Susan, great point!

I almost feel nekid without my beloved stave... WAY too handy to not have. The only time it stays back in the truck is when I'm skiing for locomotion. My advice is that it should be a little above head high for various reasons and sturdy enough to bear your body weight plus a hefty backpack load when you lean over sideways on it at about a 45 degree angle to the ground (90deg between you and the stick). Mine started as a well-seasoned white oak sapling, now debarked, smoothed, and varathaned, and it's sporting a really nifty 7075 aluminum business end that I machined up for it and then filed to match the natural contour and taper of the stave. It's amazingly light and strong and has an infinite number of uses, although I have never adorned it with any "features" or gagets. It's just a stick... er, "hiking staff", and the tip is there just to keep it from splitting and add a lot of miles to its useful life.

I've made then for others from all sorts of different wood - never splits or machined shapes, except for some that I made by quartering an Osage Orange log and shaping pretty much like I would a self-bow. That will be my next one - they are the most beautiful ones I have made.

It does take some time and miles and hard use to get really comfortable with always having a stave with you, but once you do... I prefer skinny end down because the natural grip point on most terrain is above center and it swings naturally with my stride that way. Some folks prefer fatter end down... I dunno why, but they do, so... I tried mine both ways on a few hikes before deciding which end to armor. Oh, shaving and rasping a hemispherical top is well worth doing. It makes it friendlier for most all uses, including using it as the center pole in a tarp - no sharp edges to start a tear.

Regards,

Tom