Wood Sourcing

How I get the basic raw material for sticks and staffs.

Creekhollow walking sticks and staffs are made from raw wood growth – trunks and branches from living or dead trees. I never use lumber or processed wood except small pieces of dyed or carved wood as decorative accents. As a result our products are seldom perfectly straight, but maintain the character of the growth while keeping the handle and foot sufficiently in alignment for comfort and practicality.

Because of this constraint I’ve passed up some really interesting specimens; they were just not suitable stock for the length needed.

Another constraint is the avoidance of cutting healthy trees just to make them into a commercial commodity. I’m not in the lumber business, I only take blanks from the following categories:

Prunings and watersprouts where the pruning was done for tree/shrub health or aesthetics.

Cullings where the entire plant was removed by necessity or for landscape design.

Deadwood; freshly cast-off limbs, storm damage or other mischance resulting in the loss of vitality. A little disease or decay can result in interesting color effects as long as the integrety of the wood remains.

Frankly, there’s plenty of these to keep me busy.

This is an example of a watersprout, an offshoot from the trunk or another branch, which rises at a vertically non-natural angle. These threaten the health of the tree by the risk of damage/decay as well as sapping vitality from normal healthy growth.

Here is an unusually large watersprout, which has decay already forming around the junction with the trunk (not shown). It can easily split away leaving a wound in the bark where insects or decay may enter.

This is a stand of Eastern Cedar ‘scrub’ which are dying out on a flood plane. The damp conditions are unsuitable for this species. These will be culled.

Here’s a little Black Cherry that’s just growing in the wrong place. It has no future and is depleating the soil under a mature tree as well as shading the trunk which encourages the mossy growth.

Leaners over a creek. Picturesque but they’ll eventually fall in and rot in the water.

These are all on Creekhollow property and will be set to dry for 4-6 months before barking, the first step in making a walking stick. More about the process will come.

Welcome!

I suddenly have viewers on my neglected website. I suppose I’ll need to be more prudent in checking it:)

At this point I’m still not working on walking sticks, although they are never far from my thoughts. After being situated in Tennessee since December 2021, just now are we able to begin having our house built. Builders here in middle Tennessee are backlogged 6+ months, as home construction now takes 8-12 months rather than the traditional 5-6. Not only is the supply chain slow, construction workers are fewer and construction prices are much higher than pre-pandemic.

My Dad was a General Contractor, so I have an appreciation about what this means for the new home industry. A builder can only have so many houses under contruction at one time. When homes take twice as long to complete, each stage being stretched out, the builder still needs a base level of income. This inevitably leads to the builder needing to charge more for their work. The increase in material costs (for a cost-plus contract home) do not cover this need entirely because labor is close to 50% of a new home’s cost. The money gained from the sale of our Georgia home will barely cover the cost of a house half that size, even though we already own the land. I had anticipated, two years ago, that we could build larger than we are now and still have a bit left over. Not so.

I believe that the residential construction industry is going to shrink as a result of the new paradigm. I see no relief in sight to promise a return to what we had. My wife and I are resetting our expectations for retirement living, allowing for a continuation of the present situation. I fear that many Americans have rejected the ‘alabaster city on a hill’ perspective, buying into a perspective of general mediocrity with the mantra ‘You’ll have less and be happy’. Never have I seen the news media so negative, with narry a good or uplifting thing to say. Our children are often being taught that the founding of the United States was rooted in hipocracy and our government was designed to perpetuate unfair discrimination.

For myself, I believe that even through imperfect people the American ‘experiment’ of a representative republic has progressed upward to greater wealth, better health and more opportunity for our people. Look at some old photos of ordinary people and their situations in the early 1900’s to see the contrast. We have means to redress injustice other than taking to the streets and destroying, stealing or harming others. Basic healthcare is available to anyone, with remedies only dreamed of by our parents and grandparents. Employers are begging for workers.

What is needed of me, to spread good and justice? What can one person do? I’m not going to wax political, since I believe that real change begins with individual citizens and not politicians. I’m trying to be understanding and sympathetic to everyone in need or distress. It shouldn’t matter how it came about, except to prevent it from continuing. I do what I can, looking to do more while recognizing I can’t fix everthing. At the least, I don’t want to perpetuate hatred and injustice. Attitude counts for a lot in dealing with people.

I’ll try to blog more often, and not get so melodramatic. This isn’t meant to be a social or political platform. Next time I’ll post pictures of Creekhollow and some of my projects and techniques, and hopefully have some encouraging words. Bye for now,

Larry

Site Under Construction

Creekhollow Creations is moving forward, a bit at a time. Initially we will offer uniquely designed, hand-made walking sticks, tall staffs and jogger’s batons. We have plans to add graphic designs, leathercraft goods and costume items as time goes by.

WALKING STICKS AND STAFFS

Our products are (unless otherwise noted) made from single pieces of wood. The wood is ethically gathered from prunings, culled trees and dead-fall wood from the Southeast United States. Typical species are Black and Kanzai Cherry, Crepe Myrtle, Dogwood, Oak, Ash, American Walnut, Red and Black Maple, Beech and others as opportunities unfold.

NATURAL WOOD

We select wood based on the size, straightness, condition and ‘interest’ of the piece. Essentially none of our sticks is truly straight. We do not use a lathe to artificially achieve straightness, but rather celebrate the individuality of natural wood. There are often knots, spalting, cavities and the like – but none that will compromise the finished piece’s integrity. Often these ‘defects’ are worked into the overall design as a feature.

DESIGNS

We evaluate each piece of raw wood for the type of design most appropriate. Each finished item is unique; no two will be exactly alike. Most have an overall theme: woodlands, seashore, Native American, patriotic, fantasy, fishing, Celtic, whimsy, steampunk, etc. This is expressed by a combination of carving, wood-burning and inlaying decorations of wide variety. Inlaid materials may be metal, stone, shell and figured wood.

THE GRIP

Another distinctive feature is a defined grip. There is no point in a walking stick you can’t hold on to at need. The grip area is contoured to a shape which can be comfortably grasped by either the right or left hand. Our basic grip is hand checkered with diamond patterns cut into the wood. This is a painstaking manual process, but it is worth the trouble because of the very positive grip it provides. Another grip employed is coiled braid, typically leather, set into a groove that spirals through the grip area. Other grip styles are presently in development.

THE FINISH

After barking the piece we sand by varying degrees to eliminate unintentional ridges, dents, scratches and tool marks. The final smoothing is done with #0000 steel wool and is followed with a hand inspection to feel for any remaining roughness which needs dealt with. The end result is an evenly shaped surface that ‘flows’ like plastic. Creekhollow products are all finished with ‘teak oil’ wood finish (its not made from the teak tree). Teak oil penetrates deep into the wood, reinforcing the surface and bringing out the natural beauty in an unrivaled manner. It will not chip, crack or peel because it does not leave a varnish-like layer on the surface. The finished wood buffs to a beautiful satin luster. It is naturally dirt and water repellent (prolonged exposure to water should be avoided) and can be renewed by the owner with an application of lemon or other furniture oil.

THE FOOT

Ah, the foot! Most of our beta testing has been a search for the perfect foot. Our goal is to fit each staff and walking stick with a foot that protects the wood from wear, will not damage common floor material, holds up against rough surfaces and can be renewed by the owner. Most sticks have a threaded wood insert with a molded rubber foot held in place with a recessed bolt. One spare foot and bolt, plus a hex wrench, is provided. Special design sticks may have more exotic, decorative foot-pieces and these will be identified in the description.

CUSTOM CASE

Creekhollow sticks and staffs come with a custom fitted protective soft case, usually with a carrying strap. The case is intended to protect the item and ease transport.

THE PRICE

They will be competitive with other similar quality offerings. Considering the time spent in crafting each item, our real reward is the satisfaction of providing a quality product that will be treasured by our customers for many years.

DISCLAIMER

Our products are DECORATIVE in nature and no functionality is expressed or should be implied from our descriptions. They DO NOT comply with any Standard which may exist for similar products. There is NO WARRANTY for longevity, utility or wear. Should the original customer have issue with their purchase we will be pleased to discuss the matter but ANY redress is solely at our discretion.

SOON

Presently we are generating an initial stock position before offering items for sale. Look here soon for photos of examples that will be part of the initial offering.

 

 

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Creekhollow (the place) is located in central Tennessee, where birds’ songs can be heard and cars – not so much. The photo below is the actual creek on Creekhollow.

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We plan on offering several varieties of items which we make for sale to homecraft hobbiests and folks interested in one-of-a-kind handcrafted walking sticks and staffs.

Read more on our blog page, soon to come.