# New To Forum, Making First Stick



## TPruden1970 (Dec 20, 2017)

Looking to show off a tiny bit, but also looking for some advice. I want to know what might be the best adhesive to use to better affix the leather grip I made for this staff. It seems to be holding well now that it's been on the wood for a few weeks, so it might not need to be glued down, but as this is my first attempt at making a walking/hiking stick I'm not really sure what to do in this regard.

This first walking stick is for a friend with whom I have been rockhounding for the past year, and most of the inlay I do on this piece (and all others I make) will be done using rocks I personally found; we go rockhounding/prospecting in the Platte River bed here in Colorado, and collect a lot of petrified wood, jasper, chert, flint, sard, carnelian, and quartz.

I am currently in the process of carving out the dragon with a Dremel, so I can then add a crushed quartz inlay, using some VERY dark rose quartz.

The sunburst behind the skull will have an inlay using smokey quartz.

The ganja leaf surrounded by smoke will have an inlay made with green opal (which I will be purchasing through Amazon this month).

I may also add a ring under these decorations, which would also have an inlay of stone, and I am thinking about decorating the one knott with something... but I have yet to decide on what exactly I want to do with it.

At the top I have also set one whole piece of tiger's eye, and one whole piece of tiger's iron. Underneath that (opposite the side with the MMJ design) I will also be setting a whole piece of blue tiger's eye, and then one last piece of whole Tiger's eye. Photos of these to come later, after they've all been set, and the wood sanded down to meet them.

Any advice, and/or constructive criticism, will of course be more than welcomed!


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## Rodney (Jun 12, 2015)

Welcome aboard!

You've got quite a good hand with the drawings. For gluing leather to wood I use contact cement. In my case I bought a bottle of Weldwood at the local hardware store. Make sure you have bare wood under the leather. I had problems with the contact cement not wanting to stick to finished wood.

Make sure to post more pictures when you get the inlays completed. Should be quite a stick when you're done.

Rodney


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## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

Welcome to the forum! That is going to be a sharp stick when you're done. I especially like the sunburst skull. Looking forward to seeing the final product.


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## TPruden1970 (Dec 20, 2017)

Rodney said:


> Welcome aboard!
> 
> You've got quite a good hand with the drawings. For gluing leather to wood I use contact cement. In my case I bought a bottle of Weldwood at the local hardware store. Make sure you have bare wood under the leather. I had problems with the contact cement not wanting to stick to finished wood.
> 
> ...


Do you recommend distressing the wood before applying the adhesive?


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## LilysDad (Sep 25, 2014)

You've got a great start. I like your patterns. One thing I would suggest is, turn your leather grip over so the free end of the lace hangs down from the bottom.


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## Rodney (Jun 12, 2015)

Maybe rough up the area under the leather with sandpaper. Here's one of the last ones I've done with leather.









I still need to work on my edge treatments on the leather but mostly I'm happy with it.

Rodney


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## woodsman (Oct 24, 2017)

A great start to your stick nothing like showing off ones workmanship.


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## Gloops (Jan 23, 2015)

Welcome to the forum, nice looking stick, well done.


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## TPruden1970 (Dec 20, 2017)

Thanks for the welcome! Tried using a Dremel to carve out the dragon... and then bought some chisels! Lol. Getting more chisels soon, plus more Dremel bits to do some of the "heavy lifting", as well as to experiment with later on. :thumbsu:


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## TPruden1970 (Dec 20, 2017)

Rodney said:


> Maybe rough up the area under the leather with sandpaper. Here's one of the last ones I've done with leather.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I will take your advice to heart! Also taking the tie out and reversing it, as per

LilysDad http://walkingstickforum.com/user/541-lilysdad/

advice too. I haven't even begun to sand anything down yet so I'm a long ways off. (I wanted to insert an emoji, but WWI Snoopy singing "It's A Long Way To Tipperary" wasn't available).


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