Stick making or dressing, is the art of making walking and working sticks and can be practised anywhere, at home in the evening, while out in the country or as relaxation in your lunch break at work.
Popularity
Stick making is a very individual pastime, though there are some gatherings where stick makers come together to show off their craft.
Location
Stick dressing can be practised anywhere at any time, the tools needed for making sticks are easy to carry around with you.
Age
There is no age restriction to this pastime, as long as you are old enough and responsible enough to use sharp tools.
Ability
There are no restrictions to stick dressing, as long as you can see and use your hands. Also a visit to a craft or country show where a stick maker is showing their skills is a good place to look for advice.
Description
A stick can be a very simple affair such as a shoot cut from a tree with a bit of root as the handle, or it can be a highly decorated ram's horn crook with any motif or design carved into the handle. Your own skill and imagination are the only limits to what you can do. Almost any material can be used to embellish and enhance sticks, many of our British trees produce wood suitable both for carving of the handle and the shank. Many skills can be learnt as well as a knowledge of country lore.
Dedication
Time and dedication is totally flexible. Stick dressing can be taken up or put down as the mood takes you. A little money can be made by selling the occasional stick in order to buy horn and other materials needed, but because of the time involved, very few stick makers earn enough from their craft to become professional. A dog's head stick can easily take 25 hours to make, and some complex designs may take well over 100 hours.
Potential
Ultimately, winning a local or national stick competition is one of the great achievements every stick maker aspires to.
Closely
Related Activities
One of the most obvious hobbies related to stick making is wood carving, but most outdoor activities and country pursuits provide a subject for a stick. Any country walk will be spiced by finding just the right piece of wood for a handle or subject.
Further
Reading
The Stick Maker, magazine of the Stick-makers Guild. Books: The Art of Stick dressing (Frank Graham) Walking sticks (Edward Hart)
Cost
There is no cost, apart from a few basic tools. (A stick can be made from materials found in your local wood).
Level of Demand
The table below shows the maximum levels of demand that this activity requires. NOTE: These are not entry levels or levels of requirement and has nothing to do with ability.
Energy |
Arms
|
Legs
|
Sight
|
Hearing
|
Speech |
Learning |
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