My Favorite Woods

The woods I prefer for walking sticks and canes
include common hardwoods such as ash, oak, cherry,
diamond willow and sassafras. Of these woods, my
favorite is sassafras, which offers several advantages
when making a walking stick. It is lightweight,
strong, and possesses several features that make the
finished walking stick or cane a real crowd pleaser.
Sassafras has been used for centuries for lumber,
medicine and even tea. The heartwood is light brown
with several layers of bark, which when properly
removed, yield a finish resembling snakeskin or some
form of exotic leather. Some sassafras sticks have
endured winding vines during their growth, which
result in large winding curls on the wood. This
unique feature adds another dimension to the finished
stick. The wood is aromatic, lightweight but strong
and easy to work with. To add a bit of antiquity to
the making of walking sticks, my next selection of
wood is the tobacco stick, which is ideal for walking
sticks.

The use of hardwoods such as oak, hickory or walnut
can be an expensive adventure because they are
difficult to work with and require a considerable
investment in machine tools. However, antique oak,
hickory or walnut tobacco sticks found near old
tobacco barns make ideal walking sticks. Typically,
tobacco sticks are 80-100 years old and may sometimes
display tiny holes caused by bore worms. Each stick
is different; one stick may be curled where a knot
formed or another may be slightly bent. These
features add character to the finished stick. The
actual grain of the wood is usually hidden, since the
sticks have been stored outside and over the years
collected a bit of dried mud and other debris. The
dirt can be easily removed by using a mixture of
Clorox and water.

The Ash Tree

The Cherry Tree

Another wood that I favor is diamond willow. Diamond
willow is a unique wood because an attack by a fungus
on the wood causes cankers to form in the shape of
diamonds. As a result the wood beneath them is dark
compared to the milky color of the remainder of the
tree. In addition, the shape of the tree is deformed
with twists, bends and variances in thickness. When a
diamond willow is cut, all bark except for the
diamonds must be removed immediately using a sharp
knife. Sanding a diamond willow stick is a real
challenge that requires some very special techniques.

One more exotic wood that I use in making walking
sticks is American black cherry. American cherry is a
straight grain wood with variances of reddish brown
colors. Hence, the grain is straight and easy to work
with. The process that I employ in making a cherry
walking stick includes the use of several hand tools
to include the draw shave and spoke shave. When
finished, these sticks resemble fine furniture. These
sticks are truly hand made!