Yesterday
I finished a new walking stick, proudly photographed this morning leaning
nonchalantly against the shed from where it was created.
That
sounds very grand doesn’t it; I’ve made a walking stick! In reality it is only
the second walking stick I’ve ever made.
It is a very comfortable to hold and use, but not what some may call
attractive. It is a plain every day sort of stick, sometimes is called a hiking
stick and the sort I like the carry with me when I’m out and about in the countryside;
walking without a stick feels like cycling without a bicycle.
I made my
first walking stick in 1982, which I still have. It is made of alder and was
made in the green, in other words it was cut down and used immediately. It is a
thumb stick which is a stick with a Y shaped top which allows the thumb to nest
in the V and the hand to grasp the shaft. These Y shapes are naturally
occurring where 2 branches divide at 70 to 90 degrees from the main trunk of a
tree. It is a great stick for security and stability and finding growing wood
that can be turned into a thumb stick is much prized for by stick dressing
craftsmen. My thumb stick however is not crafted, it is quite utilitarian.
Friends of
mine were supervising a Boys Brigade Summer Camp that year at West Woodburn in
Northumberland and having a few days free I joined them (in the days before CRP
checks made ad-hoc helping of school aged children problematic). It was an awful week weather-wise, the rain
never stopped, it was cold; a typical Northumbrian summer in fact. Adjacent to
where we’d erected the tents the River Rede slowly meandered on its way to the
North Tyne. Mr Churchman the camp leader was a keen trout fisherman and so in
the evenings we’d head off and he’d catch a fish or two for our supper. It was on one of those trips while we sat on
the bank waiting for the fish to bite that I cut down this piece of alder and
fashioned it into a stick using Swiss Army knife. I can still remember sitting
‘whittling’ the bark off the shaft, watching the blade cleanly removing thin
but 1 foot long shards of bark, then watching these float away in the river.
Every time I use this stick it transports me back to that relaxing evening
watching the river go by.
However much
as I value this stick for sentimental reasons, it has a flaw. It was only
ever roughly shaped with my knife and about 8 inches from the bottom it has a
kink in it. A good craftsman worked walking stick should be ram-rod straight.
And so it was in December 2010 I found myself in Bedwyn Brail woods. Earlier in the month timber operations had
been on the go, and scattered around the woodland there was a lot of brash
timber. Much of this was 10 foot long, ram-rod straight hazel shafts; the ideal
wood for a walking stick. Some had been
snapped and split by forestry vehicles, so after rejecting about 10 shafts I
finally picked on one which while having a slight kink in it did feel good in
the hand. I brought it home.
Ideally I
should have steamed this stick while it was still green, to straighten out any
minor bends and turns. That would be of course if I knew how to do this. I know
in theory, not practice. I decided however to keep its character, leave the
minor bends in place, and let it slowly air dry for 12 months before working on
it. In hazel this not only strengthens (seasons) the wood before it is used,
but allows the bark to mature prior to preparation and varnishing.
In the
modern world, the art of stick dressing is in decline, although courses have
recently revived this craft to the general public. For centuries shepherds and
farmers have made sticks. Initially an essential working tool, over the year’s
specific styles of stick developed with horn, antler or maybe a contrasting
wood being used to embellish the top of the stick.
The style
of stick developed too.
A Shepherd’s crook is what is
traditionally seen as a worked stick. Usually this has a bent horn top to it used
for catching sheep (from my experience an aluminium shepherds crook is far
better, and lighter, to use). The Mart stick is a development of this
with a wider horn arc, designed for use in the market, or for leaning against
at a Show. Many of these sticks are so exquisitely carved, it would be
impossible to use them for work. Great rivalry develops between stick craftsmen
who could, just maybe, be awarded the ‘Best stick in the Show’ at the various
agricultural shows which take place in the North.
Even as a
child I’ve long been fascinated by old traditions, and I remember being given a
book “The Art of Stick Dressing” by Norman Tulip who shepherded at various
places around the North Tyne and Coquet Valley in the last Century. However it
wasn’t until the mid 1950’s that Norman began to seriously carve sticks, partly
as a result of the re-forming of the Border Stick Dressing Association after
World War Two. At that time another Northumbrian George Snaith was widely
recognised as the master of this ancient craft and George took Norman under his
tutor’s wing. Norman Tulip then went on to produce some of the best worked
sticks ever made.
And so as
I lightly sanded and varnished my walking stick, in a way I am paying homage to
a centuries old craft. There is no way I could ever be associated with the
Norman Tulip’s or George Snaith’s of this world, but having a piece of history
in my hand as I walk about is, something I find most comforting.
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