Tribal Walking Stick

Figure A

Steps:

1. Secure a four-foot hickory blank walking stick in the vise. Roughly draw a face design at the top using a grease pencil. Draw spirals all the way down the stick (figure A).

Figure B

2. Rough out the faces and the lower designs with a rotary tool (figure B).

3. Sand the cheekbones of the face with a belt sander.

Figure C

4. Fine-tune the face and the spirals with a rotary tool (figure C).

5. Hand sand the entire piece:

• begin with course 60-grit
• 100-grit sandpaper
• 120-grit sandpaper
• fine 220-grit sandpaper

Figure D

6. Attach a grinder to the rotary tool to create shadowed effects on the spirals (figure D).

Figure E

7. Dab ebony stain on the face to create shadow effects around the eyes and cheekbones (figure E). Apply it to the remainder of the walking stick. Wipe the stain off with a soft cloth. Let dry.

Figure F

8. Attach a wax buffing wheel to the table grinder and apply wax (figure F). The wax preserves the tribal walking stick design.

Web site: www.tommyn.com