Any body use blackthorn? I had one years ago that I lost during a PCS/transfer to a new base. ""
I've been using blackthorn since about 1970. It's getting hard to find decent blackthorn since it's actually getting scarce in Ireland.
For the past several years, I've been using American Hornbeam or ironwood as it's sometimes called. Easy to spot along creek bottoms and low damp places. You can recognize it by the ridges in the wood that look like mussel under the bark. In fact, the other name for it is mussel wood.
Find a small sapling and dig around the base till you can see the root. If it looks like a good root knob handle, cut it free with a cheap hatchet. Use a cheap hatchet, because it's going to get nicked all to h--l chopping in the ground. You can find all kinds of shapes in the root, and they make very nice handles that look like a brier pipe, with swirling grain. I polish up the root handle, but leave the bark on. Just polish the smooth gray bark with 0000 steel wool, and stain with your color of choice.
Hornbeam is very very tough, stands up to impact very well, and is light weight once it's cured down a basement for several months.
I think a rustic looking walking stick is a better deal than the old fogy looking crook tops that look like you may be infirm. The rough knobby or spiky blackthorn or hornbeam may send a little different vibe.
Crab apple and hazel are also light and tough woods.
Carl.
Here is some info about handles for tools...
