The knob handle is formed from the parent tree, which means the walking stick is in effect grown upside down. When everything goes smoothly, the long process usually produces natural knobsticks, thumbsticks or staffs. The most commonly used types of wood for the making of walking sticks are oak, hazel, ash, blackthorn, willow and sweet chestnut. This ensures each walking stick is unique. There is a lot of hand work involved, from steaming to sanding and varnishing. This ensures maximum quality of your walking stick.Įach stick is assessed and treated as an individual to make the best use of the material. Once harvested, the sticks are then dried for a minimum of one year and often longer before each stick is steamed, straightened and finished. The wood is harvested in the winter, when the weather is cold and the sap down in the trees.Ĭoppicing involves cutting a tree to generate a renewable crop of usable shoots. Once coppiced, it takes the shoots three to four years to grow to an appropriate height and diameter to form walking sticks. Coppicing and Walking SticksĬoppicing with the purpose of producing natural, handmade walking sticks is a process that requires both time and patience. Creatures including woodland butterflies and beetles, woodpeckers, tree creepers and owls, foxes, badgers and deer all thrive in this traditional environment. In turn, this enables a healthy population of native fauna to make their home here. By allowing light and warmth to reach the forest floor, native wildflowers such as primroses, wood anemone, dog violets, orchids and British bluebells can flourish. ![]() ![]() Environmental Benefits of CoppicingĪs well as producing gorgeous natural country walking sticks, coppicing has many environmental benefits. This produces large amounts of high-quality timber without the need to replant, which is both cost- and time-effective. What is Coppicing?Ĭoppicing is a traditional, widespread method of woodland management that includes repetitive felling on the same stump, allowing the shoots to regrow. If you've been wondering what coppicing even is, or what it could possibly have to do with walking sticks, our short guide is here to explain this interesting and effective technique.Ĭoppiced walking sticks are often handmade. Quite often on .uk you'll find the more natural walking sticks described as 'produced from coppiced wood', which means that those sticks are not only unique, but often also left completely unadorned, featuring a naturally rich texture.
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