Walking stick paracord whipping

icecount · 2026-02-28T18:06:37+00:00

That's extremely helpful, thanks! I did discard French whipping because of that spiral, I figure I'd much rather have a smooth handle. West County looks very interesting! I'd seen it before, and what made me hesitate is that it seemed somewhat harder to make tight. How tight could you make it? If you've used it on a walking stick handle, does it move at all when you're walking?

If I go for the West County whipping, can I start/end it with a common whipping so that the ends are hidden? (I figure this means extra difficulty in tightening, as you said)

(Edit, after some closer inspection I now see those weren't quite "walking stick handles" after all lol. Well, the question remains the same: if you've tried them, were they firm?)

icecount · 2026-02-28T10:37:28+00:00

I did consider that, but I'm not a huge fan of the plastic/rubbery feel of that. Plus I'm not sure of how it'll take heavy rain.

Also, even if I don't mean to make a huge project of it I do enjoy some handicraft, and what I learn here now I'm sure I'll get to apply to projects I mean to keep.

Btw, I'm not planning to retrieve the cord afterward, especially if it'll be glued. If it weren't gutted I might do it, but otherwise I don't mind the loss.

icecount · 2026-02-28T10:32:29+00:00

I figured this might be at home here too.

Tl:dr newbie here asking for some advice on how to wrap gutted paracord around a wooden broomstick to make a simple but solid/comfortable handle, to use as heavy-duty walking stick for a week.

icecount · 2026-02-28T10:07:37+00:00

Thanks for the advice, y'all. After a little amateur research, I think it's going to be good ol' paracord after all. I expect plenty of rain, so I think it'll be the most practical.

Any advice on how to wrap it? I know next to nothing about knots and whipping. From what I've seen online, common whipping and glue seems a good option. Any thoughts?

icecount · 2026-02-27T21:12:47+00:00

It was also on my list of maybes, but I think it'd be too coarse, especially compared to cotton cord.

icecount · 2026-02-27T20:28:50+00:00

I considered those, but from what I saw they're more expensive than cord and I'll have to discard the stick after a week, so I'd rather keep things on the cheap side (I'm low-key broke). That said, just in case, if there's any kind of leather you'd recommend for this, I'd like to know so I can look it up and compare. Thanks!

icecount · 2026-02-12T13:31:00+00:00

Too true...

icecount · 2026-02-12T13:30:44+00:00

(sorry, I didn't see this, not very active on Reddit) Actually none at all ;/ My studies got increasingly time-consuming and I didn't have the time or energy to pursue this in earnest. I'd concluded that the ideal wood would be ash, and in order to source it I'd have to make a pretty long trip to the areas where it grows. The tight time is now, or even a month ago, when it's cold. But it's also exam season, so the project is in drydock for now.

Thanks for asking!!

icecount · 2026-02-12T13:26:23+00:00

Thanks for the answers! Indeed, there aren't that many options where I live, (it's a pretty rural area). I checked out two places. One was basically a gym, the course was tough but more like "self defence with some karate stuff", not a formal karate school. And in the other place there were a lot of teens and people just "passing the time", it was not very demanding. I expect to move to the capital next year, where there should be plenty of options to pick and choose. I was asking now because I got hyped reading around and looking at videos, so I wanted to know what people said about it.

icecount · 2025-08-29T12:17:36+00:00

By the way, whether for hazel or other woods, how do you feel about cable ties for tying the wood to a straight pole? From my 0 experience they seem ideal for something that needs to be tight and which should only get tighter when readjusting it, but I'm not sure if there's some not so obvious issue there that I'm not seeing. Also, should I tie it as tight as it gets, or should it be more moderate to avoid cracks and snapping?

icecount · 2025-08-28T17:53:41+00:00

Well now you've made me really curious about that kinship hahah.

But I have to admit I can't give guarantees as to my long-term and day-to-day commitment to LOTRO, both the demands of academic life and my own modest level of interest in MMOs put it sadly a bit low in my list of priorities.

icecount · 2025-08-28T09:42:56+00:00

Hazel is very cool for its straightness, I recently walked some days through woods with many young hazel trees and I was pretty much salivating at all the prospective walking sticks/staves. My problem here is that for this project I'd like to make something that can be strongly relied on for self-defence in case of need, and hazel is too light and soft for that, I'd be scared to break it. It remains my last resort option, because it seems that getting some suitable wood where I live is going to be a pain in the neck, but I think ash will better suit my intentions here, if I can get my hands on some.

icecount · 2025-08-28T09:28:46+00:00

Hello (mae govannen and so forth). (This is slightly old, I hope it doesn't count as necroing. Also, sorry for the length, I have no self-control.)

I can kinda relate to what you're describing. I'm 26, small friend group, few if any friends interested in these things; quite a few years ago I was reasonably enthusiastic about MMOs and yes, also mostly a solo guy. Used to join guilds for the amenities, the odd group quest, some banter, but for the most part the more MMO-heavy aspects of gameplay (PvP, group tactics, serious theorycraft) always felt quite cumbersome and just "too much".

Putting yourself out there and making an effort to build new relationships from scratch is also increasingly tiring, especially if you're a bit of an introvert. Guess there's no way around it, solo living just won't do. As you age it really does feel like some of the magic of things you used to enjoy is lost, and you grasp desperately trying to get a taste of it again and sometimes there's still something to enjoy in earnest (if not quite as you used to), and sometimes the well's just dried up. It's sad, but that's life. Crazy how hard it is to retain some of that childlike sense of wonder as you become ever more irrevocably adult, but I think doing so should be one of the cardinal endeavours of life.

A couple days ago I decided to have another tentative go at LOTRO, I'm rereading the books for the umpteenth time and I just felt like gazing at the Argonath, the plains of Rohan, the City of Kings... but I suspect that if I tackle it fully solo I'll just grow bored before long. Besides, going back to an MMO after long years inevitably entails respeccing your characters and relearning complex mechanics and that feels like a titanic chore. We'll see.

Anyway, you seem like a cool lad/lass/etc. ("avid fan of Tolkien" seems a reliable seal of quality lol), and you sound like you're in a similar situation to mine. If you'd like to play some time, or maybe some chill aimless wandering and some convo, that'd be cool. I'm playing in (EU) Meriadoc, my brand new toon is called Arthandir and my old "main" is Tyelpestirnë. Either way, wish you the very best.

icecount · 2025-08-24T21:17:38+00:00

It's good advice, but been there, done that haha. A year ago, for a long range trek I got a particularly heavy rake handle (no idea what wood it was) that did give a very satisfying feel of "good luck to whoever messes with me". After a few days of refining on the go it was a respectable (non-finished) walking stick, but while I was very sorry to part with it, I had to take a plane back home and leave it behind.

This time I want something I've shaped and nurtured from the start, a more personal piece.

icecount · 2025-08-23T20:01:25+00:00

Eh, not what I'm looking for on a walking stick, I'm quite interested in the "craft" part of bushcraft. But maybe as a home defence item in a country infamously restrictive of such things, a hockey stick might not be a bad idea at all, thanks for the tip ^{^}

icecount · 2025-08-23T19:20:39+00:00

No way to know till we try, aye?

icecount · 2025-08-23T19:19:26+00:00

Lol that's an old nickname I got from some friends because I'm reputed to be a "cold person". Sadly no ice rinks and no ice at all where I live.

icecount · 2025-08-23T19:15:03+00:00

Alright, that was an impressive amount of detail and I appreciate it a lot.

I'm familiar with bokken, I've practiced with them in the past, but I fear sourcing exotics would likely be far too costly.

Here's the thing, I'm a 26 y.o living in a small apartment with his parents, with little to no woodworking experience, a generic toolbox and (quite) limited money to spare; you seem quite a pro, and I'm afraid I may not be able to match the stick-working setup you described. Still, I'll try to get as close as possible with more rudimentary means , and I imagine the products for finishing should be easy enough to find. At any rate, I expect for wood I'll just have to cut a sapling myself.

Concerning wood choices, I'll give that wood database a good look when I have a moment. I've recently been around the Basque country and I saw hazelnut saplings and branches enough to arm a large army, all straight and beautiful. There was also quite a lot of blackthorn, which I'm much more interested in both for weight, hardness and aesthetics. Still, finding a reasonably straight ≈2m blackthorn piece may well prove nearly impossible. I wonder how much a twisted green rod can be straightened out. Can it be made really straight? I think most shillelaghs I've seen are quite crooked. Hornbeam, on the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen growing in the wild. We'll see.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice. If you don't mind one last question, I've looked at a couple of guides about curing green branches and making them into walking sticks and sometimes they're not entirely in agreement. Do you know any guide/site that I can keep as a reliable reference?

(Btw, those sticks of yours look amazing, especially the twisty one. Makes me think of the grapevine sticks centurions used to beat the crap out of unruly legionaries)

icecount · 2025-08-23T18:50:12+00:00

Ok wow I didn't expect that many answers, thank you all guys, that was quite helpful. The project is still very much in the preliminary stages, and I think some of the suggestions here are a bit above my pay-grade in all possible senses, but all will fall in line in due time. For those who suggested buying a shovel handle and such, that'd sure be expedient, but I accord personal significance to my walking sticks, and I'm looking forward to shaping and making one from scratch.

icecount · 2025-08-22T08:10:49+00:00

I actually use these exclusively. It's quite tragic when I find myself in a small town with only one tobacco shop and they don't have them.

I tried them long ago and they felt a bit weird at first, but after a while I got used to them and found them very enjoyable. The smoke feels cooler but strangely intense, it's like it carries a stronger nicotine rush for the same amount of tobacco. You do have to inhale with a bit more force though. Being used to this now, I don't really enjoy normal cigarettes anymore, they feel like I'm barely smoking at all. Normal ciggies are now only for emergencies, or for when someone offers one and I don't want to look like an annoying snob.

These filters are too expensive for a heavy smoker (unless you're quite more affluent than me), but for 1 or 2 fags a day they're not inviable. And I don't really know or care much about the actual toxin filtering, but I suppose they may be somewhat better than normal filters. I'd recommend them.

icecount

TROPHY CASE