What is the best wood for a hiking staff? 1

[tomwalz]

What is the best wood for a hiking staff?

Strongest, toughest, prettiest, most comfortable, etc. If you were going to build a hiking staff, what would you use? Weight is somewhat of an issue. Ability to hold up while beating down brush and blackberries is also an issue. It would be nice if it would take fittings for bear bells, etc.

Thanks,

Tom


Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[JAE]

Aluminum?

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Ash - they make baseball bats from that.

Other than that - who cares?? Find something that fits your needs and go with it. I would stay away from the pines - they seem to warp and wane too much. Some kind of hardwood makes sense to me

 

[woodman88]

The cheapest wood you can find with a sg equal to or greater than 0.5.

Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.

 

[TomDOT]

Hickory is a good choice, or (white) ash, or maple. I like to wipe down with thinned linseed oil. Let it cure a few days after that. Might need a couple of applications for any end-grain (ends, knots.)

 

[dhengr]

And, the little boy tree asked the daddy tree... who was my mother?
The daddy tree said... your mother was a fine piece of ash.

 

[dik]

When I was in Scouts, my staff was Chestnut... strong, hard, and light. You may have difficulty in finding same.

Dik

 

[msquared48]

Don't listen to JAE. He gets hit quite often by lightening...

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[dik]

at least he didn't recommend Ironwood!

Dik

 

[hokie66]

Actually, Australian Ironbark makes an excellent staff, albeit a bit heavy.

 

[JAE]

sorry... I was a bit snarky.

It seems that you'd need the lightest weight hardwood that you can find. Most of the wood books I have don't include a lot of the hardwood varieties to check on that but an online search for hardwoods might turn up something.

Alternatively you could paint nice brown wood grain on the aluminum.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Diamond willow is THE material to use, if you can find it.

See the attachment regarding bear bells, Tom.



It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[msquared48]

Balsa wood - it's real light.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[dik]

ornery... I wish I could send you two stars...

Dik

 

[MikeHalloran]

Balsa is also soft, unless you wrap it with FRP.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[dik]

The heartwood is harder, and is often used for carved signs... but it's still soft... Maybe clad it with JAE's aluminum and paint wood grain...

Dik

 

[msquared48]

Balsa is much lighter so the staff carrying the staff will not get overstressed. Cannot say the same for the staff carried when used in the vertical mode though.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[TomDOT]

Diamond willow looks like a nice structural shape

 

[abusementpark]

Remember the old boy scout adage:

Carry of a stick of spruce and the snakes will vamoose.
Carry of a stick of birch and the snakes will lurk.

 

[dik]

Never heard the expression.