Walking Sticks & Canes.

[H.Johnson]

A book on the subject

I heartily recommend this book, ' BLACKTHORN - THE LORE AND THE ART OF MAKING WALKING STICKS by Jack Walker. Includes some cultural background, methods of choosing and straightening etc. About 90 pages with mainly B&W photos. Mr. Walker (great name!) knows his stuff and passes it on well. His methods can. of course, be applied to other types of wood.

Can I also encourage people who want a stick to 'do it themselves' - I think you'll find a new interest and hobby. Go for it!

 

[H.Johnson]

Sorry, I'm getting carried away posting in this thread. One last contribution!

Yes, there is even a 'doctor of Irish stick fighting' (he has a PhD) Dr William Flynn Sanders who is is the Director of the 'Guild of The Blackthorn' (Irish Fighting Arts) of the USA.

The art is called an maide bata ('the swift stick') and there are apparently 39 attacking moves or strikes known as 'thorns'. This is supposed by some to relate to the same number of spikes or thorns on a 'perfect' Irish stick. Sounds like the sort of stuiff they tell to tourists, but there just may be something in it.

http://www.geocities.com/glendoyle/bata/[/URL]

"Skeet"

 

[Creeping Past]

Maybe the 'thorns' are based on the multiple darts of the gae bolg, the deadly, mutli-headed spear of Cu Chulainn, evoking many simultaneous strikes from the same weapon.

Maybe it's based in folklore and/or on the ongoing 19th century invention of tradition...

 

[shortbow]

Great stuff, you Brits, I love "listening" to our progenitors yacking about all these cool anachronisms that make life worthwhile.

Over here, no blackthorn or hazel. I use pin cherry, birch, Douglas maple, and for long staffs, standing dead lodgepole pine from the north side of mountains which can have seventy growth rings in an inch.

For short cudgel type sticks I top them with a round stone attached with rawhide a la plains Indian war club, garishly adorned with beads, scalp locks and the like. Scares hell out of the tourists.lol

 

[Viola]

I had a hawthorn in my backyard that has since gone to the Great Compost Bin In The Sky, and that thing was so thorny I can't imagine working with it. Hazel should grow here, though.

What I have access to the most of is probably locust. It's thin and straight and not too heavy. I don't know how great a weapon it would make, though. You could probably soak it in linseed oil the way martial artists do the rattan fighting sticks.

 

["Skeet" McD]

"Civilized Walking Sticks"

How about a race to see who can get their cane up first?

I guess old guys can occasionally still beat out youth...

Herewith the dacent sticks: First, a bog-oak item that will, should I ever need one, probably be my daily prop. Bog-oak was a favorite souvenir from one fo the first real tourist-traps: The Lakes of Killarney. The trade...and trade it was!...gets going in the later 1860s and ran steadily into the middle of the 20C; I expect, to some extent, it goes on yet. All sorts of things were made...brooches, knicknacks, boxes, and even furniture. They are ALL decorated with numerous harps, shamrocks, etc. This piece was picked, of all things, in very Southern Ohio, near the Kentucky/W VA convergence point. If I had to take a guess, I'd date it 1890-1920:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2529
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2528&bgcolor=black

The second I've had for many years...must have bought it in the 70s...SOMEWHERE. I believe in the US, however. I've always been interested in....lower-rank items, the sort of thing "just folks" owned...and you can see that this stick fits that bill: rattan cane, with a stamped, 2 piece brass cap bearing traces of its original gilding. It wasn't just rich folks that carried these things!
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2533&bgcolor=black
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2532&bgcolor=black

The third is a rather nice example of a light rattan, I think: while I haven't done any real study of the prices and grades of these things, the delicacy of the stick and its rootbole suggest a higher-grade item. If I remember correctly, this was purchased in London in the 1980s.
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2537&bgcolor=black
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2538&bgcolor=black

Normally this carries my (repro) 1918 Red Sox pennant. Thank goodness its no longer the most recent...and, yes: that's what the ties were intended for:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100014/DSCF2007

Here they all are, side by side, for comparison:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2539&bgcolor=black

Enjoy! I'll post the country...and worse!...sticks separately...

"Skeet"

 

[avedwards]

[QUOTE="Skeet" McD]I guess old guys can occasionally still beat out youth... [/QUOTE]
Only because I don't have a camera and a webcam is hardly suitable for photographing a stick. I'll beat you to it next time... :rage:

Nice sticks though, although, no sword canes. They're something I've always wanted, even if they're illegal to carry around. The one time I spotted a nice one at an antiques fair which was in perfect condition and concealed the sword so well that I only noticed it when it was pointed out, it had to cost too much. Just my luck .

 

["Skeet" McD]

Tread on the tail o' me coat!

http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2535&bgcolor=black[/URL]

And heres....quite another thing. This was purchased in the Irish countryside, Roscommon I believe, in the 1980s. This seems to be an example of the REAL shillelagh; such short clubs are frequently seen in the 18th and 19th century depictions of Irish peasants. The good Lord knows...it could do some real damage to dogs or...not dogs. Basically impossible to date (at least with my [lack of] knowledge...but I would go so far as to say the cord running through the hole in the handle appears to be 2nd half of the 19C:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2545&bgcolor=black

Here they are side by side, with two different views of the shillelagh for a better comprehension of the shape of the head:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2540&bgcolor=black
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100366/DSCF2541&bgcolor=black

Faugh a Ballagh! (a good 19C spelling for "Clear the way!")
"Skeet"

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Show Us Your Walking Sticks

Because I felt that the top hats in the Toppers Unite thread needed their obvious companions, I offer the following:

Show us your Walking Sticks.

I've wanted one since I was a kid - probably after seeing a Boulevardier in some classic film. Well, years later I finally have one. Although I'd been seriously looking for one - even a modern one - for almost a year, I finally bought this one after a knee injury in January. It's made of solid African wenge, and I decided to personalize it with my initials. It isn't vintage; not by a long shot.

And since I like clocks and watches, I had to top it off with this:

Now all I need is a top hat and the requisite tails to go with it.

So, show us your Walking Sticks and Canes!


Lee
__________________

The knee is healing nicely, but I'm keeping the stick, anyway.

 

[avedwards]

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12299
Haven't managed to put up pictures of the one I made myself yet, but I will. Might not compare to some of the vintage ones, but it was only a project I did by attatching a chromium door handle to a cut off rake with a hose ferrule, and then painting it with suitable hard wearing paint.

 

[Gutshot]

Found this at the thrift shop this afternoon for $5.

 

[St.Ignatz]

Blackthorn & A stick I harvested in the woods 40 years ago while playing hookie from high school.

 

[WH1]

Interesting topic. Lots of good information, particularly fascinating is the use of them for self defense.

As fas as women using them as a fashion accessory I seem to recall Sybil, Harold Abrahams future wife in "Chariots of Fire" carrying one very stylishly while meeting him at the train station post Olympic victory.

A current source for the very high end walking sticks and stick umbrellas is Fox Umbrellas in England one of the great manufacturers of such items.

http://www.foxumbrellas.com/walking_sticks.htm

On the topic of swagger sticks I, being a career military man and son of same, have had several given to me over the years. Unfortunately I have never understood the point, since we are no longer allowed to use them appropriately to correct behavior and you look damn silly using one to point out enemy positions to your men. (A full mag of tracers and an M4 trumps). Additionally I can't avoid thinking of a classic exchange from "Blackadder Goes Forth".

Captain Blackadder: "Don't forget your stick Lieutenant"
Lieutenant George: "Oh no sir, wouldn't want to face a machine gun without this!"
lol:eusa_clap

 

[Scotus]

Learning to carry a walking stick is like learning to wear a fedora - the first few times you'll feel conspicuous but persevere as if it's the most normal thing in the world and before long it will be. When it becomes a natural thing to you, it will look natural to others.

Reading through this thread, since I have an interest in walking sticks and cromachs (long Scottish walking staff), I think these are words of wisdom that can be applied to so much.

 

[Highlander]

Canes as self defense, always good to have something in your hand to keep others at their distance. I keep thinking about a sword cane, not so much to carry, as there are real issues with "concealled weapons" with those(Unless I felt there was an immediate threat, and then, the old addage, "better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6)... But I'd like to have one just to say I have one, I've looked at the Burger Canes and the Cold Steel Canes, all seem to be very sturdy and worth looking at.

 

[PADDY]

Blackthorn.

I have two vintage Irish 'Blackthorn' sticks, one with a monogrammed silver band.

 

["Skeet" McD]

I have two vintage Irish 'Blackthorn' sticks, one with a monogrammed silver band.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see them, Paddy. BTW--not that I get around antiquing with the fervor I once did--but at the Brimfield show back in September I saw the first bog-oak cane I've seen in a few decades; it was low-middling tourist grade: decoration of shamrock and snakes! And unusual motif, in my experience. Unfortunately, the dealer knew what it was...and, at least for me, he had it massively overpriced for the quality. But still interesting to see it.

"Skeet"

 

[Nick D]

Here's a gent's cane I recently got. The hallmarks put it at 1907 (I think). It's feather light and in very good condition.

 

[Panache]

I enjoy the feel of a stick in my hand as I walk and more often than not carry one everywhere when I stroll or hike. Here are a few more examples from my modest collection


Thick Shepard's crook

Shooting stick/Seat stick and Ash cromach (outside the shop from from where I purchased both in S.F.)

A better one of the Ash crommach

Simple brass mushroom headed walking stick

Antler handled hiking staff

Irish blackthorn stick

The blackthorn has rapidly become a favorite as it feels great in the hand and has a nice weight to it

Cheers

Jamie

 

[cotillion]

A question to walking stick and cane users?

I have always wanted to supplement my outfit with a walking stick or cane but I am curious if you guys ever are not allowed into anywhere (events, bars, restaurants) because the cane is viewed as a weapon?