Bobs Stickmaking Pages - A neat walking stick with buffalo horn handle and turned Padauk shank #106


	106 - A neat walking stick with black buffalo horn handle and a turned Padauk shank. Maximum overall length 38.5" / 96.5cm.
	I'm not quite sure whether this should be classed as a renovated collector's stick, a Womble stick, or something else. However, in view of the amount of work I've done on it I'm claiming it as my own! The buffalo horn handle started life on top of an ebonised maple shank and would originally have looked quite smart. However, by the time I came across it in an antique shop the length of the stick had magically shrunk to about 24", the black lacquer was flaking off and the handle was dull and rough with some chips knocked off the end. The shape of the handle took my fancy, so the first thing I did on getting it home was to take a template so that I could produce further handles in this style. I removed the handle and fitted it to a new, turned Padauk shank. This entailed working the handle down to fit the shank, cutting off the damaged end, capping it with ram's horn, and removing material all over to get back to a good surface that would take a polish.
	I used a spacer of white PVC between the handle and the capping to reflect as much light as possible back through the semi-transparent ram's horn. (Mounting the capping straight onto the black buffalo horn would have killed its sparkle for sure). The joint is reinforced with a brass bullet case (.45 Colt) recessed into the capping and passing through into the end of the handle. The recess was filled with clear polyester embedding resin to give a smooth polished surface. On the right, note the similarity to a nice cool pint of Guinness! In some of these pictures it appears that the bullet case projects through the surface of the horn. This is an illusion caused by the refraction of light within the resin. The particular resin I use sets harder (and more reliably) than the standard stuff, is slightly clearer, and has a higher refractive index.


I fitted an ox-horn spacer between the handle and shank. This has some most unusual markings in it. The black buffalo horn has the usual white flecks and hairlines (but much of what you see on the left-hand side of the handle is actually a reflection). In places, slight "age" cracks were evident. Most of these were removed by sanding down and polishing the surface but a couple of slightly deeper ones were filled with resin. These should not cause any problems.
The shank itself is turned from a nice piece of Padauk. This is a very colourful hardwood (found in West Africa, Burma and Thailand) with splashes of bright copper and darker streaks - at least, it has when the surface is freshly cut. With exposure to light the colours will darken considerably, though it will still look very attractive. To avoid darkening the wood even further I have not applied my usual linseed oil to the shank, but instead gave it half a dozen thin coats of clear shellac sanding sealer before finishing off with three coats of Tru-Oil gunstock finish. The overall result is a smart-looking stick which will give good support and is comfortable to use in either hand.
SOLD

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