Totem Pole Walking Stick
I made this walking stick for my third hackathon project. I wanted to focus on another woodworking project and also wanted to try and make it as inexpensive as possible. I enjoy hiking and had always liked those walking sticks you see in gift shops so I decided to try and make one myself. When i was younger I enjoyed woodworking but only had a dremel tool so I would take on larger projects using only that. Since then i have gotten more tools but for this project I decided that I would once again try using a dremel to do most of the work. I also decided to make the topper based off a totem pole I had in my room when I was younger. There are a few things I would have spend more time on if I had not made this project during a hackathon but overall I am happy with how it turned out.
Overall this project was very simple but the challenge was doing everything I wanted within the 4 hour timeframe. In order to give myself the most success the first step I took was planning. Before the competition I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to put on the walking stick and what design elements I wanted it to have. I thought about what materials I wanted to use and what tools I would need. I came up with a few designs on paper and then chose my favorite out of them. I also thought through a general order that I wanted to accomplish everything in.
My first step in actually making it was cutting the stick part. I started with a 2 by 6 and cut a rectangular stick out of it. After that I needed to round it out and taper it towards the bottom. To do this I spent a lot of time on the belt sander. I knew that this would take a while so I factored that time loss into my design and tried to only put what I knew I would have time to achieve. After I got it rounded how I wanted I started drawing out the design. I used pencil to put a rough line of where I wanted to cut into the wood. After it was all marked out I spend a lot time with the dremel carefully carving away the wood along the lines I drew. This took a while but with the tools I had it was the best way to achieve the result I wanted. After the design was carved I moved onto the topper.
I decided to make the topper as a separate piece because I knew there was a high chance of me messing it up or breaking it on my first tries. I also thought it would be easier to work on the detail if it was not connected to the entire stick. I drew out the shape of the totem pole on the remaining part of the 2 by 6 and cut it out using the bandsaw. On the first one I made the wing of the eagle snapped off. Instead of recutting the whole thing I cut the eagle off and decided to make the totem pole in 2 pieces. After I had all the pieces cut out I drew the designs I wanted and then used the dremel to carve them in.
Once the topper pieces and the stick were carved I had to attach them together. To do this I drilled holes into all of the pieces. I then cut up a dowel and used that along with woodglue to connect them and give it a strong structure. Once they were mostly dried I stained the entire thing with a dark woodstain. To finish it off I wrapped the handle with leather and made a leather loop. I did not get as much leather as I thought I did so I had to improvise with the handle but overall I am happy with the result.
