Walking Stick with Turks Head Loop Hanger

 It's been a really busy month with real life issues and I haven't had much time for knots.  I've been working on this walking stick for a friend in the margins for the past month and I am glad to have it finished.  The stick itself is made of red oak, and it is treated with a rubbing oil.  It's always nice to do 4 or 5 coats of spar varnish on a walking stick, but the oil is much faster as all you have to do is wipe the stick down and let it sit for a few days to achieve a decent finish.

For the top of the stick I integrated a turks head loop using the same technique I used for the flashlight thumb loop I made a while back.  The person for whom I made this stick spends extensive time on a boat, and I thought it would be a nice feature to be able to hang the stick up and hence the loop. The loop is also handy for hanging the stick on a coat rack.  I will definitely be incorporating loops into future walking sticks as it has worked out well.

The larger knot is a standing, or multistrand turks head tied using a technique from the Ashley Book of Knots, numbers 1284 through 1289.  While it is very satisfying tying a large turks head using a single strand using tools such as the grid maker found on the KHWW site, I often find it much simpler to use the standing method from Ashley- I tied this knot without the use of a mandrel, simply using zip ties at the top and bottom to anchor the strands.   The strands do not get as twisted as they do for a running, or single strand turks head.  Small nails or another anchor method can be used with this method which may result in a more even layout. This technique does take some patience and organization because with 8 strands it looks like spaghetti at the start. Enjoy.

Glass Float

This is a glass float that my wife bought years ago at a nautical novelty shop. I had covered it previously, but was never really happy with the covering. To tie I first cow hitched 8 strands to a steel ring. Then I placed the ring and lines over a drinking glass and created the half hitch covering. The eye was made with ring bolt hitching around a series of the lines that were pull up through. I straight whipped the remaining lines and then tied a 3 bight long standing turks head around the whip.

Turks Head Knife

I use a paring knife to cut string when I am knotting.  If find a paring knife useful for getting in close to make a final cut at the end of a tie.  Instead of constantly raiding the kitchen drawers, I bought a knife to use specifically for knot work.  Of course, I couldn't just leave it plain.  The handle is a turks head tied with 4 stands which lead to a 4 bight turks head.  I doubled the black, and then traced the red in through.  The red is all one strand traced through.  I wanted some kind of blade cover, mostly just in case my son or dogs get into the knot tools.  All I did was triple over a stiff piece of cardboard, straight whip it and then tie a 4 lead by 3 bight turks head at each end. The blade cover probably won't last forever, but is functional.  There is a string led from the blade cover so I can tie it off as an additional safety.  I left the handle end eye opening.  Perhaps I'll get to tying a lanyard for it at some point.