Several years ago I got the notion to make some homemade walking staffs. You know the way folks used to make them. Well, I had plenty of young oak saplings growing on my place and a little time on my hands. The only tool I didn’t have to make a staff was a drawing knife to scale the bark off. The problem was solved when my wife’s cousin, Edward Snyder, gave me one of his antique knives and then I was in business.
Having done a little research on making a staff the old-timey way I preceded to find the perfect oak sapling to make a walking staff. Come to find out, there is nothing perfect in this old world.
As I walked through the woods behind my house looking for that perfect tree, my mind wandered back to when I was a young boy. Seems every Thanksgiving my Dad and I would ride up above Ellerbe and hunt on our family’s land. As we walked through the woods, we watched for squirrels but also for a pretty live cedar to use for a Christmas tree. When we located a decent tree we would tie a ribbon on its branches so we could come back just before Christmas and cut it down.
You guessed it folks, as I walked through the winter woods some 60 years later, I found myself doing the same thing. But instead of tying ribbons on a future Christmas tree I was tying them on the straightest and most knot-free oak sapling I could find.
After a few days, I took my small hand saw, walked straight to one of those marked trees and cut it down. I then used my Granddaddy’s old Stanley hatchet and trimmed off the limbs. Then, using the hand saw again, I cut the tree off in a length of about 64 inches. That was the height that was right for me but I figured I could shorten it if need be.
I took the future staff to the house and placed it in a vice. Next came the hard part of using the drawing knife to scale the bark off. If you don’t remove the bark, the staff will be heavy and rot very quickly. It also pays to have your drawing knife and hatchet very sharp as oak bark is very hard.
When all the bark is removed, a wood rasp and sandpaper are used to smooth out the staff. Old folks used sharp stones and pieces of glass to accomplish this.
To make the staff more personal, I take a burning tool and burn my name onto the staff and then burn a cross on the end of the handle.
Then a drill is used to drill a small hole about four inches from the handle end. Later, a leather shoelace will be placed through the hole to hang your staff on.
The next step is to coat the staff with a coat of classic oak stain and polyurethane. This helps seal the cracks and adds a nice finish to the staff. In a day a two after it has dried, I’ll apply another coat.
The last step is to fit a rubber tip on the bottom of the staff.
I’ve probably made about 20 of these staffs over the years. Each staff, although it might be made the same way, has its own distinct characteristics. It’s like people, we are basically made the same but each one of us have a few curves and knots that we would like sanded out of our lives.
You might ask, what do you do with so many staffs? The answer is I donate some to be auctioned off at our church’s annual Lottie Moon fish fry. The money is used to carry on mission work all over the world. Others staffs I make are given away for gifts. You see, there is just something about receiving a handcrafted homemade Christmas gift that a store-bought gift just can’t compare to.
Folks, just a reminder that Christmas is not just about eating and exchanging gifts but it’s about giving back to your community and your fellow man as God has blessed you. It is my wish that each of you will have a Merry Christmas and don’t forget what Christmas is all about: to celebrate the birth our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
J.A. Bolton is an author, award-winning storyteller and Richmond County native.
