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.

Walking Stick with 3 Bight Turks Heads

It has been a busy month and my knot tying has suffered quite a bit.  I got sucked in to a website build which took much of my free. I hope to get back on track with a book I just purchased, The Complete Book of Decorative Knots by Geoffery Budworth.  Mr. Budworth  cofounder the International Guild of Knot Tyers and is responsible for correcting the Ashley Book of Knots, the standard to which all other knot books are held.  So far it has been a very interesting book. There is a good section about tying technique in the beginning of the book which is something that is often over looked in other knot books.  I haven't found it to be perfect though.  The second over/under sequence for the 16 lead by 3 bight turks head was off, which threw me for a loop for a while.  The illustrations are very good, and I think it would make a decent book for any one just starting out, and will also have some good ideas for the experienced as well.

The actual project is a walking stick covered in two turks heads.  When I first got back into knotting I tried selling a few walking sticks on Etsy.  It didn't work out so well.  Etsy is something you need to treat as a business to be successful and I just wanted to do my hobby.  I do enjoy collecting the sticks, stripping them, sanding them, finishing them and then tying the knots, but after all that you have to be willing to make minimum wage if you sell them.  In the end I enjoy giving them away to friends so I still make one or two every once in a while.  The stick itself is made of oak with an oil finish.  The larger knot is a 16 lead by 3 bight turks head and the second knot is a 2 lead by 3 bight turks head, both taken from Mr. Budworth's book.  If you are interested in tying large 3 bight turks heads but don't want to spend the $15 on the book, you can find good tutorials on Stormdrane's YouTube channel and one prepared by the late Bud Brewer on the Knot Heads World Wide website.  The wrist lanyard is a leather boot lace ended with a two strand Matthew Walker Knot.