# Some days the God"s smile on stickmakers.



## CV3 (Jan 30, 2014)

Today my wife and daughter made me take them to some yard sales. Not my thing. We have enough of our own junk we should sell. At the last house I was standing by the open garage door waiting impatiently for them to finish. My eye caught two sticks in the corner by the door. Both were nice vine twisted sticks. The owner was sitting right there and I ask if he was into making sticks. He siad no, that those had been the old owners. I as if they were part of the yard sale. He laught and said Who would want those. I said I will give you $5 for them. He stuck out his hand and I came home with two cool sticks. Maby I need to go to more of these.


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## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

Wow! Randy, nice catch! Those will make a couple of great canes or walking sticks. Twisties of that caliber are extremely rare up my way.


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## BigJim (Nov 25, 2021)

Buddy you made out like a champ on those two. The cheapest I have seen a twisted stick was something like $14 but I could be wrong about that.

DW, if y'all have honey suckle thickets up your way, look for twisted sticks in there. The honey suckle wraps around the sticks and the sticks grows like that. That is mainly what I look for when stick hunting. I will be glad when it warms up enough to go stick hunting again.


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## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

We have something called amur honeysuckle, which is a small flowering shrub but not honeysuckle vine. The only vines we have are grape and woodbine which just don't cling hard enough to make twisties.


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## BigJim (Nov 25, 2021)

dww2 said:


> We have something called amur honeysuckle, which is a small flowering shrub but not honeysuckle vine. The only vines we have are grape and woodbine which just don't cling hard enough to make twisties.


We have both, vines and the shrubs. It takes the vines to make the twisted sticks, unless you want to wrap some wire around a stick tightly and let the stick grow.


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## CV3 (Jan 30, 2014)

These were vine rapped. The smaller one still has the vine in it. The one with the larger twist has had most of the vine remover. Both may be a bit heavy for a walkingstick, the larger one may be heavy for a cane too. Both will be good conversation sticks. Not sure what I will do yet.


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## BigJim (Nov 25, 2021)

Any way you go with it Randy, it will be right, it is what ever YOU want it to be. I will also add, it will be beautiful as you do fantastic work.


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## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

BigJim said:


> We have both, vines and the shrubs. It takes the vines to make the twisted sticks, unless you want to wrap some wire around a stick tightly and let the stick grow.


Yeah, that's what I've been trying.


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## BigJim (Nov 25, 2021)

dww2 said:


> Yeah, that's what I've been trying.
> View attachment 28240


Looks like it worked too, that is a nice stick. I see it has a slight crook to it. I saw in the video of the fellow who carved with a power carver, how he straightened a stick. I didn't know a stick could be straightened like that. I have a few that are crooked, I think I will give it a try. Did he heat the stick or something?


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## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

I assume he heated his stick with either a steam box or a hot air gun, depending on how crooked it was. 

This one I should be able to straighten with just a hot air gun. I wish it had produced a deeper twist, but the wire was nearly buried by the bark so I decided to harvest it. Next time I try it I'm thinking of putting the wire inside a piece of fuel line or some similar small rubber hose so it'll be easier to get it out.


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## CV3 (Jan 30, 2014)

BigJim said:


> Looks like it worked too, that is a nice stick. I see it has a slight crook to it. I saw in the video of the fellow who carved with a power carver, how he straightened a stick. I didn't know a stick could be straightened like that. I have a few that are crooked, I think I will give it a try. Did he heat the stick or something?


Jim Here is a youtube on easy way to straighten. If you are doing a lot a steam box would be better. Different woods can require more or less heating. Take your time it is easy to scorch the stick.


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## BigJim (Nov 25, 2021)

Thanks buddy, I appreciate that a lot.


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## ndncowboy (Nov 24, 2021)

Would just using a heat gun be used on uncured wood versus very well cured wood, as in a stick that's several years old, or does it matter at all? I ask because I do have one I've been using for years but it has a slight bend that every now and then makes me kick it as I walk as it's natural bend is toward my foot. I don't have a steam box so I'm intrigued with the heat gun idea but I sure don't want to crack my cane trying to straighten it slightly. It just seems to me that the old wood wouldn't do so well with just heat but I'd like to be wrong and be able to try it.


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## CV3 (Jan 30, 2014)

ndncowboy said:


> Would just using a heat gun be used on uncured wood versus very well cured wood, as in a stick that's several years old, or does it matter at all? I ask because I do have one I've been using for years but it has a slight bend that every now and then makes me kick it as I walk as it's natural bend is toward my foot. I don't have a steam box so I'm intrigued with the heat gun idea but I sure don't want to crack my cane trying to straighten it slightly. It just seems to me that the old wood wouldn't do so well with just heat but I'd like to be wrong and be able to try it.


Yes you can. Heating the area you want to bend slowly and just enough that the stick will adjust a small amount at a time. If you have been using it for a few years I would think it has cured. It is likely to damage any finish you may have on it and require refinishing. I would encourage practicing on some other limbs or sticks of similar diameter to get a fell for distance to hold the heat gun and timing over the stick. There are a number of YouTubes you can watch also.


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## BigJim (Nov 25, 2021)

EDIT ***Randy, we must have posted about the same time. Randy knows way more about this than I do.

This was my response before Randy posted: 
That is a good question, I have used just a heat gun in the past to bend and twist mostly white oak, but it wasn't old wood. I do know over time wood will become more and more brittle. I also know once wood has been heated to the point where the cells become a little more elastic and has cooled, the wood is also brittle and is harder to heat and bend again.

This is just from my own experience from bending wood with heat. I can't say old wood will break or not from heat and pressure. I personally wouldn't chance ruining a cherished stick. JMHO


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## ndncowboy (Nov 24, 2021)

Thanks guys. Not sure I want to risk it. I’ve been randomly kicking this for so long I’d probably think something was wrong if I didn’t. I may have a few too many beers and try it on one I don’t care about though. Just so I understand more about this straightening ability of wood. It’s something I didn’t even know could be done or I would have done it to this one cane when I was working on it to begin with. Always up to learning something new.


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## RandyL476 (Aug 24, 2014)

CV3 said:


> Today my wife and daughter made me take them to some yard sales. Not my thing. We have enough of our own junk we should sell. At the last house I was standing by the open garage door waiting impatiently for them to finish. My eye caught two sticks in the corner by the door. Both were nice vine twisted sticks. The owner was sitting right there and I ask if he was into making sticks. He siad no, that those had been the old owners. I as if they were part of the yard sale. He laught and said Who would want those. I said I will give you $5 for them. He stuck out his hand and I came home with two cool sticks. Maby I need to go to more of these.
> 
> View attachment 28239
> View attachment 28238


Great find Randy do you know what kind of wood it might be.


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## CV3 (Jan 30, 2014)

RandyL476 said:


> Great find Randy do you know what kind of wood it might be.


No. I am not sure, trying to ID the bark. I am just not that knowledgeable on recognizing wood types.


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