What finish for thumb sticks ?

[30-6]

I have some well used thumb sticks with no "finish" on them at all, just natural wood.

 

Is it beneficial to finish in say yacht varnish or cuprinol or similar, when making a new one ?

 

A farmer i know advised to cut a small groove near the bottom and put on a castration ring, orange ones as used on lambs. He reckons this prevents the stick from splitting, anyone seen or do this ?

[johnphilip]

When i make my sticks i put a coat of wood sealer. Then three or four coats of danish oil. Any oil will do. A well seasoned stick should not split if it has been stored right when drying out. I string mine together and hang them from one of the rafters in the shed.

Just you be carefull with the lambs tail thing.lol.

[welshwarrior]

I use a coat or 2 of that nasty varnish tru oil, carp on guns good for sticks and tool handles IMHO.

[henry d]

Boiled linseed oil, one coat every day for a week, one a week for a month, one a month for a year and one a year for the life of the stick.

 

...or there abouts.

[CaptainBeaky]

I've taken to fitting an open brass ferrule on the ends of mine, made out of worn out safety valves. Makes a nice tip and certainly stops any splitting.

Danish oil all the way for me. 3 - 4 coats over a week, then once a week for another month.

[kent]

What stops a stick splitting better than anything is a proper ferrule (i sometimes use an empty shell and some epoxy ) Finish depends but I like a satin varnish over bark and use a handrubbed oil on walnut handles etc. just like it was a gunstock

[figgy]

My sticks don't last long enough to bother finishing snapped four last season two falling over well slipping over on a muddy bank and the rest beating brash and briars.

 

I need a stick with a high tensile steel rod in it so I don't snap it.

 

Oil is nice and nourishes the wood a bit as it protects it.

 

Figgy