Showing posts with label "walking stick". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "walking stick". Show all posts

Friday, January 11, 2019

Walking Stick



Walking Stick - born in the summer of 1972


Disclaimer: Family members can skip over this post. You've heard this story already (probably more than once, too..)

This is Walking Stick. He's the only possession I have left from my childhood.

This is his story.

Back when I was a kid (from ages 12 to 18),  I did something that is completely unthinkable for modern children: I'd pack a lunch, some matches to build a fire in case I wanted to cook something, a hatchet, my jackknife, water, a book, binoculars, a poncho and a few other odds and ends and then - I'd be off - all day - no GPS tracker - no cell phone - no parents - no nothing..  I went in all kinds of weather - in all seasons.. During the summer months I'd sometimes smuggle my snorkeling gear in and do some outlaw snorkeling in the big Lynn reservoirs.. During the winter when the ice was thick enough, I'd bring my skates and skate from one end of the big lakes to the other.. No supervision. No backup. Just me.

Glorious.

In 1971 when I was fourteen I got it in my mind that I needed a walking stick.. So - on one early spring tromp, I found a suitable maple sapling, chopped him down, stripped his branches and carted him home. The sapling spent the next year in the garage up on a hanging ladder drying out..

In the summer of 1972, I took the sapling down, stripped the bark with a draw knife, carved the top with my Father's chisel set, stained it (walnut stain), sanded it, applied wax to the carving, polyurethaned the shaft, trimmed it for size, and bound the tip with electrical tape.. 

I was going for a primitive / Easter Island kind of feel for the figure. I think I got the primitive feel - but probably missed the Easter Island look by a mile..

Because I was careful about drying the wood before working it, Walking Stick has only one bad check in the carved figure - across his right foot.. but the rest of the shaft is rock solid.

When I trimmed him for size - I trimmed him for a 15 year-old me and so now that I've grown taller - he's slightly shorter than I'd like him to be..

One big mistake I made was in shaping the shaft where it is gripped for walking.. I shaved out a slight hollow that feels like it fits in my palm.. The only problem is that I applied the hollowed out area in such a way that when Walking Stick is held, he is looking backwards.. I have always told myself that he's in charge of watching out for things that might be sneaking up on us..

We've been on tons of jaunts over the past 46 years.. He's always been an excellent companion. He keeps his own counsel. He travels at my pace. He doesn't mind when I stop to take pictures. And - he's always watching my six..




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