Carl Levitian
member
Well, not my personal ones. I've been making hiking sticks for the family for a while now, and when all the clan gets together for a hike, they all have Carl's sticks. it's surprising how many people like a nice smoothed and stained wood stick.
Karen has been pressing me to sell them at local craft fairs, but I've been kind of hesitant. Well, last fall there was some local construction going on, and they had bulldozed a plot of land. I went in and sawed off some strait saplings and let them dry down the basement for a few months. I had alot of poplar, of all things. For just a trecking pole sort of stick, not one to be playing Little John at the bridge, poplar is a nice wood. It has great end on strength, and it was popular for boat poles on the old C&O cannal boats between Cumberland Maryland and Washinton D.C. The reason is, poplar when dry is a very light wood that you can push on enough to move a cannal barge, and have have a 20 foot pole that one man can handle easy. But it will take a very great deal of end on force. I guess I got into poplar because some of the female family members wanted a lighter weight stick they could carry and use easy.
Well this weekend was a craft show, and with Karen pushing me, I set up a little table with my sticks. I had some hickory, a few hornbeams, a couple oak, and at least a dozen poplar sticks. They were sanded and stained with a variety of Minwax stains like golden oak, and provincial. The final sealer was Helmsman Spar Urathane in satin non-gloss finish. A cotton jute wrapped handle impregnated with clear epoxy on one end and a rubber chair/table leg end from Lowes on the other.
To my surprise, the 1 inch to 1 1/2inch thick lightweight poplar ones sold out the fastest to women and men. They scarfed them up. A few men bought an oak or hickory stick. Totally sold out in 2 1/2 hours. people seem to like the lighter weight sticks. A 46 inch poplar 1 inch in diameter weighted in at 12 onces. To see if it would hold up, I wacked it against the floor of my basement trying to break it, but it took a wacking. I finally sucseeded in breaking one wacking it hard against a tree in the back yard. It's no hickory, but it took more punishment than I thought it would take. No war club, but a good stick to use while crossing a stream, or on a rocky trail. I guess thats why their buying them; a traditional looking trecker pole.
I was very surprised at how they sold out, at 25 to 30 dollars each.
I guess I'll be making more sticks for sale.
Karen has been pressing me to sell them at local craft fairs, but I've been kind of hesitant. Well, last fall there was some local construction going on, and they had bulldozed a plot of land. I went in and sawed off some strait saplings and let them dry down the basement for a few months. I had alot of poplar, of all things. For just a trecking pole sort of stick, not one to be playing Little John at the bridge, poplar is a nice wood. It has great end on strength, and it was popular for boat poles on the old C&O cannal boats between Cumberland Maryland and Washinton D.C. The reason is, poplar when dry is a very light wood that you can push on enough to move a cannal barge, and have have a 20 foot pole that one man can handle easy. But it will take a very great deal of end on force. I guess I got into poplar because some of the female family members wanted a lighter weight stick they could carry and use easy.
Well this weekend was a craft show, and with Karen pushing me, I set up a little table with my sticks. I had some hickory, a few hornbeams, a couple oak, and at least a dozen poplar sticks. They were sanded and stained with a variety of Minwax stains like golden oak, and provincial. The final sealer was Helmsman Spar Urathane in satin non-gloss finish. A cotton jute wrapped handle impregnated with clear epoxy on one end and a rubber chair/table leg end from Lowes on the other.
To my surprise, the 1 inch to 1 1/2inch thick lightweight poplar ones sold out the fastest to women and men. They scarfed them up. A few men bought an oak or hickory stick. Totally sold out in 2 1/2 hours. people seem to like the lighter weight sticks. A 46 inch poplar 1 inch in diameter weighted in at 12 onces. To see if it would hold up, I wacked it against the floor of my basement trying to break it, but it took a wacking. I finally sucseeded in breaking one wacking it hard against a tree in the back yard. It's no hickory, but it took more punishment than I thought it would take. No war club, but a good stick to use while crossing a stream, or on a rocky trail. I guess thats why their buying them; a traditional looking trecker pole.
I was very surprised at how they sold out, at 25 to 30 dollars each.
I guess I'll be making more sticks for sale.
