Saturday, July 18, 2009

Shillelagh Prototype

Been testing out the best way to make a shillelagh this week, since I don't have to do any carving there rather simple for me to do, just trim of the ends at the needed length and shape the nob. The big thing to figure out was how to do the finish, the black color originally being archived by sticking the stick up a chimney and smoking it till it turns black.


Used the closest thing to blackthorn I could find, a piece of wood from a old plum tree I cut down a couple months ago, removed the outer bark, used power saw to shape nob to the rough shape, and then used a black stain with polyurethane, looks good but think I might try some other method in the future.


Then used a sanding drum on my dremel tool too shape the nob.



And then finished the nob with danish oil.

1 comments:

Mark said...

found your work in a random google search-really nice! Love the shillelagh prototype. I am a maker of walking sticks and canes. You've given me some good ideas. Love the homemade ferrule from end cap copper. A staining method I use is to
dissolve potassium permanganate in water-maybe a quarter cup to a pint of water. Give a stick with bark-on a bath in it and it first turns purple, but then oxidizes a dark brown. Often when you oil it (like you I used Danish Oil) it will turn dark brown and really soak it up-producing a sheen. Wear gloves because it will stain your hands. Just wanted to throw that out to you-you've given me a couple of great ideas as well. I will keep up with your work.