You are really doing a service to keep the tradition alive. Thank you.

A few years back, the local water company cut down some blackthorn bushes at the end of my garden and a piece was protruding into the road. I grabbed my bow saw and went to clear it. I was just about to make a cut, when I noticed a bend and realised this could be the handle for a walking stick. So I cut out the stick and left it in the corner of my garage for a few years. Then one day I set to work making a walking stick. There were some side branches to be cut off and I also cut the thorns back. I then used fine sand paper to smooth the bark. When this was done I cleaned the stick with a damp cloth and applied some wood oil. I cut the length to 36 inches and put a rubber ferrule on the end, I'm thinking of fitting a brass one. The unusual thing about this stick, is that it has a perfect natural handle which exactly suits my needs and along the shank are three evenly spaced features caused by the branch rubbing against another branch in the wind, so the stick carries scars from standing against past gales. The stick is so amazing to look at and to hold; it almost has a magical quality to it. I have never seen another like it and I can't believe it was my luck to find it by chance, not looking for, or even knowing about blackthorn sticks.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

7 жыл бұрын

Iazzaboyce love to see this stick I love the story.

@Iazzaboyce

7 жыл бұрын

+ Francis McCaffrey I just took a few photos and uploaded a slide show on my KZread channel. Hope you like the stick.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

7 жыл бұрын

Iazzaboyce just had a look at your slideshow nice stick but are you sure it's a blackthorn it's looks quite different. What is the length of stick and the weight.

@Iazzaboyce

7 жыл бұрын

+Francis McCaffrey The stick is 35 inches, 39 inches with the handle and is just under an inch in diameter. It weighs 15 ounces. I'm sure it's a blackthorn, but I'm in Cornwall, England so our blackthorn may differ from the Irish kind. There's a large thicket of blackthorn at the end of my garden and that's where the stick grew. White blossoms in early Spring, then the leaves and sloes.

@anarchyfox325

5 жыл бұрын

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 very interesting content I loves carving spoons and other kitchen utensils I'm looking for new avenue to explore I found it thanks to you I subscribe I has one I carved ole way no electric tools way I prefer to do greetings from Essex but does wood have to be blackthorn ? Can ya use another wood ?👍🐺🐾:-)

I learn so mutch from you in one year over the Irish Blackthorn. Thank you my friend 🙏

Interesting video, would have loved to see the finished product. When cutting, always tap the wood at the base and ask the spirit if its ok and to give it chance to go to the roots.

Francis, I'm not of Irish decent, but I admire your podcasts, love your rich tradition, knowledge and fine personality..lots of success

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much Andrew

Nice to see the sticks in the wild. ......good job Francis.

That's a lovely brogue you've got there Francis - grand, so 😄 Thanks for the informative fillum too👍

I came back to this. I should send you a photo of the Honey Locust trees in the state of Misery. Just outside Kansas City. They can be used for long lasting fenceposts. The tree protects the sugary inner bark with lots of wicked long thorns. Be Well.

Hello y'all from Suwannee County Florida i carve ugly sticks mostly cedar oak an black walnut, and crape myrtle

Very interesting and informative.

Whal,them loppers you snipped the brush with,would have cut a cleaner cut than the saw. I use them all the time to cut hazel & willow. A bit of elbow grease & Bobs yer uncle you have a lovely CLEAN cut!

We have Bradford pear trees where I live, they grow thorns like those blackthorn trees, and they will leave their thorn tips in your skin the way you described for the blackthorn, and they don't even bear any fruit.

when cutting branches from Osage Orange, you got to be careful of the thorns as well.

My Tip: Makita DUC 254 Z Battery Chainsaw...

Thanks for the video. As you mentioned, blackthorn spikes seem to be loaded with bacteria, so if I get jabbed with one I come out in the hell of a rash.

@wolfthequarrelsome504

4 жыл бұрын

What happens is the tip breaks off under the skin and you get infected. It's very painful. You have to get the tip out or it stays forever under the skin.

IF I was not a poor man, I'd love to come and pick out a stick. And to ask many questions. I do love to visit places, when I can visit the people, not the tourist sites! They tell me the part of our ancestors [US state of Virginia] that we know is 39 or more % Irish and from Kerry county... my older brother's middle name is after the county. Alas, the call in my heart is to come, but might it ever be?

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

Жыл бұрын

Ireland is waiting for you

I would love to get hold of a Blackthorn root, so I can make my own walking stick. We don't have then in Florida, USA.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

3 жыл бұрын

Look for local woods maybe

@richardhutchings921

3 жыл бұрын

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 Blackthorn does not grow in Florida.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

3 жыл бұрын

@@richardhutchings921 then use other local woods was my point.

Don't upset the fey laddy!🍀🍀🍀🍀🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🍀🌷🌷🌷🍀🍂🍂🌸🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Very interesting to see one of the places where you cut your walking sticks. Did you get any blackthorn root ball walking sticks this trip?

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

7 жыл бұрын

yes I did i got 3 of the bunch you saw at the end. Most rootball this trip didn't have much of a handle when I dug them up. decent roots are few and far between

@robertkemp9685

3 жыл бұрын

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 Hope that's your hedge your hacking a hole through, or you at least have permission to remove several sticks from the same area.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

3 жыл бұрын

@@robertkemp9685 I’m a professional stick maker not a hobbyist. I have relationships with several farmers and access to a lot of blackthorn.

There was two guys went out ghost hunting, they got to where they were going and discovered there were some other people there, so the one guy tells the other, "looks like there may be trouble", he asked the first guy, "do you have a gun?" The guy said "no", the other guy said "well, do you have a knife?" The man said "no, all I have is some shillelagh", what the hell is shillelagh? The man asked, "it's whatever I can put on their ass."😂😂😂😂

Do ye graft likely twigs to the stumps for to continue the bush's growth under your control ? Ye have a stump where ye can graft two orthree branchings to grow from towards a path to the sun that you have chosen.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

2 жыл бұрын

It’s not that easy with blackthorn it grows so bendy in many directions

Very nice. Do you have to go far from home to cut them?

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

7 жыл бұрын

J. Dean yes all over really hard to find decent hedges with stick worthy quality.

I actually came across a blackthorn bush this morning. Found it such a pity that I did not have any tools on me to cut of a piece....

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

5 жыл бұрын

Peter Goossens always have a saw in the car you never know when you will Find

Hello Francis I've always liked the blackkthorn sticks, but seem to be hard to find here in Wiltshire, SW UK. There are hawthorn though, would they make good sticks, as I usually get the hazel as there are literally thousands of trees where I live. And any nuggets of information that you'd wish someone had shared with you as a novice.. hope to hear back. Steven

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

8 ай бұрын

Be careful of injuries is what I wished someone had shared with me. Cutting blackthorn is more dangerous than many think

@evisgeniul1436

8 ай бұрын

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 Thanks for that..gonna go and get a couple of hawthorn and hazel this weekend.. ready for next year.

Is there a different process to selecting the wood for a left or a right handed person

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

Жыл бұрын

I make then for both hands

I find it a bit amusing that you were talking about using gloves, I certainly would have in that mess but, you dove right in without the gloves, I also found it quite curious that you referred to those sticks as being "straight". do you steam and straighten you sticks at all?

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

Жыл бұрын

Straight enough to work with , I do straighten most .

When is the best time to cut blackthorn sticks? I've seen a couple of really nice sticks, one of them has an almost ready made handle. I'm eager to cut them but not sure I should risk cutting to soon.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

6 жыл бұрын

Hunting For The Pot cut when it looks the best! Winter time is best when there is less sap, tends to dry a bit faster and less cracking. Any time from now to before the while flowers start to come is best

Wouldn't a long handle pole saw make it easier? After all it's main use is for high tree limbs

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

Жыл бұрын

Not really as mostly I go into the Center of the bush this just just a easy one to get

Come to Wisconsin we can't kill enough buckthorn evasive

@carlrockaway1696

Жыл бұрын

Can you get the seeds for them

It looks like Blackthorn is very much like Hawthorne in the US.

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

Жыл бұрын

Blackthorn is denser and different bark and wood grain

Would you sell one I live in the United states and it's hard to get

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

4 жыл бұрын

All my walking stick are at www.mccaffreycrafts.com

How do you know whether you're on public or private property?

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

2 жыл бұрын

You ask permission

@varun009

2 жыл бұрын

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with property sizes in Ireland. Where I live, they can be hundreds of acres and without fencing or even hedging. Homes represent a very small part of the total area of the region. I'm looking for anjan trees. They coppice well to produce straight and hard sticks with interesting texture. I'll upload a video if I can.

@ryanalexander3088

2 жыл бұрын

😂😂😂😂 If no one challenges you it's public land, if you hear gun shots in your direction it's private property, simple

who else is reading the comments in an irish accent in your head after watching the video lol

@Trev794

3 жыл бұрын

To be sure

4

Americans collect such things with a truck and a tow strap! ; )

why you dont wear leather clothes by this work?

@FrancisMcCaffrey5

3 жыл бұрын

I do mostly this just a short demo

Only cut the guys.. leave the gals alone.