[Digger]

While on a hike with my son today, we came across a standing dead tree with a beautiful shape and size to the trunk for a hiking staff. Since it had been standing dead for some time, there were no leaves to help identify it, but from looking at the bark and the wood under the bark, my girlfriend beleives it to be maple. It came out of the ground with a moderate pull, the root system had already given up. I was able to break the root ball off the end, as well as snap off the upper skinny end easily, the wood seems pretty much dry already. The bark came off easily by hand in long strips.

When we got home, I trimmed the rough broken ends off with a saw, leaving the staff about a foot extra long. While I was sawing it, the shaft of the wood dented where it was protruding over the end of my bench. Upon further inspection, the wood seems to be able to be dented by a fingernail. It looks soild and sound, it doesn't look rotten at all and appears to be plenty stiff for a hiking staff, but the surface just seems really soft.

I was kinda hoping that since it was standing dead, my son and I could start stripping and smoothing it right away, but without a jig to hold it from the ends, we will just end up denting it as much as smoothing it. From what I've read on here, maple should be harder than this, unless maybe it's still wet from being out in the weather, deep in the woods? Would allowing it to dry longer help it to harden on the surface any? If so, how long should we let it dry before trying to work on it?

I compared it to a piece of known yellow poplar that I had cut and the bark is different, a little rougher and a touch darker than poplar, but the overall weight of the stick feels nice and light. Could this be just wet maple or maybe a slightly darker barked poplar? The wood itself is a nice bright whitish-tan...

[Skulli]

Could be recent dead maple. I have abunch of silver maple and it has the visuals you described. It is good and hard when it starts drying, but while REALLY green, it seems to dent very easy. Give it a week or two and see if the denting ceases to happen. The bark should've been a deep grey color perhaps?

[Digger]

Well, it had been dead long enough that most of the root system had rotted away. Plus it was standing in deep, wet woods on a hillside above a river. The bark was a deeper grey color. I'm thinking that the bark was holding moisture against the wood from rain and the extremely moist environment the stick was found in. That would explain why the stick is so light yet dents. The interior might be dried pretty good already, but the outer layers of wood are still moist from rain/moist environment?

[Skulli]

Sounds typical of some of the silver maple I'm seeing in the soon-to-be-bulldozed grove near my home. I was always afraid to mess with the "recently departed" wood, since I'm a bit new to the hobby and wasn't sure of the working properties of the dead stuff. I'm hoping some more experienced forumites can lend their knowledge in that regard.

[Digger]

Well, this stick is interesting enough that we really don't want to do too much carving so much as just smoothing and finishing it to let the natual beauty show through. Perhaps we might carve the date and location of the origin of the stick into it, maybe more, but mainly just stripping the bark, sanding it totally smooth and sealing it. On previous sticks I've tried spray acrylic enamel(because I had some laying around) and it doesn't appear durable enough for hiking stick duty. What is a good sealer that gives a shiny surface? Polyurethane?

[Thomp]

you don't want polyurethane on anything where you will have long contact with your hand,

i refinished a gun stock one time, with poly, beautiful job, but out hunting with the same gun the next year the polyurethane got sticky and before the hunt was over my hand was sticky to the point that the finish made spiderweb strings when i removed it from the trigger grip area where i had been carrying the gun..

it finely was fingered out i had applied mosquito repellent on my hands to wipe them on my face while hunting.. and the contact of the repellent melted the poly....
had to warn you...

as to the dead stick/staff soft outer area
you mentioned you had broken off the ends of the stick in the woods. is the stick stout enough to support your weight if you stumble?

the soft wood may be just the sapwood carve one end to see if you find sound wood... before you invest any time into it

[AlArchie]

My bet would be that your stick has been dead and standing long enough to have some severe deterioration, and would not be suitable for a walking stick, especially since you were able to break off both the root and the upper section. But if you give it a chance to dry out some more, and it seems to be strong enough, try boiled linseed oil as a finish. Rub it on, let is stand for a few hours, and wipe off the excess with a paper towel. dispose of any rowels or rags you use with boiled linseed oil as they present a fire hazzard. It will take several days to thouroughly dry. Use several applications till you get the finish you want. This makes a good "WORKING" walking stick finish as you can make subsequent applications anywhere down the line, and they will "heal" any nicks, scratches or wear spots.

Al

[Skulli]

Don't know if maybe I just got "lucky" or something, but I used a glossy polyurethane and after it was 100% dry, used paste wax. Once I'd buffed out the wax, the poly never got sticky. I learned this from my Gibson guitar necks when they would get "tacky."

[Canopener]

Good advice from AlArch, and I am a fan of boiled linseed oil. It works great on garden tools.
If possible and the leaves have not dropped; go out and match the bark to another tree, then check out the leaves for a better ID.
I think since the wood was free, you have nothing to lose and everything to learn; so do a bit of carving and finishing on the extra part you have.
Good Luck.
Jim

[Digger]

The stick seems plenty strong enough. The thick end is at least 1-1/2" in diameter. I broke it by the "prop it on a bigger log and stomp" method to break the root end off, and I can break pretty heavy duty stuff this way due to my size(6'5", 300#). The skinny end I was able to break over my knee. It definately seems stout enough, my main concern was how easily the outer wood dents with a fingernail. This tree was standing on what looked like an old dirt road that had been allowed to grow over to become a hiking trail. Nothing growing on the road was thicker than 4" across. Everything around it looked like maple, leaves and all. Maybe I'll have to give boiled linseed oil a try, but isn't there something more durable to seal it? I prefer the brighter colors of wood and would rather not darken it any, just want to seal it without altering the color much...