Whether walking on or off road, I always like to have a hiking staff with me to ease the journey. However, purchased hiking staffs were never quite right for me. They were either too heavy, too long or just didn’t have the right feel and balance.  Through research, experimentation, field-testing and probably re-inventing the wheel, I found that there are just four essentials, well five if you include finishing, to convert a simple sapling into a trusty hiking staff.  

A minor caveat.  Because every starting sapling is different; every final staff will vary.  Just go with the flow and let the final staff develop organically from your starting material.

Regarding the wood, I prefer hickory, though I’ve also used oak, cherry and sassafras.  (If you are reading this in the UK, hazel or ash are favored.)  I once even made a staff out of sumac, a terrible choice of wood.  I only did it because a vine had grown around and constricted the tree, resulting in five pleasing spiral turns of overgrowth (see photo).

Note that the widest end of the staff will be at the top and it will naturally taper to the bottom; this orientation gives the final product its best feel and balance.

Every staff needs a wrist strap; I use black 550 lb. paracord.  Appropriately used, the strap gives you a much more relaxed and flexible grip, reduces forearm strain and also provides improved control.

The most critical parameter for optimal utility and comfort of the staff is its length.  One size definitely does not fit all.  Tailor the length of each staff specifically to the intended user.

Finally, the tip.  I fashion a hard-wearing styrene-butadiene tip in situ, secured to a small screw inserted into the bottom end of the staff. You may wish to attach a premade tip as an alternative.

How you finish your staff is a personal choice.   You can leave the bark on or sand it all off to show the wood grain.  You can stain or dye either of those choices and then finish with polyurethane.  A couple of times I’ve followed Mick Jagger’s advice to “Paint it Black.”  You may wish to carve a face on your staff; perhaps add a thumb notch, filial ball or other decoration to the top; the possibilities are endless. Personally, I tend to leave the bark on because the texture gives the staff a pleasing tactile feel and grip.  It is also a lot less work!  Finally, I dye it as appropriate and finish with polyurethane.

The procedures below are just the essentials that work for me.  I leave for you the joy of discovering and refining the best way to imagine, design, craft and finish custom hiking staffs for yourself and those dear to you.

The devil in the details.

Harvest straight tree saplings with as few branches as possible.  Look carefully at a prospective tree and visually locate a 4-foot section where the diameter decreases from about 1-1½ inches at the bottom to about ¾-1” at the top.  This section, turned upside down, will eventually be the hiking staff.  These dimensions will give the final staff sufficient stiffness, but without excessive weight.

Cut the tree 1 foot above and below this section, respectively to yield a 6-foot pole.  Trim any side branches to 1/2” from the main stem.

When you get home, scrub the saplings thoroughly with a brush and regular dishwashing detergent (not the caustic stuff used in dishwashers).  This wash removes a surprising amount of dirt, algae, sap, lichen, loose bark flakes and any associated critters.  Note the color and appearance of the wet pole.  If you the leave the bark on and finish the staff with clear gloss polyurethane, this is essentially how it will look.  

Thoroughly rinse off the detergent with clean water, allow the poles to dry for a couple of hours, then coat the end grain of the main stem and the cut branches with a couple of coats of finger nail polish. This application seals the ends, slows the subsequent drying and seasoning processes, and helps minimize cracking and split ends.  

Strap several poles tightly around an old broom handle with zip ties and put the assembly in the basement or a cool closet to dry out and season slowly.  Nearly all saplings tend to warp as they dry out and strapping them together around a stiff rod helps to mitigate this process.  I make no further attempts at straightening and thus the final product is “natural form.”

At least 6 months later, with the intended user in mind, select the pole that you are going to turn into their hiking staff.  

Cut off the side branches close to the main stem then sand them smooth.  If you wish to remove the bark and smooth the wood, do it at this stage.

If you are leaving the bark on, remove any roughness.  Using a well-wetted old kitchen pot scourer, the green nylon on yellow foam kind, gently abrade the bark to remove rough spots and catches, etc. so that the finished result feels pleasantly to the hand but retains its essential texture.  Rinse and allow to dry.  Repeat as necessary.

Measure the intended user for a custom fit. With the user a) wearing their walking shoes/boots, and b) holding their upper arm down by their side but with their forearm forward and parallel to the floor, measure and record the Distance D from the bottom of their wrist to the floor (see diagram).  Their final staff will be Distance D plus 6” long.

The next steps are a little jiggery, but hang in there and it will all work out right.  Hold the staff loosely in your hand, by your side, balanced in the middle, parallel to the floor.  With your fingers and thumb, slowly rotate the staff around its long axis in your hand.  Because it will not be symmetrical, there will be a preferred orientation where is rests most stably without any tendency to roll. Generally, both ends will be slightly lower than the center where you are holding it.  Attach a piece of masking tape to the topmost side.  This side is Up.  

Turn the staff vertically, broadest end at the top, with the Up side facing towards you.  By visual inspection and locating the most comfortable grip, determine where you want the final hand hold to be.  Make two marks, 5” apart to define the top and bottom of the hand hold.  The top mark will be the location of the wrist strap hole.  Measure up an additional 1” from the top mark, this is the top end of the staff.  Measure the Distance D down from the bottom mark of the handhold to determine the bottom of the staff (see diagram).

Carefully saw off the top of the staff.  Save the offcuts for trials of any combo of staining and finishing, etc.  If you wish to attach a filial, etc., do it now.  Otherwise, sand and round off the top of the staff.  Drill an 11/64” hole for the wrist strap.  Angle the drill slightly so that the exit on the Down side is slightly higher than the entry on the Up side.  Countersink both ends of the hole.  

Carefully saw off the bottom of the staff.  Drill a 1/16” hole in the center end grain of the bottom of the staff, usually in the pith, and screw in a small cup hook. At this stage, I do any dyeing/staining and polyurethane finishing.  Work from the top of the staff to the bottom and then suspend it upside down by the cup hook to finish up the bottom 6 – 8”.  Remember to seal the inside of the wrist strap hole with poly.

For the wrist strap I use a loop of 550 lb. black paracord, pulled through the 11/64“ hole located 1” from the top of the staff.   With a piece of wire bent to a tight hairpin, pull a loop of paracord through the hole from the Down side towards the Up side.  Adjust the loop to 7“ pulled just taught, ( sufficient that it will fit over a gloved hand ) then tie an overhand knot in the two lengths on the Down side. Trim the ends of the paracord and carefully seal the cut ends with a flame.  

Bring your hand up through the wrist loop from below, grasp the staff then slightly lower your hand. The strap will go over the back of your wrist then pass up through the center of your palm. This arrangement gives flexibility of movement, while retaining control of the staff.  Because the wrist strap secures your hand, you do not have to expend excess energy tightly gripping the staff to stop your hand from sliding down.  

Note that if you carry the staff horizontally it will fall to its natural orientation as noted above. Because of the location of the hole and wrist strap, when you swing the staff vertically, the wrist loop will be facing towards you so that you can easily slip your hand into it.

There are several options for a tip on the bottom of the staff.  Pre-made rubber and metal tips in different sizes are available online that you can use.

Personally, I use Shoe Goo to fashion a custom tip for each staff.  Shoe Goo is a very concentrated solution of styrene butadiene polymer dissolved in toluene and solvent naphtha.  As the solvents evaporate, the volume decreases and the polymer solidifies.  I make the tip one layer at a time, building it up around a retainer screw until it reaches the required depth and width.  The following procedure is a little tricky, therefore you may wish to do a trial run with one of the offcuts before forging ahead with that beautiful staff in which you have, by now, invested so much time and effort.  

Warning!  Toluene is very toxic.  If you do use Shoe Goo, follow all the product safety instructions faithfully.  

Remove the cup hook from the bottom of the staff and replace it with a small screw, not a wood screw.  Secure the screw in its hole with some epoxy glue.  Do not screw the screw down tight, leave the head exposed by about 1/8” so that the polymer can shrink tightly around the head and anchor to it.

Cover the bottom 6 or so inches of the staff with masking tape in case of polymer drips.  Working in a well-ventilated area, carefully apply a small blob of Shoe Goo to the bottom of the staff and around the screw head.  After a few minutes, as the solvent evaporates, a skin will form on the polymer. This skin will allow you to manipulate and shape the blob around the screw head and keep its diameter the same as the end of the staff.  

Allow the polymer to harden and shrink; this will take several days.  Using the same procedure, carefully add additional layers to the bottom of the tip.  The layers will adhere well together. Continue until you have at least ¼” hardened styrene-butadiene above the top of the screw head.

With use, the tip will slowly wear down, but as necessary, just clean off the tip and add another layer to renew it.

Congratulations!  You are done.  Enjoy the satisfaction of using or giving.