Wood Dowels

[Puff Griffis]

My Brother in law needed some for his Martial arts school and ended up = buying broom handles cheaper. He just cut off the threads.=20 Puff

[<dtkirby]

I am in Syracuse, New York and I am looking for some one inch by five foot wooden dowels to make hiking sticks for my Scout group. I need about 100 of them and of course we have no budget. Where can I get them for the least monetary damage? Are there any wholesalers that would not mind such a small order?

[Victor Radin]

Forget dowels, too expensive and they break easily under hiking stresses, and mostly they're available in 3' lengths. The 1 inch diameter will be too small if you use standard birch or pine, and with your budget hickory will be too pricey.

What we did when we needed about 25 of them was to get some 1-1/4 or 1-

1/2" diameter handrail. Ask you local borg for off-cuts or mis-cuts to save some money, but it's fairly cheap. Go with a 5' length for the vertically disenfranchised boys, but have some at 6' or even 6-1/2' for the adults and taller Scouts. Remember that these can do double duty as poles for your indoor lashing projects, and it's nice to have some 6 or 7 footers for tripod and gateway building practice.

Good luck and have fun, Vic

[B a r r y]

handles cheaper. He just cut off the threads.

Why didn't they karate chop the threaded end off?

Barry

[Puff Griffis]

I asked that one too . Puff

up buying broom handles cheaper. He just cut off the threads.=20

[Silvan]

Talk to your local tree service guys and see if you can come up with that many relatively straight cuttings. (Catching them freshly topping a previously-topped tree would probably produce a lot of fairly thin, straight cuttings.) De-bark, maybe sand and top coat, and there you go.

I like natural branch walking sticks much better than anything made out of closet poles, broom handles or the like. Personally, I favor one with a slight bend on the end too. Not quite a cane, not quite a stick.

[TeamCasa]

A Boy Scout needs to buy a walking stick? If we wanted one, we had to make/find it ourselves. Dave

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[J T]

Wed, Feb 25, 2004, 11:24am (EST+5) Keep_it_in_the_newsgroup [e-mail] (B=A0a=A0r=A0r=A0y) asks: Why didn't they karate chop the threaded end off?

Hehehe That reminds me of the time I was watching a Tie-Quan-Dough class in Bangkok give a demonstration. The "star" pupil was supposed to break a board in two using his index finger. He did all the breathing, grunting, etc., to psych himself up, and rammed the board with his finger. It went thunk. Board didn't split. And, I mean the guy poked that board hard, you could tell it really hurt. The instructor made some fast comment about it being a warm-up blow or some such. I was standing around the edge and saw what the guy did. He did all the show again, and then when his finger almost got to the board, he made a fist, cracked the board in two, then stuck his finger out again. Can't really blame the guy for that, but laughed like Hell for him being stupid enough to try it with just his index finger in the first place. Course, he should checked the board first too. I also noticed that some of the students were very careful to pick boards that were already cracked before they punched them. LMAO

JOAT Georges Clemenceau supposedly said, "War is too important a matter to be left to the military". If this is so, it is then obvious that peace is too precious to be left to politicians.

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 28 Feb 2004. Some tunes I like.

[Charlie Self]

Plain ol' fashioned karate in my day. But at one demo, I had an hour to kill, so ambled in early. Found these guys all sifting through the wood to find nice, knotty weak looking stuff. It made sense to me, as whacking that lignin hurts the hands and feet, but it also put the demo right back in a range a dozen guys in my outfit could do, so I went into Honolulu and drank my way along Hotel Street for a few hours.

Charlie Self I don't approve of political jokes. I've seen too many of them get elected.

[Nova]

I took a style of karate know as Shorinji Kempo years ago. In my more foolish days I used to do a bit of board breaking for a number of the demos we put on at various organizations. In selecting boards I wanted sound, knot free, straight grained boards. When you start stacking multiple pieces of white oak, surfaced to

4/4, you don't want grain, knots or splits to contend with.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[Charlie Self]

Nova responds:

Multiples, yeah. But these guys were like us, still cracking 2x softwood in single layers. Hell, that was a century ago, or so it seems now, and the Marines were teaching a form of hand-to-hand that involved some judo throws and a few strategically placed kicks once the guy was tossed. Not nearly as sophisticated as it has become, though I get some serious giggles going when I see all the dancing masters kicking guns out of hands from a start 15' away. Anyone serious about the work would put 3 rounds low, 3 rounds in the middle and 1 high before the guy's foot got a dozen inches off the ground.

Charlie Self I don't approve of political jokes. I've seen too many of them get elected.

[dave in fairfax]

My younger brother's Sodan in one flavpr, Nidan in another and brown in some kinda gungfu. He's fast and all, but at 15' Gun Fu takes Kunf Fu every time.

Dave in Fairfax

[Reyd Dorakeen]

100? jeeze, up here 4 is a common venture company(next level after scouts, 14+) group/drinking buddies group. where can you hike in new york? sligthly more on topic, how about actual alder branches/saplins, not sure about how many, or when, but certainly more natural then dowels, can have em for shipping cost

in article [e-mail], [e-mail] at [e-mail] wrote on 2/24/04 6:18 PM:

[Reyd Dorakeen]

De-bark, maybe sand and top coat, and there you go.

or cut nice patterns in bark, easier to tell whose is whose

[Victor Radin]

Reyd- other than the great and vast canyons of New York City, there are the Catskill and Adirondak mountains, a reasonable portion of the Appalachian Trail, many river trails for canoeing, and (in my prejudiced view) one of the BEST Scout Camps in the east, Onteora Scout Reservation. There are the flat, sandy trails through Pine Barrens on Long Island, paved trails through historic districts of the city, Mt Marcy, Finger Lakes, Delaware River, State and National Forests.

To return to topic- one of the best hiking staves I ever had was a sassafrass sapling that I collected at the Scout camp. Part of a trail clearing project, the bark became tea and a braided top-band and the staff put on many miles over the years until it finally was carried off by someone who must have needed it more than I.

/vic

[Charlie Self]

Victor Radin responds:

And let's not forget to remind people that the Adirondack Park covers both private and public lands, totaling over 6 million acres. That's not a typo, but

6,000,000+ acres. Too many people see New York as NYC and environs, maybe including Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Orange Counties, with LI tagged on as an afterthought. What those places are is a great way to clump some 12-13 million of the total state population, leaving most of the rest of the state less densely populated than, say, rural Virginia.

Charlie Self In a New Hampshire Jewelry store: "Ears pierced while you wait."

[Nova]

Forest land in New York state covers 18.5 million acres, or 62% of the state's total land area (30.2 million acres). See:

Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[B a r r y]

On 01 Mar 2004 17:03:56 GMT, [e-mail] (Charlie Self) w

You don't have to tell me. I've mountain biked many trails in mid to upstate NY, and it's really hard to believe it's the same state!

Barry

[Charlie Self]

Even the accent is different. I went to school in Albany, loved the surrounding area, couldn't find work, didn't want city life, so moved a long time ago, but I still miss the town (or I miss being under 35!).

Charlie Self In a New Hampshire Jewelry store: "Ears pierced while you wait."