diamond willow hicking stick

i have posted a new hicking stick to my picturetrail album under hicking sticks.a friend gave me a diamond willow stick from alaska but it was to short for a hicking stick and i am not old enough for a cane so i made a topper for it.
thanks to hi ho sliver who's hicking sticks inspired the design

[Kenny_S]

jamesfa, Thanks for sharing and that is a great looking eagle topper. I love the dog1 or first one also.Actually, I like them all but those two really caught my eye.

Yes Hi ho(Dave) inspired me to fix my Brother in law's cane as the neck would not have fitted properly by not tapering down the cane and the cane would have been to big if I didn't tapper it down. The eagle head one may be a little different as I can see some improvements I can make on my next one.

[Kenny_S]

I might add that all of the carvers have inspired me to do better and I still say,' I wish I could...........' everytime a new picture is posted. My carving has been a hit and miss career with mostly miss. Since retirement, I have carved more in the last 6 months than I had in the past 6 years.
As they say, we carvers aren't getting older just better. Well, I know I am getting older. :

Regards

James..I like your sticks, especially the eagle...did you turn the piece that attaches to the diamond willow? nice way of attaching...looks very good! I don't know if I mentioned it on my site, but I attach separate handles and toppers with a hanger screw..guess thats what you call it, a hanger bolt has a screw end and a bolt end, these have wood screw ends on both...about .25 to .35 at Ace or true value and seem to make a very strong, dependable handle...I don't want anyone falling over with one............. especially me!

kennys-the fit between stick and topper was a problem for me also,but on recent sticks i try to incorporate some kind of transition piece.i also have used the flower stem from a sotol cactus as the stick part but with time the joint weakn's if i don't use something to reinforce the joint.
Hi ho-the piece at the joint is a turned piece but not by me,i have used the same hanger type screw to join the 2 pieces,but lately i have cut the heads of 4'' deck screws and epoxy them in.i like to have a least 2'' in each of the two pieces

[Teri_Embrey]

James, what a great stick. You stickmakers are always amazing me.

Teri

Great stick James I love the eagle head what kind of wood did you carve the topper out of was it an old cane. I always love to see new sticks thanks for sharing it with us.
Colin

colin-the topper is carved from an end cut of cedar left over from a deck project.I saved a box full you never no when you might need it.
I ''ADD'' to my wood collection

[Callynne]

Jamesfa, very nice job on that walking stick! Definitely going to have to try making one of those someday!! Thanks for sharing! Callynne