PIctures of Curled Sticks Growing

I just made a short video of curled sticks that I have seen growing in the woods.

Thought you might like to see what they look like.

Boy Scout Walking Sticks

Living here in rural Kentucky, I sometimes forget that people live in places where they don't have access to sticks growing in the wild.


We always think of boy scouts out in the woods camping and hiking around, which boys and girls like to do, however kids growing up in cities don't have access easy access to sticks.

I have been lucky enough to supply cub scout, boy scout, and girl scout troops with "blank" or unfinished sticks for several years.

Troops order the blank sticks and make their own walking staffs.

I've supplied groups all over the United States with sticks.

Carved Snake Walking Cane 01/27/2014

Today has been a great day to carve a walking cane.

The cane is approximately 58" tall and the snake makes four coils around the cane.

Comments are always welcome.

How Do You Remove Your Bark

Today, I needed to remove the bark from a couple of curled sticks, before I carve on them.

The pressure washer can make the difficult job of removing bark from the stick, easy.

 

The pressure washer is 3,000 psi and I'm using an oscillating head on the wand.

Removing Bark From Stick With Pressure Washer - YouTube

3" World Globe

The two 3" globes arrived arrived to from the customer. Looks like warmer (above freezing) for Sunday. If the forecast is correct I will hookup the pressure washer and blast the bark off two nice curled sticks, then begin carving the snakes on both.

 

Keep watching for progress pictures.

 

I think this will be excitting.

 

 

Walking Cane For Drive Angry

Carved a snake on walking cane for a movie Nicolas Cage was staring in called Drive Angry, but for some reason the people making the movie decided to us another walking stick with big bone on the stick, rather than the snake, figure that one out.

Needless to say, sitting in the movie theator I was disappointed when I got a chance to see the walking stick shown in the movie.

Making Split Tobacco Sticks Years Past

MAKING TOBACCO STICKS

 

YEARS PAST 

 

Tobacco provided a reliable source on income for my parents, who were born in Wolfe County, Kentucky.  Dad (Rodney Spencer) often told me stories of working in the tobacco fields, both when he was a child and later as adult.  Dad and his brother (Ray Spencer) would spend the day with their pa-paw (John T Spencer) hoeing and plowing the fields, then of a night sneaking out of the house and riding the work horses until well after midnight, without a saddle using a string for a bridle. 

 

The tobacco was harvested late in the summer each year.  The tobacco plants were cut using a tobacco knife. Several tobacco plants were placed on tobacco sticks, which were hauled on sleds to the tobacco barn to cure, later the tobacco leaves were removed from the tobacco stalk and sold at market.

 

Dad, papaw, and grand-paw made their own tobacco sticks.  A large tree was cut down.  The logs were cut into approximately five foot lengths.  Each log was then split into smaller and pieces, using a froe and a wooden mallet until the tobacco sticks were the end product. 

 

A froe was a simple tool which functioned more like a wedge than a cutting tool. The blade was driven into a block of wood with a wood club or mallet which struck the back of the metal blade. The wooden handle served as a lever to pry the blade sideways deepening the split with further blows.  Dad’s papaw had a blacksmith’s shop and he made the froe they used.

 

Often, the fall of the year was a slow period of time.  Dad told me that on a good day, they could make 250-500 tobacco sticks. Several thousand tobacco sticks were needed for the tobacco grown on the family farm, however extra sticks were made and sold for much needed dollars.  The tobacco sticks sold for about $0.03/each.

 

Our family no longer grows tobacco crops, however I have a small web site http://www.kywalkingcane.com , where I sell handmade walking sticks.  The best tobacco sticks are selected from the barn.  The tobacco stick is cut to length and hand sanded to remove splinters from the wood.  Several coats of oil based wood sealer is applied, followed by three coats of oil based polyurethane.

 

Most farmers have thrown away or burned the tobacco sticks used on the tobacco farms.  The tobacco barns are slowly being torn down, soon the tobacco fields will be empty of tobacco.  Creating walking sticks from the tobacco sticks is a way for me to save a small piece of our family history by providing walking sticks for people to enjoy for years to come.

 

Please come to my web site http://www.kywalkingcane.com and enjoy the family pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Kris Kristofferson With Carved Snake Walking Cane

Picture of Kris Kristofferson holding a Carved Snake Walking cane I created for him to use in the movie "Bloodworth".

Carved Snake Slide Show On Youtube

The attched link is for a youtube slide show featuring several carved snake walking canes I have carved over the past year or so.

Watch the video.

Let me know what you think.

Carved Snake Cane slide show.

Kentucky Walking Stick and Kentucky Walking Cane on Google+

Follow Kentucky Walking Sticks on google+.

Follow Kentucky Walking Cane on google+

Check Out Kentucky Walking Cane - Kentucky Walking Stick On Facebook

The facebook page for Kentucky Walking Sticks - Kentucky Walking Canes is up and running after several days of work.

Everything appears to be working well.

Take a look and give me any suggestions for improvement.

You can also find Kentucky Walking Canes on google+.

Of course you can visit the websites:

Kentucky Walking Cane

Kentucky Walking Stick

I Must Be A Neanderthal

I may be a Neanderthal, but I just set up a Facebook page for Kentucky Walking Canes.

Don't laugh, I'm know I'm behind the times.

How To Straighten A Crooked Stick

I use an electric hot plate that I purchased at a garage sale.

I also use a large 2 gallon pan.

Place the pan of water on the hot plate and heat until the water boils.

Place the crooked stick with the crook over the pan and cover with an old coat or blanket, but be careful not catch the coat on fire.

Let the stick stay in place for about an hour or so.

Remove the stick and bend over your knee until straight, a bit at a time.

Facebook

Just been working on my Kentucky Walking Cane page on Facebook, but I'm having some problems.

I can't seem to figure out how to install a link on my website to facebook or for the matter, how to install a link on my blog to facebook.

On Facebook you can search Kentucky Walking Cane, but I want to click a link on my website and go to Facebook.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

New To Facebook

Just setup a facebook page for Kentucky Walking Cane.

If I understand facebook correctly, just search for "Kentucky Walking Cane" on facebook and you should be able to find me.

I continue to work on the new website Kentucky Walking Cane, for some reason the website is not very high on the list when I search for walking cane or walking sticks.  Not really coming up at all, any suggestions?

Kentucky Walking stick comes up on the first page in google.

Ice Hanging On The Cliff

The creek runs over the cliff behind my parents house in Wolfe County, Kentucky.

When I was a young boy, my favorite sport in the winter time was to shot ice sickles off the cliff where running water had frozen.

I guess when you grow up in the country it really doesn't take much for enterainment.

Cold Weather Stick Hunting

I love to go outside an walking around in the woods searching for sticks in cold weather, but wow! This is really cold weather.

Looks like this weekend will bring about warmer weather, but here in Kentucky we are going to have rain.

Just looked out and it's raining now.

Merry Christmas

Created this cool Christmas card a few weeks ago and emailed to lot's of people. 

If you didn't get a card I'm sorry and Merry Christmas once again!!!

Kentucky Walking Sticks and Kentucky Walking Canes