Make a Walking Stick
If you are like me, as we start having these nice spring days, I am eager to be treading in the woods and hiking up mountains. Something that is even more fun than donning my hiking boots for that first trek of the season is finding a stick and fashioning it into what will be my walking stick for the summer.
If you haven’t made a walking stick before, it is super easy. Find a stick, get rid of the small branches attached to it, take off the bark, sand it smooth. Then, if you want, you can cover it with protection like varnish. If you are feeling very adventurous, you might carve, woodburn, or otherwise decorate it. A good walking stick can become a well-used and loved item.
Here is a video that shows how it is done. Don’t worry about the power tools the narrator mentions. Improvisation is key!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7AmRIS8wL8
And here are some pictures of completed walking sticks. The first few were carved by Bello (SAM camper and TL staff)
The bottom photo is of some giveaways I found on a recent walk in a nearby park.
Be sure to send up pictures of what you make!
– Michelle Golden