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