Repairs and Alterations

These sticks are not indestructible and from time to time one gets dropped on the wrong surface, bashed overly hard, sat on, driven over etc etc and needs to be repaired, sometimes they can be fixed and sometimes they cannot, and sometimes they can but its more work than its worth. Peoples needs and preferences also change over time and requires a stick alteration.  The most common alteration is a shortening of the shank, a simple job for a stick with a brass foot, a harder one for a stick that has a fancy foot that it is desired to retain.  Here is one such job I just finished.  The stick had a really nice horn foot but it wasn't going to be a nice fit once the stick was shortened so i used a sliver of black horn to make the transition smooth.

Maple Burl Sanding

While I really like the look of the maple burl heads i have to say they are an absolute bear to work on.  Due to the hardness of the wood, the lack of direction to the grain and the variability in hardness due to all the knots sanding them takes 2-3 times longer than any of the other wooden heads i do.  Add to that the risk when i cut one out that there will be a big flaw that i could not see before cutting and you have a beautiful material that is a lot of trouble to work with.   that being said the commissioned maple burl stick is approaching the home stretch now.  The stripped hazel shank and water buffalo horn collar are fully sanded and finished as is the neck with the rest of the head still needing an evening or two of sanding to finish up.  This stick is short and very light and was intended to have a brass foot, but looking at the collar i think i am going to recommend a black horn foot to match the collar.

Wolf Head Walking stick is almost finished

Well I have been working non stop on finishing the wolf head stick,Raven painted in the eyes on the wolf, and then I added new coats of finish as soon as the previous one was dry.  It took two rounds of extra sanding to get it just right. And then another 5 coats of finish after that.  I have to rub it down with steel wool to make sure its really smooth then add one last thin coat of finish and I will be done,,, well almost done, it still needs a foot put on, brass in this case. Anyway when it is all finished the head will not look any different than it does right now so here it is.  I do believe it may be about the nicest stick we have made to date.

First Coat of Finish

The wolf head stick has been my focus for the last few days and last night I added the first coat of finish.  The finish i am using is a gun stock finish called Tru Oil.  I like the way the wood takes it up and i like that i can control the shine of the finish and the apparent "depth" of the wood by how many coats i apply and how i treat it after the finish is applied.  The fist coat of finish is really more of a sanding step than a finishing step though.  The first coat of finish shows me any places where the sanding is not quite done, it really brings out the marks, dimples and scratches.  It also tends to expand the wood fibers which brings up any remaining roughness in the wood.

So the next step is to re-sand any areas that show scratches or other imperfections and then lightly sand the entire thing to remove the fibers that have been raised by the finish.  After that, assuming i fixed every thing properly (and sometimes it takes 2-3 passes through this step to get all the imperfections out) then its on to adding all the coats of finish, in this case probably about 6.

My favorite thing about this step is i finally get to see what the grain and color of the wood are going to look like in the finished piece (though i usually cheat along the way and get it damp with water to give me a preview). Oh and one last thing that happens at this point,  if there is any painting to be done on the piece then that occurs between this step and final finishing.  The first coat of finish before painting seals the wood for the paint, an important step if you don't want the paint to bleed into areas you don't want paint. In the case of this stick the only painting will be the eyes.

final assembly

This happened several days ago but when i finally attach the head to the shank is an important step for me.  After the head is glued on a lot of finals happen, the final straightening of the shank, the final shaping as i clean up the head where it joins the shank for a smooth transition and then the moving the work from the shop to the house for final sanding.  The final sanding usually takes 2-3 evenings, i do all this sanding by hand, i find i need to feel the stick in my hands, feel the rough spots evening out under my fingers.  I will sometimes find when doing all this handling that there is a part of it that just does not quite feel right and i will do a bit more course shaping to get it right before returning to the sanding.  It gets quite tiring on my fingers but its also a labor of love, this is when i really get to know the individual pieces.  

Here are the two commissioned sticks i have been working on fully assembled and ready for final shaping and sanding. The shanks have had their final straightening so the next step is to work on the area where the head joins the shank so there is a nice smooth transition.

Carving Continues

Here are the two carved heads Raven has been working on, they are both almost done, carving wise at least.  The dog head on a market stick is awaiting final approval from the client and the other one has detail work on the rough to go.