Opinion from the Collective...

[Lee Koepke]

I am finishing Christmas gifts for my brother, SIL, and neice ... and want to do something for my 7 yr old nephew. He likes to go camping with my brother, so I thought I'd make him a walking stick. I was going to use the bushing inserts from Lee Valley so it can be broken down for shipping/storing.

My question is .... can I glue up pieces of walnut to the the 1.5" blank? Theoretically, the glue-up should be as strong as natural wood in most uses, but would it be appropriate here? I doubt he's gonna be really rough with it, ie, putting alot of weight/stress on it.

Thanks for your thoughts ....

[John Keeton]

Lee, I think the glue up will actually add rigidity to the piece so long as you get a good joint and don't starve it. But, a 1/4" strip of curly maple should would look good between those slabs of walnut!;) I have done all my lathe tool handles like that, and some other tool handles I just turned for another creeker - these are mahogany/maple and tibit/maple.

Pic quality is not good on this - sorry - but you get the idea.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Leo I have done like John has and haven't had a problem with turning handles. I think those would get more force applied to them than a walking stick. I don't see a problem with what you are wanting to do.

[Lee Koepke]

Nice!

I do have a few pieces of maple around that have some nice grain to it .... I probably will turn an extra piece, so as he grows up, he can add another 15" section ..

[David E Keller]

I think the glue up should be fine. The contrast might make for a cool look, too.

Your nephew sounds a lot different from my 5 year old son... He would be whacking everything in sight with that stick!:eek::D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Sounds like an interesting project! Looking forward to seeing it!