So far, I've only made them as gifts.Dave wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:10 pmDo you take commissions? That's lovely work! Turned as two pieces of different orientation - shaft and head?Hansontoons wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:06 pm I use tung oil on the walnut shaft walking sticks I make. Five applications and I call it good. It is amazing how the wood grain comes to life when in sunshine. I've never put any shellac over the tung oil since I figure that after a while if the owner of the stick wants to bring back the "shine" after much use, they just do a little light sanding and then apply a couple coats.
I'll have to give a stick a shellacking to see how it works out. I've also made canes for elders, shellac on those might be a good application.
The photo just doesn't do the finish justice.
The times I've used shellac-over-oil it has been for indoor, decorative items... display frames for artworks, turned bowls, and so forth. One of the limitations of tung oil is that (unless you treat it one way or another) you can't get a real gloss finish on the wood - it always has a slightly wrinkled surface and thus a matte appearance.
What I've done amounts to a "French polish" shellac applied over the cured oil - multiple very-thin layers of gloss shellac. It has worked out very nicely.
For a use-item such as those walking sticks I doubt I'd bother - the shellac finish could tend to get scratched up pretty quickly and you'd lose the gloss. Although... maybe go with a shellac gloss on the shaft, and leave the knob or handle as a matte finish. Otherwise, do as you say - leave it matte - it won't lose its appearance quickly and is easy to renew.
I did get a somewhat glossy finish with tung oil once, when I (re)discovered an old trick. if, after you wipe on a coat of it, you put the piece out in hot sunlight for an hour or two, the heat and UV will trigger a quick polymerization and it hardens to a gloss. Pre-polymerized "cooked" tung oil, such as is used in some gunstock oils, does the same thing.
Yes, shaft and head are separate. I cut the shaft from a plank, install a screw with 1/4-20 thread on both ends of the shaft. The thread goes into rods supported by bearings. Hand drill spins the shaft while I work it with rasp and belt sander until it is round and tapered. Continue to work with progressively finer grades of sandpaper until I am satisfied with the result. Head gets a threaded insert installed, then rounded on the belt sander and finished up while held in a drill press. The aluminum piece on the bottom end comes from a machine shop- I don't dabble in metal working.
I used to be able to purchase the rubber foot seen in the pics, it came from a company called Tracks, they made a variety of walking stick products. They closed shop years ago, I am able to get other rubber tips but they do not have the nice, wide bottom like the Tracks product.
The strap is nylon material, cover is cotton material sleeve. I hold it together with a grommet that fits over the top thread end.
I made a two-piece version out of oak for packing while traveling by air, used it once- it needs refining.
I found a full-length shot of the finished product. This one had some nice "tiger-stripe" as I called it.