Hickory walking stick for SD.

Photo posted for the gray stick on the right. I picked it up off the ground in a area where I've found and seen Indian artifacts. The hand groves are located about right for a 5 foot tall person, the end is smoothly rounded and could be used as a crutch by the 5 foot person. The Utes lived here until the were displaced by the whites in the mid 1800's.

 

Not intended to be about hickory only, of course...just happens to be what the favorite stick is made of.
That's a good point about snakes. I've never seen or heard a rattlesnake in person, but they are said to be around here and where i mushroom hunt most often. I need to order some chaps before mushroom season begins.

I cleared out a few more....

 

I don't know if it's just the amount of hiking I have been doing. Or I'm just seeing them now. But the past three years I have seen more venomous snakes than my lifetime before.

 

For some time I have been considering attaching a steel spear point to a walking stick. Forging or grinding and attaching the point is no problem. The difficult part is designing a secure sheath that covers the blade discreetly so the casual observer doesn't know, remain firmly place during normal use of the stick even if the stick is used to strike something and be easily removable if it needs to be used in an emergency.
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Maybe use delrin as a cover? It can be machined, so making a cover should be simple.

Be sure to check the legality in your state before undertaking the project. You can call it self defense but a DA could call it illegal, looking for trouble, manslaughter...

 

Upside down?
The spear head and its sheath at the top where you can readily trip a catch, discard the sheath, and reverse.

Caution, it will probably be legally equivalent to a sword cane. All I could find about Florida is
790.10 Improper exhibition of dangerous weapons or firearms.—If any person having or carrying any dirk, sword, sword cane, firearm, electric weapon or device, or other weapon shall, in the presence of one or more persons, exhibit the same in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense, the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

 

I agree that it should not be a display item and why part of the challenge is making it very well camouflaged. Much like a CC handgun it is not intended to be a visual deterrent just something to have if needed under extreme circumstances mostly for defense against animals.

I walk with my dog along the fringes of the Everglades where there is agricultural land and some small farms. Aside from keeping my dog away from the water's edge to avoid gators what we run into a lot is loose dogs. Pit bulls are popular in these parts and although I find that most pits are sweethearts when properly cared for quite a few people in this neck of the woods allow them to run loose & half wild. When they run in packs they sometimes go after humans but nearly 100% chance they will attack a strange dog. They are very tough and a pit in the heat of battle can take a lot of blows from a stick without releasing their hold on something. That's were the idea for a steel point comes in. Of course a gun or pepper spray will work too but the stick/spear is still an interesting option.

 

You could probably form something out of a matching color Kydex. Lots of colors on Ebay and Amazon.

It could stay on by a snug fit, but a brush against something when needed would knock it off.

No input as to legality.

 

I just carry a "Bradley Caldwell" Stockman's cane when I go for my daily walks. That and a S&W 442 are my companions. I have a Crimson Trace grip on my S&W because I often walk in the morning when there is low light. Can't sleep, might as well get up and do something. Those canes are usually around $20, I do put a rubber tip on them.

 

That's pretty cool but I just fit a copper pipe cap or a coupling on mine then get a crutch tip to fit over the end.

 

Not very covert, though.

 

I used a cane for a good six months and found that canes that were not straight were difficult to use if they needed to support any weight, just too unstable.

Why did I need a cane, two (pit bull type) dogs attacked me on my bicycle and the resulting crash shattered my left femur. The dogs continued to attack me on the ground then disappeared, hmmm. Well, their owners put them away and left me laying in the road. I sued them and got enough money to buy a lot of guns .

I like dogs, but if a strange dog gets near me and acts aggressive he may just get a 230 grain ball in the brain. But I carry Mace as a first deterrent.

 

I was hiking yesterday in the Smokies and noticed this stick on the edge of the trail.
I enjoy seeing kids hiking the trails and picking up whatever stick they find and start using it as a walking staff.

 

That brass hame would be a very nice added touch, especially if the end is solid..
I'm considering finding a competent carver to do a snake head on this stick...

 

A few years back I had a serious problem with a pair of dogs that lived near one particular stretch of trail I frequented. I was confronted by them barking and growling from the edge of the trail multiple times. That’s uncomfortable but tolerable, but when they started coming on to the trail, following me, and actually started confronting me in stand off situations I got mad. The lab would come at me head on, and the blue healer mix would try to get around behind me. I found that simply extending the end of the stick into the face of the healer was enough to let it know I could reach it from where I was at, and it backed off. As folks know I mostly favor a root ball shillelagh type stick that is cane length. Something I have practiced quite a bit on the trail when walking alone is throwing the knob handle up while loosening my grip to let it thread through my hand, and then tightening my grip quickly so my grip is shifted to the bottom of the stick, essentially now holding it like a baseball bat with the ball end on the far end to add weight to the swing. Doing this I find I can swing it like a bat pretty fast one or two handed. It would certainly be enough to get a dog’s attention, and given the wonderful strength to weight ratio on blackthorn I suspect it may be a bone breaker if you hit the dog in the right spot.

While this is never a desired outcome, I find it preferable to shooting one. And while this is a far far cry from training, I hope and believe it would do the job. There’s a few other things I’ve practiced too to deal with head on lunges that involve swinging the stick up in a two handed grip to drive the middle of the stick into the mouth of a lunging dog, or driving the butt end forward to violently redirect a dog. They are the number one issue I encounter when hiking.

Hickory is an excellent material, but there are several wood types that offer great strength to weight ratio, many that have already been mentioned. In fact the best really have been mentioned already so I need not repeat. I’m a forester by trade, so I have opinions.

What I want to convey though is the importance of choosing a material that is light enough that you can get it in motion quickly but won’t buckle under an impact immediately. I refuse to carry aluminum for this reason, but it's possible I've only encounterd cheap thin stock treking poles and there are better options avaiable. This will vary from person to person quite a bit, based on strength and age.

Hickory is a wonderful material if you can find an appropriate piece.

 

I just ordered a 55" Texas made ironwood walking stick from Atlanta Cutlery. $46 shipped. Ironwood is supposed to be super tough, and I just wanted something a degree or two off from the standard Hickory.

Correction: $41 shipped. And it's on the way.

 

I should mention too, on one particular occassion these dogs were persisitent, and I was in a really bad mood. I was out there for peace and quiet and they sounded like they wanted to kill me. I snapped and without warning took off after the lab into the bushes. He realized I was on his heals and turned up the speed to get away. At that point I grabbed a rock and winged it at him hard. I missed and it bounced off a log near his feet, but it startled him into jumping and retreating further. I was waiting to hear an angry owner come outside from the nearby house, but heard nothing. I believe they got the point as they never came after me again, they only barked from a distance. The healer just looked confussed by it all.

Eventually they stopped appearing. Multiple people on the trail had talked abotu those dogs and we were all in the habit of warning each other.

Either someone solved the problem permanently, or the cops took care of it.

 

I just took a second look at the photo. You've got some nice sticks there for sure. Thanks for letting us see them.

 

I don't like it. For me, too thin, too short, shiny synthetic finish and a medallion inset right where my thumb should go. It wasn't identified as a Brazos stick in the catalog but that's what it is. On the plus side it really does have cool grain and color. For the right sized person looking for a light stick it would be the shiznits. I'm sticking with this one:

 

Awesome! I'm thinking about making one for the days that my knee injury from the military starts acting up on me. How tall did you make yours did you go like hiking staff length or more like cane length?