Hazel Hiking Stick with Wood Spirit | HS-010

A gorgeous hand made hiking stick with hand carved wood spirit and red ochre & turquoise band.

The hazel hiking stick with wood spirit is hand crafted from hazel coppiced at Tyley Bottom in the Cotswolds just a couple of miles walk from my garden workshop in Wotton-under-Edge. This beautiful and sturdy stick stands at 1.3m tall, around 25mm thick at the top and tapers down to 22mm at the tip. The tip is fitted with my signature copper ferrule which features interchangeable tips to suit the environment you're using it in - tungsten steel hiking tip for the trail or a rubber foot for indoor and pavement use. Above the ferrule is a 3mm band of red ochre with flecks of crushed turquoise - the ochre was foraged by myself at Wick in South Gloucestershire. Ochre has been in use as a pigment the world over for millennia. The handle has a hand carved wood spirit above a natural curve in the stick and features scarring of the wood where squirrels nibbled at the young hazel rod as it grew. This stick is brimming with character. The hazel wood, normally quite light in colour has been stained using age old techniques that raise the tannin in the wood to bring out the figure in the grain. The shank is lightly sanded to 800 grit and the top to 1000, then oiled several times with natural Danish oil. I then burnish the top to close the tiny pores in the grain and make the wood slightly more wear and weather resistant. Natural beeswax is used to finish and should be applied once a month for the first year to keep the stick nourished. This truly is a beautiful stick and is totally unique - once it is gone, it is gone. - Size: approx 130cm tall, 25mm at the top and 22mm at the base - Wood: Cotswold hazel, with bark left intact - Top: domed - Shank: has a natural kink and slight curve and is sturdy - Ferrule: custom copper with interchangeable tips - Finish: Several coats of 100% natural Danish oil and beeswax. As with all Bough & Burrow sticks, the shank has been sustainably sourced from known sources and finished by hand using only natural materials.