New Sticks

[Davidwc]

I am still a beginner at this, but thought I would post some photos of some of my hiking sticks I have been working on. I would be glad to hear any suggestions for how I might improve on some of them.

[Dan Wegiel]

Hi David,

Great start! The only suggestion I can give is to keep up the good work. As you get a little more experience everything will fall into place. Don't be afraid to take off a little more wood to give your figures a little more depth. Thanks for sharing.
Dan

[Waitpinga Whittler]

G'day Dave,

Good start mate. Very reasonable effort. Its like Dan says though, you need to get further into your stick to give your faces some depth. This is very hard to do if your sticks are thin. There isn't enough material to work with. I find you need at least an inch and a quarter. One and a half to two inches is best. You can always carve a handle above or below your finished carving if the stick diameter is too much to hang onto. Here are a couple of examples to give you an idea of what I mean.



I have posted a link to a short tutorial I did for an English stick making site. They struggle with this problem too because they tend to go for thinner shafts on their sticks than in Nth America and do most of their carving on the handles. Have a look anyway, and see if it helps.
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[Davidwc]

Thanks Dan and Waitpinga. Will do.

[bigEd_H]

Hi David, like Dan and WW said, you got a good start. I know how tough it is to get the needed depth when you first start out, been there... well, still sort of there. Keep on keeping on and thanks for sharing.