Walking Stick, bring a piece of the outdoors home

Hey everyone, today I’m going to quickly run through a little project I completed to make a walking stick. It started with a very nice piece of driftwood that I found while camping with Brendon. We were at Horseshoe Lake, in the Whiteshell Provincial Park. We camped there overnight while we did a lot of bass fishing on our kayaks.

It’s just begging to be polished up!

 

As soon as I saw the stick, I knew what I wanted to do with it. Brendon chopped it down to size and I secured it to my kayak for the ride home. It took a few months to get around to it, but I finally completed my vision and made a beautiful walking stick. Below I will describe the steps I took and the final product.

 

Step By Step, getting it done

First step was smoothing it out. Some sandpaper made quick work of the burrs and smoothed everything out. I wanted to make it easy to handle and bring out some of the nice dark knots along the length.

 

Went through a couple pages of sandpaper but it was worth it

 

Once that was done it was time for a stain. Since I only had the one stick, I really didn’t want to buy a whole can of stain. Luckily I found a really neat product that came in packages of 8 sheets of stain. The sheets are similar in size to Baby Wipes, and made coloring the wood very convenient. I chose a nice aged oak color, and with these cloth wipes that I found it turned out pretty decent in the end.

 

Easy on, a great product

 

I’ll admit that when I first bought the stain wipes, I was just looking for a cheap and easy solution. They ended up working out much better than I figured they would, and I will definitely use them again in the future. Coloration was really great, and it penetrated really nicely, providing a fantastic look in the end. In particular at the bends and knots in the wood the color really highlighted the patterns and character of the stick.

 

looking good!

Making it functional, adding durability

After coloring the wood and wiping off the excess stain, it was time for a clear coat. I picked up a can of varnish that was meant for outdoor applications, since I wanted something that would resist water, snow, etc.

A couple applications of clear coat was all it took to have a nice look and feel to the stick, and it was very simple to apply with just a basic paint brush. Two coats later and the walking stick was nearing completion, shiny, durable, and looking great.

 

Shiny!

 

Finally, I wanted this stick to be practical, and that meant a durable base. I picked up a can of plasti-dip, which is a liquid rubber of which you can do multiple coats. Dipping was easy, and in only a few steps I had quite a nice layer of rubber protecting that base. This base coated in rubber should provide some limited protection and durability for the walking stick when it’s used out in the woods.

 

walking stick

protective layers

 

Walking Stick, the final product

By the end, I had a beautiful walking stick with a number of great features. Durable, with good coloration and a nice rubber base. This will be a walking stick that is both nice looking and functional. Brendon was excited to get it back from me, and hopefully it will support him on some fantastic adventures in the seasons to come!

 

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