Dad got this old walking stick around forty years ago. It was a gift that sat in the corner by the door. He didnt like it and rarely used it but I liked the look of it and said so. He gave it to me on the spot when I told him I liked it. It was just the stick with a rotten rubber cap on the end and a leather thong long dried and broken.
It sat that way in my cave another decade or so until recently and it again caught my eye. It had no handle and just a tatter of a leather thong for a wrist strap. I started on that end.
The handle material is from an earlier life, my radio tower days. Its an Andrews cold shrink kit for 1 1/4 Heliax. It was in an old tool bag, very expensive stuff, works perfectly. The handle I made with beeswax treated paracord, a rookie attempt that actually worked out.
The other end was just a bare stick after the rotten rubber tip fell off. I found this new tip and liked it, I started in on shaping the end to accept it. That wood is HARD. Too hard to whittle. I hauled out the Ken Onion and put a 120 grit belt on it and went to work. An hour or so later my improvised vertical belt sander had done the magic and the cap fit perfectly. Plenty of slow cure epoxy and another hour and this is what I had.
And it has a surprise inside, an ice spike. Cool.
So thanks dad, Ill take good care of it and pass it down to my son.