Crooks & Market Sticks
Crooks & Market Sticks
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Click on any image for further details and pictures. | Price (in pounds sterling) | Click below | |||
121 | A rather nice market stick. Holly shank with a handle made of buffalo horn & antler mounted on a silver collar. | SOLD |
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119 | A fancy nose-out market stick for a lady. Ram's horn handle, chestnut shank and silver collar. | SOLD |
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109 | A simple market stick. Pine handle (probably) on a stripped chestnut shank. | Not for sale |
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*100* | A long, slim crook made from a single piece of hazel, with the nose of the handle made from ox-horn. A very special stick. | SOLD |
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097 | A full-length crook with a golden-brown hazel shank and a yew handle. The nose is carved in the form of a snake's head. | SOLD |
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093 | Nose-out market stick with a ram's horn handle and hand-rounded mahogany-type shank. | SOLD (a commissioned work) |
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084 | Crook with a small buffalo horn handle and a slim stripped holly shank. | SOLD |
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083 | Crook with a small buffalo horn handle and a gold/silver hazel shank. | SOLD |
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081 | A small market stick. Sapele/mahogany-type wood handle on a sycamore shank. | SOLD |
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080 | Market stick with a silver-capped buffalo horn handle and sapele/mahogany shank. | SOLD |
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076 | A nose-in market stick. Burr elm handle on a turned bird's-eye maple shank with lovely grain and colouring. | SOLD |
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072 | A small nose-in market stick. Kvangkol handle on a stripped pearwood shank. | SOLD |
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070 | A slim crook or market stick: nose-out ram's horn handle on a stripped blackthorn shank. | SOLD |
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067 | Crook/market stick: Spalted sycamore scroll-nosed handle on a pearwood shank. Abalone shell decorations. | SOLD |
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057 | Full-length crook: Spalted sycamore thistle-nose handle on a stripped sweet chestnut shank. Abalone shell decoration. | NOT FOR SALE |
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055 | Market stick: English walnut handle, partially stripped ash shank. | SOLD |
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013 | Market/walking stick: Purpleheart head. Short length hazel shank. Lady's stick. | SOLD |
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054 | Market stick: Ram's horn thistle-nose head with black-faced ram's horn inlays and embellishments, on a sweet chestnut shank. | SOLD (a commissioned work) |
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048 | Market stick: Ram's horn thistle-nosed head with embellishments, on a dark twisty hazel shank. | SOLD (a commissioned work) |
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047 | Crook: Ram's horn thistle-nosed head with embedded stag's head, running hare and other embellishments, on a dark hazel shank. | SOLD (a commissioned work) |
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044 | Crook: Black buffalo horn head on a hazel shank. | NOT FOR SALE |
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037 | Market stick: Burr elm head on a blackthorn shank. | SOLD |
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032 | Market stick: Spalted beech head on a stripped blackthorn shank. | NOT FOR SALE |
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015 | Market stick: Padauk head on a stripped holly shank. Heavyweight. | SOLD |
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014 | Market stick: Ram's horn head on a dark hazel shank. | NOT FOR SALE |
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012 | Market stick: Burr mahogany head, stripped hazel shank. | SOLD |
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009 | Market stick: Kvangkol head, twisty hazel shank. | SOLD |
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008 | Market stick: Kvangkol (an African hardwood) head. Hazel shank. Lady's stick. | SOLD |
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007 | Market stick: Burr elm head on a silver hazel shank. | NOT FOR SALE |
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006 | Crook: Burr ash head with thistle nose. Long hazel shank. | SOLD |
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Home | Sticks For Sale | Antler Sticks | Collectors' Sticks | Horn Sticks | Thumbsticks | "Womble" Sticks | One-Piece Sticks | Other Sticks | Work in hand | Stick FAQ | About Stickmaking Materials | Custom Sticks Price Guide | Feedback from customers & visitors | Contact me | Useful links | |||||
About crooks & market sticks...
The market stick is the traditional all-purpose country person's companion. The handle (or "head") has a straight vertical section (the "neck") attached to the shank (the stick itself). From the neck, the "crown" curves across horizontally, bending downwards and narrowing to form the "nose". The "shoulder", where the neck meets the crown, may be rounded or squared off. The nose may be turned outwards, sometimes providing a basis for embellishment in the form of a small carving.
There are many uses for a market stick: as a support when walking in muddy or uneven terrain; as a tool for herding cows or directing sheepdogs; as an extension to one's arm when retrieving a Wellington boot from a muddy hole...the list is endless. But the market stick really comes into its own on market day. It becomes something of a status symbol, a chance to show off, as well as more mundane functions like prodding pigs and providing something to lean on while yarning with your friends. This gives rises to the alternative names of "leaning stick" or "yarning stick".
The head of a market stick is usually made from an interestingly-figured piece of hardwood like burr elm, or from ram's horn or buffalo horn. Horn is both more expensive and stronger than wood, which often requires some internal steel reinforcement to prevent breakages across a short-grained section.
A crook is of course the traditional tool of the shepherd. It's like a very long, nose-out market stick and is used, among other things, to restrain a struggling sheep. This calls for a very sturdy stick, and a real working crook will likely be made from a single piece of hazel or ash, avoiding any possibility of weakness in the joint between head and shank or in the grain of the head. However, crooks are often favoured as walking staffs and for this purpose, a separate head will be quite strong enough.
There is also a variant form of the crook, known as the "leg cleek". This has a narrower head than the conventional crook and is designed specifically to catch a sheep by its hind leg.
The head can be married to the shank by a variety of methods: a tapered dowel can be cut into the end of the shank; a wooden dowel can be inserted; or a steel rod can be used. The latter, though perhaps the crudest, does provide some reinforcement to the neck and also adds weight to the head, often giving a better-balanced stick. I mostly use the steel rod myself, but have been working on a hybrid method; fitting a hardwood dowel into the neck, then drilling this to take a steel rod for the actual joint. This has its advantages: it enables the reinforcement in the neck to extend right up to the top while still allowing the crown to be drilled across for insertion of further steel reinforcement and it acts as a buffer between the differential expansion of the steel rod and a cross-grained neck, which can lead to superficial cracks.
This page last updated Wednesday, 13 December 2006
