Bobs Stickmaking Pages - Collector's item #C027: A superb Victorian walking stick in carved ebony and rams horn


	C027 - Collector's item: a superb Victorian walking stick in ram's horn and carved ebony Approx. dimensions: Overall length 36" / 91.5cm. Diameter of shank 1" / 25mm tapering to 0.6" / 15mm
This magnificent find is an excellent example of 19th-century stickmaking. The shank is turned from solid ebony and the upper half is covered in carved stylised patterns. The handle is made from a good-sized rams horn. Although it generally follows the natural shape of the original horn, the maker must have put a lot of work into pressing, bending and shaping it to look this way. He would have pressed the thick end of the horn to reduce the size of the original central void and produce the straight neck section. Then the remaining length would have been pressed to compact the material and squeeze it into a (fairly) round cross-section - what we call "bulking-up". This would have caused the original curl of the horn to straighten out significantly, so it would then have been necessary to bend the compacted horn back into a tight curve. The relevant part of the horn has to be heated to somewhat over 100°C to enable it to be pressed or bent. It must then be clamped in place while it cools and sets in the required shape. As you can imagine, this all takes a lot of time. Once this work has been done, the resulting blank has to be worked down to the final shape with files and rasps, then smoothed down with finer and finer abrasives, followed by polishing with cutting compounds to achieve the final finish. There is no easy way to do all this!

When I came across this stick the horn handle was loose and had not been accurately fitted. I refaced the handle and shank, remade the joint, and worked the horn down to a better fit. I then re-polished the horn before turning my attention to the other end of the stick. The ferrule was rather crudely fitted with a woodscrew through the end, and appeared not to be original; so I made up a new tip from ox horn to replace it. Having worked on the stick I can confirm that the wood is definitely ebony and not merely "ebonised". There is a small chip off the top of the shank, which can be seen in the pictures above. There is also a very slight curvature, but this is to be expected in a turned ebony shank of this age. It's certainly not worth the risk of attempting to straighten it.

The carving on the shank is deeply-cut and well executed. The upper section appears to represent some sort of long-leaved plant, maybe irises or lilies. Below this is a diamond-shaped "pineapple" pattern, which then turns into a barley twist. The bottom part of the shank is left plain. The surface has a highly polished appearance from some 150 years of use and care.

This would be a highly desirable addition to any collection, but is also practical and sturdy enough to stand up to regular use.
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