Walking sticks

[Digby]

I'm not talking about those telescopic trekking poles. I'm talking about real wood sticks. I always take one with me when I'm out for a walk in countryside, and I enjoy making them.

Any other stick-whittlers out there?

[Marmot]

Neither lekki sticks or walking staffs apeal to me, i find them to incurbersome

[Geddi]

Welcome to the real world, lekki sticks, or versions of, are the way to go , theres nothing better out there! Especially none of this wooden rubbish, which break half the time

[Emanresu]

Real men use wood.

[Oli-picka]

Real men walk naked and answer with a growl

[Emanresu]

Hmmm. I'm not that much of a man...

[Monkey]

Digby made me my one when i was younger didnt you lad!

Its slightly small for me now, i need to kneel down to use it, still very well made tho!

I dont use one, half the reason is because i havent got one!

[Emanresu]

What are the best woods for walking sticks? I have one cut from Hazel which seems quite good.

[Digby]

Hazel is very good and easy to find. Ash is very tough but does not look as good as Hazel. The best woods in the UK are said to be Holly and Blackthorn (if you can get to it without getting scratched to death).

My favourite sticks are both from tropical ironwoods - extremely slow growing and therefore very dense, heavy and tough. These hardwoods polish up to look superb but are too heavy for proper use.

My 'most used' stick is hazel with a stag antler handle. I've had it for almost twenty years and, like Trigger's broom. it's had four new shafts and two different handles.

[Oli-picka]

so basically its a completely different stick from when you got it?

[Superslogger]

It's a good way to conserve a well loved stick -

[David]

Whittling walking sticks - now we're talking! I would always take a stick (I usually get a new lump of wood and whittle as I go each hike) with me walking .I heard a lot of statistics, one of the more amusing being 'they take 50% of the weight off the legs' - I can just imagine the sort of stilt swinging gait you would need to achieve this! I often see groups of expirienced looking walkers with those telescopic sticks, but all the outdoors type people I know say there's no point. Do they actually help?

[Marmot]

get two sticks of walking stick size, stanmd on some scales and then hold them as if you were walking, applying the uasuall downward pressure. you can see the weight disapear

[Digby]

I heard it said that over the course of a day in the hills it can save the weight equivalent to a bull elephant. I don't believe it personally. Once I had got the elephant on my shoulders I could hardly stand up.