Walking Sticks

By Carl Morrison

CptrTchr@hotmail.com

This page can be reached through: https://members.tripod.com/~MrMorrison/WebFoot.html

My Dad used to always carry a stick as he walked the fences on our farm in Jennings County, Indiana, near Hayden. I knew he was deathly afraid of snakes and figured that was why he always had a stick in hand. You notice I said, "HE was afraid of snakes." This didn't deter him, when we would be out on the tractor and he'd spot a snake, from saying, "Carl, get down, take the stick, and kill that snake."

I found, however, in handling cattle on our dairy farm, that a stick had more purposes than just for killing snakes...it was great for driving cattle and other livestock. Also, all rural areas have giant weeds in summer, so it was great for parting the weeds as you walked through fields and woods. A kid on a walk always seemed to end up near, or in, a creek, and a stick was the best thing to explore under rocks, in case one uncovered a water mocassin or copper head or other venomous creature.

Now that I live in the western part of the US, "about as far west as you can get," a Colorado singing cowboy once told me when he learned I was from California, I often walk in California State Parks, or along the beach. Again, never without a stick as my brave explorer of 'beach things.' And, on both inland walks as well as beach walks, a stick is a great pole vault across narrow creeks.

The 'protection' element of a stick comes in on walks when you see an approaching off-the-leash dog, a coyote or fiercer animal cross the trail ahead, or unsavory 'human beans' are approaching. I guess Teddy Roosevelt might have been talking of walking sticks rather than foreign policy when he said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." So far I can say, "It works for me."

You can't walk far in California without passing through a commercial area, and I've never had an argument yet when arriving at a doorway of a store as to who had the right away. Recently, another fellow and I reached a store doorway simultaneously and he looked at my stick and said, "Go ahead, you've got the stick."

Those of you who know me know I'm not the handsomest guy in the world, nor the youngest, but it gives me great pleasure when a female trail-walker, as happened on the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee, looks at me as I approach and when we are nearly face to face, says, "Nice stick." I turned to my son, after they passed, and said, "Did you notice Matt, at my age women notice my stick instead of me?" We heard their chuckles as we continued up the trail.

It is my habit to harvest a stick on each trip I take, whether it is a local walk on the beach or in Chino Hills State Park, a walk near a relative's home in Friday Harbor, Washington, or Maryville, Tennessee, a walk on the beach near Hawaii's Waimea Plantation Cottages, or a walk along the railroad near Hayden, Indiana. As you can imagine, you can't carry these things home in your suitcase, so I've been seen trekking through some notable airports and train stations with my newly found stick in hand...again without comment from bystanders. When I am not limited to 'one carry-on stick' I usually go overboard on my stick collecting, such as is evident on driving trips we take. Recently, upon returning from our beach house in Carlsbad, California, I counted nine sticks I had picked up on Robert Frazee State Beach in Carlsbad. It was on that trip that I gave myself the name 'StickMan' Morrison.

Brings back some 'stick' humor we used to use on friends, "You've been whooped with an ugly stick." or, "I'll beat you within an inch of your life."

In case you are in the market for a good walking stick, perhaps you should know the steps in stick selection for personal use:

Selecting the proper length of a walking stick

• It should be long enough to reach just below your shoulder...more precisely, arm pit height.

  This is based on the need for something to lean on, with both hands across the top for a rest, or to place your cameras on for an extended exposure (or to steady your camera if you are too tired from walking that you can't hold it up to your eye without help!) This length is also based on the need to 'look cool' as in, have you ever watched a bunch of guys drinking beer around a pickup truck? They don't sit in the seats, or in the bed of the truck, or even on the bumper...you put your elbows on the edge of the bed, facing the truck, and have your can of beer in your right hand, limply holding it from dropping into the bed of the truck...now that's cool. Now if your truck does not have the giant, chest-high tires on it, you might even be able to put your right foot on the rear tire of the truck, maintaining your balance on your left foot...even cooler. Finally, the last death defying arrangement would be to have a lit cigarette in your left hand. Now you can pretty much duplicate that scene with a walking stick, of the proper length of course, with right foot on a stump or large rock, both wrists atop your stick, in your limp right hand a can of beer (or water, or, in California, wine or imported water) a cigarette in your left hand (or, in California, a health food energy bar)...ultimate cool hiker, huh?! Those of you who were not 'brought up' on a farm, should practice this in the privacy of your own home before you try it out on a trail or beach walk.

The right weight

• Your stick should be the 'right' weight. "Right" is a personal preference of course. I prefer a stick weighing, in 'cured' form, between 1.25 and 1.75 pounds...less than 1% of your body weight! Now it will take some 'stick harvesting' experience to be able to look at a standing poplar or hickory sapling and estimate what that portion you select will weigh after cutting, skinning, and drying. If it doesn't feel right after all this time and effort, give it to somebody! or cut into small lengths for a nice campfire.

Stick Harvesting Hardware

• The only tools you need for stick harvesting is the model of Swiss Army knife (thank God the Swiss army never had to fight a war if this is what they issued the soldiers as weapons) with a saw in it. Now we're not talking a 6 foot cross-cut saw like we used on the farm to cut fallen trees into firewood, but rather a 3 inch blade honed sharper than snot. You can legally carry these things through an airport by just pitching it in the plastic dish as you walk through the security gate and picking it up on the other side while the security agent is looking at it like a deer caught in headlights. A word to the wise, while you are cleaning your fingernails with the knife on the flight, when you see an old friend, don't yell, "Hi, Jack!"

  In addition, these knives have an assortment of blades for trimming off small limbs from your stick and, more importantly, for carving your name, and location in the bark of the stick if it was cut as a live sapling. A word of warning, wait to do the carving of words in the stick until you get back to the house where you are staying, or even longer if that residence doesn't have a phone. It is almost always necessary to call 911 or drive to an emergency ward if you plunge the full 3 inches of the big blade into your inner thigh while carving your initials. And, people probably won't notice the 'cool stick' if you come stumbling out of the woods with a bloody tourniquet around your leg. One good thing though, you'll find the stick helpful in stabilizing yourself as you walk back to the house in the dazed condition you will be in after stabbing yourself. This walk-with-the-aid-of-a-stick back home will give you time to create a heck of a story to be told to the emergency doctor. The story should be told in 3-word phrases, using muttered speech and including the largest animal found in that region, like: "...attack...bear...awful " or "...attack...killer...whale" or "...mugged...homeless...man..." How you work the knife wound in your thigh into your story if you blame it on a bear is up to you.

Embellishing your stick

• To allow yourself some more 'rest time' on the trail (a big part of any walk I take) you can simply cut the stick to length and cut off the branches. If you have taken my advice and decided to do the embellishing of your stick back at home/cabin/beach house, you can add your name, etc. as mentioned above, or, if the stick is already cured and the bark removed, as is usually the case with a beach stick, you can drill a hole through the stick near the top through which to string a stip of raw hide (shoe lace) so you can run your wrist through the loop. This 'wrist-through-the-loop' method of using a stick is good if you fall down a lot and often lose sticks as they go floating down the creek you are crossing or tumbling down mountainsides into unretrievable territory.

   

• Once you've carved and whittled all you can on your sticks, or you've run out of things for your friends to buy you for Christmas, give them this brochure:

  

  which includes the first medallion I ever bought, while in the Smoky's with son Matt:

  

  and has a nice listing of medallions from other parts of the USA:

I find it interesting that they misspell Smoky Mountain National Park, but hey, what do hikers know!

I have more information on these medallions that you really want to know, but I see they also sell 'Chestnut Hiking Staffs'...changing the name from "walking stick" to make more money.

Making sticks your business

• If you are planning to sell walking sticks when you get too many of them and your wife says, "I'm going to burn those darn sticks if you bring any more home," begin your stick sales by calling them 'staffs' rather than sticks...it brings a higher price. Once you've sold a stick or two, start calling them 'hiking staffs' for a while. Then, your third year in business, call them 'trekking staffs' to appeal to the 'well healed', and 'serious' hiker. You should set up business at a 'pull off' on a road to a National Park if possible

  

  Be aware of where the border of the park is located and find a spot just outside the park...Park rangers frown on free enterprise inside the park unless it is their enterprise. You can park your pickup in the shade, unload your sticks and prop them up around your truck on the side of the truck next to the road. Have your brain-dead cousin set up his bark-striping shop between the truck and the creek, away from the customers. Have a portable radio playing local music. Leave room between the road and the truck for customers to pull off and shop. Select a pull off with another pull off about 1/4 mile down the road toward the park. That way, the male in the car can have time to ask, "Honey, wake up, did you see those great walking sticks? Can I go back and buy one?" and then see a place to turn around and go back. As customers park, get out of their car, and walk up to your 'display,' speak in the local uneducated accent (whether you are uneducated or not) and start by saying, "Howdy, great day to hike ain't it? You need a stick for when you get up on them trails? If the stick you like is too light, just rub 'backer juice on her."

  As you can see from the picture, I selected a stick a little shorter than needed for me, but the selling point for me was the channeling a vine had made while nearly strangeling the sapling duirng it's growth. When we found these in fence rows in Indiana, it was usually honey suckle that had made the cork screw effect, but I'd wager that this one had been made by kudzo.

  If you have time on your hands in the winter, you might add a tag on your sticks like the one on the tobacco stick/walking stick I bought in Kentucky. I'd draw the relationship of the tobacco leaves and the stick a little better, however. Do you like the 'smoker's teeth' color of the tag?

Care and Feeding of your Walking Stick

• If your stick has been peeled of its bark, you need only let it dry through natural means. I usually drill a hole between the spot you would hold the stick and the top of the stick and use a raw hide piece to tie a loop through the hole for hanging or for putting around your wrist as mentioned above. The only additional thing I would add would be a black rubber tip.

  Rather than trying to find cane or crutch tips to fit the varying sizes of sticks, there is a product called "Rubberize-it!" which works better. It is sold in department store paint departments and I believe the most common use is to dip tools into it to rubber coat the handles. I looked in quite a few stores before I found black. I simply dip about an inch of the stick into the goo then let it dry for 24 hours. It usually requires a second coating to be thick enough to not wear through on the first walk. I learned this trick while inspecting a stick I bought in John James Audubon Park in Henderson, KY. They had dipped the stick into the same material and it worked fine. The can I bought said, "Distributed by DIY Products Division, Rhodes America, 2825 W. 31st Street, Chicago, IL 60623" if you can't find a distributor.

  Otherwise, hang your stick in the garage, in the mud room of your house, or, if your spouse will allow it, inside your house...maybe in the den. Dad kept his in the barn for daily use driving cattle. You should take your stick for a walk at least once a week.

Varied uses for your stick

• In addition to the uses for a walking stick mentioned above, you can use it to dislodge items from areas as many as 10 feet above your head without the use of a step ladder...like fruit from a neighbors tree, or a kite or ball lodged in a tree. Dad used his stick to whack down tall weeds that had grown up and shorted out the electric fence or thistles before the went to bloom. If you regularly drive by a house where the dog always comes out and attacks you or chases your car, we found as kids that carrying your walking stick on your bike or in the car was useful in such a case. With the rider's window down, the person riding 'shotgun' can get in two or three good whacks on "ol' toothless wonder" as you pass the farm house. It's usually so dusty that he 'won't know what hit him' but he will remember the color of the car or bike and give you more room next time you pass.

  Here's what the Walk America brochure has to say about the varied uses of your 'staff':

  

  

   

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Others Who Make Sticks Their Business

In July, 1998, at the L.A. Gift Show there were two vendors who had walking sticks! One was from Texas, and you can imagine my excitement as I saw his 'stick stand' down the aisle in the Convention Center:

I talked with the rep. and noticed they had a 'bamboo' stick in the list of stick for sale and he had a couple of samples. Upon closer examination, I felt it was actaully what we call toulie in California. I had picked up on on the beach our last trip to Carlsbad, and now have renewed interest in finishing it. He said, "Back in Texas we call them cane poles."

Click this 'thumbnail' to see a bigger picture of his bamboo sticks.

He did have something I hadn't seen before, custom logos, sterling silver stars, and laser engraving.

In another section of the 'Gift Show' I found a vendor who harvested standing trees for walking sticks and sold two models, plain and with a whistle.

They contracted a fellow to carve faces on 3 other stick models.

Neither vendor had a web address or I'd have it here for you.

Walking Sticks on the Internet

I decided to search the internet for 'walking stick' and here's some of what I found:

a question and answer on the internet at Outside Online:

I could use a long walking stick

Question: Maybe you can help me. I'm trying to find information on walking sticks--types, where to buy, manufacturers. Being partially disabled, I'm looking for a larger model walking stick 5-6 feet long, for walking trails. Thank you very much!

Brad Chatwin

bchatwin@niagara.com

Gear Guy: Walking sticks have become enormously popular in recent years. I used to take ski pole-type sticks only on glacier climbs; nowadays I take them almost everywhere. Like a lot of people, I've found that using poles protects your knee and ankle joints, makes travel more secure and increases walking efficiency. A favored brand is Leki, a German-made trekking pole that comes in a variety of lengths and models. I'd suggest something like the Makalu Anti-Shock, a three-section pole with a straight aluminum shaft and soft grip. They retail for $109. For a dealer near you, call Leki USA at 716-633-8062. REI also makes a good aluminum-shaft pole that extends to nearly five feet and costs just $60.

http://outside.starwave.com:80/inside.html

The American Derringer Walking Stick site states that the Derringer is 'not a working firearm.'

I realized it was a WORLD Wide Web when I found this add for a walking stick from Canada

and this American Indian site advertises a 'beaded walking stick'

"Walking stick, cedar shaft, metal ferrule, curved horn with sterling band and plaque, c. 1910, good condition, 35 1/4"" long." is the best photo of a stick I've found!

36" tall Sumac Root Walking stick with rubber tip and leather thong.another sales place on the internet.