Stick help

[craftycarper]

I have a few sticks that have been laying around for a couple of years now and i was wondering where to start with them. I believe they are hazel and are about six feet or so in length. Do i just strip the bark off and rub down, and what coating and how many coats do you apply to the wood on completion of smoothing. Also what's a typical length for a thumb stick.

[Dunkield]

There are a few decent stick producers on here so hopefully one of them will see this post.

 

I have only made a few, but my advice would be not to strip the bark, leave it on.

The length should be what ever you feel comforable with, for a walking stick I like to be long enough to fit into my hand with my elbow at right angles (if that makes sense)

As for treating the stick, oil seems to be the preferred method, as it doesn't crack and can be re-applied if it needs it.

[new to the flock]

For length I like mine to be 2 inches higher than my elbow when parallel to the ground, and I leave the bark on and cover in bees wax.

 

NTTF

[craftycarper]

Cheers for that, i was thinking of a thumb stick , you know like a staff. What length would you say is comfortable is their a rule of thumb..pardon the pun...

[Dunkield]

It is a personal thing, if you have the blank stick you can try walking about with it before you chop it down to see what length suits you.

As you can see from the replies NTTF and I prefer different lenghts for walking sticks - it's whatever works for you, better to make it too long than too short though for obvious reasons.