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| Hooray!! - My 100th stick!! *100* - An unusual and attractive crook made from a natural piece of hazel,
with the turned-out nose made from ox-horn. |
Maximum overall length 59" / 1.5m Medium to light thickness and weight. | 
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| I had this long, slim piece of hazel standing in the corner of the workshop and
figured it would make an interesting one-piece crook. The chunk of parent
branch attached to it was at an odd angle - it wouldn't be possible to make a
conventional crook, but why not make one with the handle deliberately skewed
across the shank? - it could be very effective. The shank had nice deep
red-brown bark; it was just asking to be made into something interesting, and it had this piece of thicker stuff attached which would be a
pity to waste. So I set to work, nibbling away at it between other jobs, until I had the
makings of a very nice-looking and unusual one-piece crook. There was something
missing, though - I didn't know what. At that point I had just finished another stick. When I started to prepare a
Web page for it I realised it would be number 99. And that meant my next stick
would be number 100! This required something special. I looked at the one-piece
crook again, with a rather different perspective. The nose was too plain, that was it! Too big an expanse of fresh white hazel
wood leading the eye away from the rich colours of the shank. It needed
something to unite the colours and lead the eye back to the shank. I had a good
rummage around and found some ox-horn tips I had picked up somewhere in case
they came in handy. I selected a small piece that looked as though it would
have some nice dark brown colours inside... and cut the nose off the hazel
crook... |
 
| I drilled deep into the wood and horn, and inserted a length of stainless steel
threaded rod to connect the two together. (I always use threaded rod for
jointing purposes - it's not actually screwed into anything, but the thread
provides a key for the epoxy glue that holds the joint together). Once the
joint had set solid, I worked the horn down to match the shape of the wood.
Then I heated up the tip of the horn and tweaked it into the shape you see
here. Rather like a shapely leg, don't you think? Or is that just my Freudian
slip showing? |  
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| I then cut a groove around the joint and filled this with a stiff paste of
epoxy resin filled with brass powder. After working down and polishing
everything up, this gave us a gold-coloured band setting off the joint. The horn lived up to expectations, displaying streaks of cream, grey, chestnut,
coffee and deep chocolate colours. It really is a lovely piece of stuff. You
know, there may be some lucky beggar out there somewhere who has a whole stick
handle made out of the rest of this horn. Now that would be worth seeing! |  
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| Above you can see the deep colour of the shank. It's just a little bit knobbly
and carries a few old scars in the bark here and there which have long ago
healed up and smoothed themselves over. They provide good visual and tactile
interest without detracting from the stick's finish or performance. The shank
below the handle is good and straight with a gentle, even taper through its
length. You can also see the contrasting colours within the horn, and some of the grain
figures to be seen in the exposed hazel wood. Here I have shown the crown of
the handle where it cuts across the centre of the parent branch. There is a
fine display of the medullary rays found in this wood, though they are
generally regarded as more characteristic of oak. |
| SOLD |
| Now, what I haven't told you up until now is that the piece of hazel from which
this stick was made wasn't cut by me. It was in fact cut by John Gibbon, one of
my fellow stickmaking students and a lovely person, who died very suddenly and
unexpectedly a few months back. In his memory, and to thank him for just being
around for a while with his gentle humour and generous spirit, half the
proceeds will be donated to The British Heart Foundation. |