For most sticks I leave the bark on but occasionally I strip the bark off, this us usually with Holly but when i found a nice hazel shank with the bark all cracked i figured i would give stripping it a try. It was no harder to strip than the holly and looks good so I am using it for the dogs head market stick I am working on. The problem with stripped shanks is they are a lot more work, besides the actual work of stripping the bark there is a lot of sanding involved to remove traces of the inner most layer of the bark and to get a nice smooth finish. Fortunately its football season! So i can sit and watch a game and sand away at the shank. In this case as the stick is going to be relatively short for a shepherds stick (42 inches) and with a head and collar size of 7.5 inches the shank is quite short. Here it is all sanded and ready for the head (and finish of course but that will come after it is joined to the head.
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