Rather rare thumb stick with a twist.

[Matthew Arnold]

Whilst at one of our woodlands removing holly and silver birch i found a nice peice of Holly with some honeysuckle growing out of the top of it. As i removed the side branches i found a nice twist caused by the honeysuckle and promptly put it in the back of the truck so it wasnt burnt. I find loads of Hazel and Ash twist sticks but never found a Holly one before. I spoke to a friend of mine and he said it would be worth in its current state about £30. I'm going to dry it out in the garage so it dries out naturally and then remove the stubs and round off the handle.

[Sburdy]

That's a nice bit of wood!! i got a shepherds crook for my 21st lastyear for my sheepdog trailing. the shaft is elm and the crook handle is oak... it cost £50 and took 2 weeks to make. So you might be on to a winner with that holly.. those twirls are ace!!

[Lyn Ed]

used to make loads of walking sticks, honey suckle twist is rare on holly, with holly because its such a wet wood i used to varnish it first to slow down the drying out process, because they tend to split, but then after drying for about a year holly normally looks better with the bark removed and then varnished with coulered varnish or mix a bit of coffee powder in with varnish to get a nice colour.

[Matthew Arnold]

My dad had said to me that it would sell for alot if it was stripped of bark on the lower foot or so and then have a roe antler attached on the top.

[Bomag]

Very nice, and when dried will fit right into the beating line.

 

I wouldnt put horn on it, leave it natural all the way. Maybe a brass ferel on the foot, but thats it.

[Matthew Arnold]

I will defo stand out from the usual hazel and ash sticks.

[RobRainford]

a nice looking stick matt! odd to see that on holly.

 

We have mass of honeysuckle here and its constricted a chestnut in a lot of areas, leaving markings just like that but a lot deeper!

[Ben90]

That looks brilliant, love the light spiral in it, you caught it before it got too disfiguring.

 

I found this little number on my CS31 not so many years ago, felling small Douglas fir I found this at the top and kept it. Obviously I've turned it on it's head but that bulb at the end is where the tip snapped out and new apical dominance set in, forming a new leader while beautifully fulfilling the law of minimal lever arm!

 

The bulbous bit at the end was a whorl of smaller branches and as such has lots of knots in and might end up looking nice once somethings been done with it! I stripped the bark off as soon as i got home and it's dried perfectly with no cracking.