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I and my family used to wander the forest behind our house in the Pacific Northwest foraging for wild berries and other goodies. Of course, the best berries were always just out of reach.

To enhance our foraging hobby, and to get that last, elusive berry, I designed and made this walking stick from common 2x lumber using a 3/4" round-over bit. The foot is nothing more than a common rubber stopper, with a hole drilled in the center to allow it to be screwed into a pre-drilled hole on the bottom of the stick (the screw pulls into the stopper, somewhat rounding the end).

It has hooks for bags and to pull branches down to you. The holes both add character and reduce weight.

After the Hobbit movie came out, it occurred to me I should have made several, since they probably would have sold under that theme.

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Looks like a useful tool to have in the bush
 

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That's a cool stick! Nice desgn and useful too.
 

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Useful and wonderful design, good job! This is really cool, wouldn't be a bad idea for apple picking too, that's the only thing around here that grows on tall branches.
 

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great idea, looks very interesting and different, great work
 

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Great Job! Simple and practical but also elegant and decorative and a great multi tasking tool. Since I grow my own raw materials I am wondering how to go about making my own. :)

You also could have attracted the Star Trek crowd - those hooks make it resemble a Klingon weapon.
 

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If you're serious about making one, it's not that difficult. I just used a 2×6 that, when hit with a 3/4" round over, produces the equivalent of dowels.

I traced on the shape onto wood, as it came to mind. Pencil erases fine, right?

Once I liked the pattern, I cut it out with a hand jig saw.

When cut out, I used a 3/4 round-over bit to, essentially, create a dowel like form. You might want to hold back from the complete round-over to give a little more for the bearing to ride on. Try it on a 1-1/2" scrap to see what you think. One way, you have to sand off more for round, the other way, you have a little line too. I went the latter route and it worked fine for me. Of course, avoid tipping the router too much (that might justify router ski).

For the diamonds, tears, or whatever you'd call them, a couple drill bits give the jig saw holes to start from and run to.

A small round over will save a little work rounding over the tears too.

After this, its just a matter of roughing it in, fairly quickly, with some eighty grit, then working down.

Several of these could be roughed in in a day.

The ex has this, but not before I cut out a Masonite pattern. Even without that, I could probably toss the picture in the projector and fake it.
 

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Great idea, very functional on fruit picking. The wood is beautiful and cool design with the holes and hooks. Great work!
 

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excellent "palka-vyruchalka"
 

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Thanks for the detailed instructions, but I literally grow my own canes and walking sticks - I use bonsai and topiary pruning techniques to get the right shape. Those curved hooks are possible but will take a few years to grow - but you have inspired me to try.
 

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This is one version of curved walking sticks. This is the "attorney" version, but I have a "judge" version, which is even more crooked.

 

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As long as I'm posting walking stick ideas, this is another you can play with. It started with a straight pieces, then I used the band saw to scoop off a side, the spun it ninety degrees, did it again and just kept going to the bottom.

Once that was done, I drilled holes. Eventually, I ran the paracord through the holes and ended up with this.
 

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This one was just a rounded piece of stock I attacked with a forstner bit. I didn't mark anything. Instead, I just kept spinning the stock at, roughly, a forty-five degree angle after drilling to a pre-set depth. Then a rasp and a dowel with sandpaper wrapped around it later…....
 

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I love the curved sticks. I just harvested a Mulberry sapling last fall that I twisted into a spiral shape and here is a photo of one that is still growing.
 

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Very cool. You incorporated usefulness with beauty.
 

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It's going to be interesting to see the finished product of your twisted Mulberry, if you can post them.

Obviously, a lot of time goes into setting up for the build of your sticks, so I hope you get top dollar for them.

I find myself disappointed at how little walking sticks go for, generally. However, I put a few up in the local ma and pa store and put about eighty-five dollar price tag , but somewhat okay for the curved one and the one with the paracord, but which would still be cheap for the forager.

Both the curved one and the one with the cord sold over Christmas, to a lady from the Wapato Tribe, and she indicated she might be interested in more of other designs. So I made another, which Y's in the center, then comes back together, somewhat like a crutch. I drilled holes in it and will add cord crossing the center in somewhat of a dream catcher design.

Most my sticks are nothing more than the product of tinkering fun and I only put them in the store on a whim. I might make a couple more and list them on Amazon, at a more significant price. If they sell, great. If they don't well, they were sitting on my shelf anyway.

On the curved ones I cut from 2×6, I've actually had people ask where I was able to find wood that curvy. I told them I had to comb the local forests for hours and hours. I think my grin might have given the truth away though.
 
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