Anyone into stickmaking?

deeksofdoom

I suppose I could have posted this in some sort of Art and craft section of boards.ie but it would be lost on the arty crafty people so its going here for the shooting fraternity. The antler thumbstick makes a nice rifle rest.

I fancy myself as a bit of a stickmaker here is my current project its an antler thumbstick that I'm making for a friend. The antler is a fallow antler which was shed. This is the second antler stick I have made from fallow, I thought it was just too big and chunky to use but it turns out quite well. I have glued some walnut spacers onto the tips of the antler cut from a block which I had bought last year.


The shank or stick I am using is a hazel stick which I cut last January it has been seasoning in the attic for the last 8 months, Its quite warm up there so I think its dried out enough to use at this stage.
To attach the antler to the stick I have made a 20mm dowel out of the top of it. I drilled a 20mm hole in what's left of the block of walnut and I'm going to use this to marry the shank to the antler, this is because the antler is slightly thicker than the shank.


After Making the dowel I had to hollow out the marrow in the antler. Then I had to shape the dowel to match the inside of the antler.


This is how it looks afterwards


I glued the whole lot together with Araldite left it over night to set. I then took to it with a rasp and file and shaped the block of walnut and filed down some of the antler.


It needed something extra so I decided to glue some buffalo horn spacers onto the tips of the antler on top of the walnut spacers. I had to put some tape over them to hold in place while the glue set.


Should have taken a photo of how the stick looked with the buffalo horn spacers glued on before I started filing them this morning. But here is how it looks now. Its started to take shape.

johnfaul

very nice work there . ive some hazel sticks drying out my self must give it a go sometime (ill probably make a mess of it lol )

Nimrod69

i have made a few sticks myself, tried the dowel method now use threaded bar. Drill into the stick a "mm" less the the dia of the bar, same in the antler or bufflo horn glue and screw in. I find that works great, the problem i have is in obtaining materials.

Dusty87

Something id always love to do. Id love to make one for the gran uncle. At the mo he's walking around wit a branch he pulled off a tree:):).

deeksofdoom

Nimrod69 wrote: »

i have made a few sticks myself, tried the dowel method now use threaded bar. Drill into the stick a "mm" less the the dia of the bar, same in the antler or bufflo horn glue and screw in. I find that works great, the problem i have is in obtaining materials.

I've used the theaded bar myself but prefer using the dowel, its quite hard getting the threaded dowel straight you have to drill the shank flat and sometimes the threaded bar can split the top of the stick. I just prefer using the dowel it also makes the top of the stick lighter.

Plenty of materials available on the net there is even an agent for Highland Horn now in Limerick

Odysseus

Lovely piece of work there.

paddy2008

How much does a stick like that cost.Iv seen lads using them as wading sticks for fishing and swear by them!

deeksofdoom

paddy2008 wrote: »

How much does a stick like that cost.Iv seen lads using them as wading sticks for fishing and swear by them!

http://www.allgoodideas.co.uk/Country_Sticks/Staghorn_thumbstick_fishermans_wading_staff

deeksofdoom

Been doing some more work on me stick today seeing as it was such a lovely day.........not!

I shaped the buffalo horn with the file and sandpaper, here's a few pics










Here's a pic of the walnut block it shaped up nicely and it has a nice grain.


There still a bit of work to be done on the antler to get it looking nice and shiny.

ayapatrick

Lookin good! how is the walnut block stuck to the hazel shank? is it screwed on or dowelled?

paddy2008

Lovely job...

deeksofdoom

ayapatrick wrote: »

Lookin good! how is the walnut block stuck to the hazel shank? is it screwed on or dowelled?

Its dowelled, there was a 20mm hole drilled through the block and the dowel was then inserted into it, the whole lot was glued using Araldite.

Dusty87

Deeks, how long do you need to leave the hazel stick seasoning? Also i seen a crowd at birr who sold seasoned hazel sticks, aswel as ready made sticks, anyone have a website for them?

deeksofdoom

Dusty87 wrote: »

Deeks, how long do you need to leave the hazel stick seasoning? Also i seen a crowd at birr who sold seasoned hazel sticks, aswel as ready made sticks, anyone have a website for them?

6 months is enough, I cut that stick back in February, I think it depends where you let them dry out. That stick has been drying in a nice warm attic, right up over the hot press.

There are plenty places to buy seasoned shanks, I met a fellah from Limerick who is selling shanks at the Country Fare that was on in Carrigtwohill in Co. Cork this summer. Unfortunately he doesn't have a website.

Here's a few suppliers in the UK.

http://www.attacc.com/

http://www.highlandhorn.com/

http://www.stickmaker.com/stickmakingshop.htm

Cass

Nice work D of D. Tried my hand at it years ago but honestly wasn't much good. Loved the relaxation of it. You'd loose hours in the shed. Might take it back up.

deeksofdoom

ezridax wrote: »

Nice work D of D. Tried my hand at it years ago but honestly wasn't much good. Loved the relaxation of it. You'd loose hours in the shed. Might take it back up.

Some really nice twisty sticks there I found a spot with a few twisty hazels during the summer, hope nobody else sees them before i get a chance to cut them in the winter.