What is a good wood to make a staff, or a hiking pole from?

Question

This will be approx five and half feet in length and used for walking.

Oh and by the way, I am living in England and in particular the Southwest corner where we have birch, oak, willow and am not sure what else as yet.

Answer 1

As someone that comes from a family that makes their living in the woods, I suggest either red maple, ash, hickory or birch. Pine and cedar is too limber and rots easily, oak is sturdy but too heavy. Balsa is light weight, but rots easily as well. Plywood is impractical because using a 4x8 foot sheet of 3/4 inch plywood to make a walking stick is impractical. Once the glue holding the plies of veneer get significantly wet, the material falls apart. When selecting the wood for the walkingstick, make sure that it has no knots or knotholes in it. This is the weakest point in the wood, which would be the most likely point where it will break.

Answer 2

A hiking pole is not the same as a ski pole, although they are similar in design. Most hiking poles are adjustable in length and they lack a basket. I don't use a hiking pole myself, but I use ski poles often. I stopped using aluminum years ago. A carbon fiber or fiberglass pole will bend or give slightly under pressure. This adds a little shock absorption. The pole snaps right back into shape. An aluminum pole will stay bent if it gets bent. These features of a fiber pole are even more important for a hiking pole.

Answer 3

The woods used for better pool cues are birds-eye maple and ebony, which is more expensive.
They use these because of their properties of absorbing impact in-line with the grain, and minimal twisting and warping. I notice people answering ash, that might be good but heavy, as would oak. When I lived in New Hampshire, I used birch and cherry sapplings and branches as walking sticks in the woods. I have known a handful of people who make walking sticks or have collected a few they like. The criteria for choosing them didn't seem to be wood type but the shape and size of the wood and the grain and knots. A lot of good walking sticks and canes come from root wads, after a tree is uprooted. The juniper tree that covers most of the western US has some really interesting grains, and would be strong and light. The difficulty would be in finding the right piece. It might be you'd have to cut out the core of a trunk to get a good one. If you live in the mid-west, black walnut might be good. If it were me, I'd try to find something that grows locally.

Answer 4

Ash is perfect. It needs to be strong, durable and light. Ok, well it will have to be some kind of hard wood. I've done 14 years carpentry and know all this stuff and grandad was a carpentar too [so was dad] and he had a name for all that kind of wood; what was it now, heck I forget but that's the main things, hard, durable, and light. Grab a bit of wood, feel the weight, and start chewing at it with pliers or some implement, if it's tough and light then it's the stuff.... Hickory, was that it?.... Mmmm, I'd need to think on it.

Answer 5

Diamond Willow is the best wood to use in the world for a walking stick although if your not from alaska its going to be a long way to go...whatever hardwood you use you should also give it a couple coats of Watco oil, followed sometimes by satin Varathane........otherwoods to use hickory, ash, oak, iron wood (or "muscle wood"), and good grades of elm, sugar maple, wild cherry, yellow birch, mountain ash, and Saskatoon

Answer 6

If you can find it, a good piece of drift wood is great. Its light and strong for what you need.

Answer 7

i would say cedar or pine tree limb... oak limbs snap with the right ammount of pressure.. plus i just love the smell of cedar and pine wood

Answer 8

Hickory. It is very tough and durable

Answer 9

balsa wood

Answer 10

oak. like the saying stout as an oak tree