Box wood was used for the capping and base of the handle, providing plenty of visual contrast.

I selected a strong blackthorn stem with some large knobbles and an interesting kink in the middle. The bark had some old splits and scars which had turned almost black, suggesting there might be some interesting coloration in the wood beneath. This indeed proved to be the case and the resulting shank displays a wide range of colours (which will deepen considerably as it ages). Half of the stem was decidedly oval in cross-section, but there was plenty of thickness, so this would give me an opportunity to reveal some of the darker heart-wood as I worked it down to a rounder shape. The shank needed some serious straightening work but I preserved the main kink, just making it a bit less extreme.

One unusual feature of this piece of blackthorn was that the base of the stem was actually thinner than the top growth. Normally we turn the shank upside-down to put the thick end at the top of the stick, but in this case it had to be mounted the other way round to achieve the same effect.

Black buffalo horn is extremely difficult to photograph, especially with a digital camera, due to the extreme tonal range of the subject coupled with the subtlety of the faint grain patterns within the horn. In fact, this handle has some lovely patterns in a translucent blue-grey colour. They don't show up much in diffuse lighting, but become quite striking when viewed at just the right angle in bright sunshine. Today, it's raining. Ho-hum. Still, by using flash I can at least show a hint of these colours.

The box wood capping is reinforced with short pieces of turned buffalo horn rod, showing as a black spot in each end of the handle.

One final attempt to capture the subtle patterns in the horn... hmm, wonder why I feel thirsty all of a sudden?

SOLD - A commissioned work