Started carving a new diamond willow walking stick and have finally gotten far enough along to show some of my work. No stones have been added yet but there will be some opals and red agate added later mostly for eyes because there is going to be many animal heads carved into the wood.
This is a very tall stick and about a foot from the bottom end there was a bad curve so I cut it then put it back together much straighter.
I then strapped it with thin slabs of mahogany, I think. When everything was set I worked epoxy putty in and around the strips.
There are two hand holds carved into the stick, one is arm pit high which works good for normal walking and the other is upper shoulder high which works well for walking and leaning more weight on the stick.
Lower hand hold.
Upper hand hold.
First animal is called a False Killer Whale which I had not heard of but it matched the mouth best. Will be much better when eye is placed.
Second animal is a dolphin that is a little different than the common ones and I need to go back to get the name.
I hope I can turn this into a lizard with a comb on it's snout.
Back side of lizard that I hoped to be a flamingo but that might be a stretch.
Other down branch I hope to turn into a mallard duck in the round but the placement of the eyes could be a big problem.
Another bird.
There are 40 diamonds on this stick and it weighed 2.68 pounds when I started but I hope to get that down to 2 pounds. The grip points feel very natural and it does not feel heavy but I have not carried it around for hours either. I have drawn two lines from top to bottom which will be a groove all the way. It probably took me an hour to figure out a way around all the diamonds but I think it will add a lot of visual to the stick plus it will take off some weight. When my dad was carving canes he cut holes all the way through the stick between diamonds but I do not have diamonds anywhere on both sides that I can carve the center out of.
With the extra weight on the top end of this thing I could probably swing it like a club and knock a bear silly enough to give me time to whack my partners legs and make my getaway. A two handed jab with the dolphin would probably put an attacker down long enough to get away too. Both of which have about a zero percent chance of happening but it is good to be prepared.
Jim
