All finished and waiting for a rubber cap. Needs to be trimmed for height once the cap comes in.
View attachment 78079
Very nice!!
But oh no, it sounds like you missed some steps.
From a very old book on making things like canes and tool handles using only hand tools:
- Find a fairly small, straight hickory tree and chop it down with an axe. (no cheating with a chain saw)
- Use a froe and heavy mallet carved from dogwood to rive (split down the grain) the hickory into handle blanks
- Dry the blanks in the barn loft (the instructions I read were "put them in the loft and forget about them for a year".)
- Use a shaving horse and. spokeshave....
I did just those things (but used a vise instead of a shaving horse) made carved handles with a spokeshave to fit an axe and foot adz. I cheated and used the lathe to make round handles for shovel and hoe. All this gave me an appreciation of how such things were done in the past. (finding a froe was the hard part - finally found one in an antique store in Kentucky) A guy I know who often works like this said maple would be ok but insisted I use hickory! The reason for riving instead of sawing is for maximum strength. (He made a shepherds crook that way for me by steam-bending the crook.)
I made a walking stick too. Dang, for some reason mine didn't come out with a nice black spiral. Guess
I'm the one who missed a step!
BTW, a friend of mine who makes rustic furniture scoured my wooded acres for materials. His favorite finds were small dogwood trees that had grown with honeysuckle vines spiraled around and choking the growth. Apparently didn't hurt the tree - the larger trees were still spiraled but with the vines choked and rotted away. He and his wife went home with a happy truckload of furniture wood!
As a bonus for me, they pointed out cherry burls to keep an eye on. Still watching and waiting...
If you want to make one out of riven hickory, I'll keep an eye out for the right tree. Get back with you in a year or so...
JKJ
