Handcrafted Walking Stick Materials - Handles

Buffalo Horn

The Water Buffalo horn comes from India, where there are millions of the animals, fully or partly domesticated and kept for milk, meat and drought purposes. Indian buffalo are referred to as river type animals and have horns that are quite adequate for stickmaking purposes in respect of their overall bulk. Buffalo horn is extremely dense and comes in two varieties: black and coloured. The first is jet black, although occasionally it has grey or white streaks running through it below the surface. These streaks become apparent when the horn is worked and after the application of fine finishing methods. The coloured variety is softer and are undeniably more attractive than the black type, offering interesting colour combinations from creamy white through to green, brown and gun metal grey, often in the same horn. The horn comes as a solid material with no inner core or cavities and there is a natural bend that remains in one plane.
 
Coloured horns come from lighter skinned animals, which are not as common as the black skinned variety. The horn is softer to work, but requires kinder heating processes, if the heat is not to taint the horn and thus takes longer to work if the finished result is to be fully appreciated. Consequently any horns supplied by Stickmaking and Horncraft either in raw state, preformed handles ready for shanking or completed walking sticks, giftware and fisherman's priests, will be typically more expensive.

Rams Horn

The strongest and best rams horn for stickmaking comes from hill sheep. Horn from Swaledale, Herdwick, Cheviot, Welsh Mountain, Derbyshire Lonk and Scottish Blackface are probably the most popular for stickmaking. The usual colour varies from a pale straw to a deep honey shade, interspersed in the case of Blackface with random black lines running longitudinally. Jacobs horn is creamy coloured to white with clouded portions of deep brown to black. Any rams horn can be coloured by a pink or reddish tinge, caused by blood diffusion usually after the animal has been fighting. This can lend to its attraction, after fine finishing methods have been applied to the horn. The natural horn is rough and will have a concave side, with a tapering outcurve. At the base, rams horn will usually be roughly triangular in cross-section with rounded corners. There is a central core or quick, which may extend in a taper for up to one third of the internal length of the horn. Having acquired the horn, the core needs to removed, after a month or so, by tapping the base of the horn gently but firmly on a solid surface. The core should loosen and come out as one piece. If it doesn't loosen the horn should be dried out further. This process should not be hastened by drying in an oven as this may cause the horn to distort and split. The horn needs to season for about a year before use. Using horn before seasoning will result in distortion to the handle as it tries to revert to its original shape. The shell wall should be no less than ¼ inch thick.

Cow/Ox Horn

This horn can be considered one of the most beautiful of all horn. Like rams horn when the quick is removed it is hollow for a good portion of its length. The colours in cow horn range from a white and cream to olive, brown, deep red and black shades. One of the disadvantages with this material is a tendency for the horn to de-laminate. However the final three to four inches towards the tip of the horn tend to be solid material and are ideal to produce staff handle walking sticks. The horn is normally fairly clean in appearance with none of the crusty rough exterior common to rams horn. The horn has a slight curvature along the length, but rarely any pronounced outcurve.

Stag Antler (Red Deer)

All male deer cast their antlers annually during the spring after the breeding season (except Roe Deer during late autumn). Cast antler will have the coronet at one end (point at which the antler is attached to the head), which is a circlet of rough, crusty wart like segments. There is the main stem (beam), along the length grow offshoots (tines) and at the crown are tops or points.
 
A handle that includes the coronet is always much admired and if for sale will command a higher price than handles fashioned from other parts of the antler. Antler is bone and cannot be heated and shaped like horn. Any attempt to do so will result in the antler becoming brittle, crumbly and susceptible to fracture. The outer surface has a ridge and furrow appearance with little nodules along the length of the ridges. The colour variations are white and cream to a deep brown or black colour. The central core or pith allows blood supply to the antler and depending on the richness of grazing or browsing available to a herd, will dictate the quality of antler. The pith is unstable that needs to be partly removed. The remaining cavity is filled with a glued wooden dowel, before fitting to a shank.

Sambar and Chital Antler

Sambar and Chital antler are an Indian species (currently protected and unavailable). In the wild both deer co-exist alongside each other. Both antlers are considerably larger and heavier compared to native Red Deer. The attraction of using Sambar antler relates to it having very little central pith, making it strong and heavy, being mainly bone material. Sambar has a lower surface porosity than "Red" antler, so the polish that it takes is much superior to our own native horn.
 
Chital antler is inferior compared to Sambar. There is a central pith that has to be removed. The remaining cavity is filled with a glued wooden dowel. Chital and Sambar are harder materials compared to native antler. This necessitates harder working practices in order to obtain an acceptable finish handle that complements a walking stick. Chital antler should not be under valued as it equally accepts a superlative polish to that of Sambar. Stickmaking and Horncraft have undertaken a "similarity" exercise between both antlers and concluded that either antler is acceptable to finishing applications and polishing, to produce superlative walking stick handles.

Roe Deer Antler

Roe Deer cast their antlers during late autumn. The antlers are considerably smaller than Red Deer and are mostly unsuitable for walking stick handles. However, the roe antlers are excellent to produce unusual handles for such items as letter openers. The shape of the antler is quite unique. There is a small coronet and along the length are usually three tines. The antler is invariably covered with very sharp nodules known as pearling, which needs to be sanded down for a smooth appearance and comfortable grip. The colour variations are white and cream to a brown colour. There is very little pith in roe antler.

Exotic and Native Hardwoods

Stickmaking and Horncraft use the most diverse types of naturally homegrown woods and source exotic timber from abroad. Differing woods include: -
 
BURR- Elm, Yew, Oak, Walnut etc. A "burr" is a natural distortion of natural growth on a tree, causing a round lump appearance. Distortion occurs due to infestation of a parasite, that affects the natural growing cycle of the tree. The parasite infection looses, the affected tree wins, thus causing fungal appearance. The "BURR" affects the surrounding wood, causing the underlying grain to redeem the affected area. The result is a contorted piece of wood that contains the most attractive grain patterns, whorls and bird's eye effects. The wood is also stronger and less prone to weak spots.
 
Exotic woods include Bubinga (red hardwood), Cocobolo (rich red and brown), Ebony (black), Purpleheart (purple), Jarrah (pinkish hue-red), Lignum Vitae (brown-black), African Padauk (orange-red), Indian Rosewood (black, red, cream, brown), Walnut, Zebrano. The list is endless. The business has a constant source of supply for these differing woods.
 
Wood handles are hand carved and filed to certain dimensions and shapes.
 
All handles are finished with differing grades of cloth-backed abrasive and wire wool till smooth. Applications of (Danish, Teak or Tru) oil is applied, enhancing the natural colour/grain of the wood.