Blackwood Hickory Walking Stick/Long Cane 41-1/2" top w/Grip-Foot.

Solid, reliable peeled Hickory walking stick or cane with a tough gripping foot which both provides a safe, stable contact with polished marble, and withstands many many miles of pavement. It can also be quickly and easily reformed and restored with applied heat as from a heat gun, or even a high-end hair dryer or carefully with just a lighter and a plunge-bucket of water.

The solid, polished brass finial is screwed and then glued into the Hickory at such a balance point that it hangs effortlessly in-hand and ready. I also use it as a catch point when I want to slide it into the hammer-loop of my pants; my hands are both free and my cane is ready to grab.

Hickory has a fantastic natural texture beneath the bark which is difficult to reveal in any way other than patience; This piece is many years' aged indoors, so that the thick, tough bark could be removed without damaging the impossible-to-create natural surface beneath. I finally complemented this surface with my Blackwood process, which I've been developing for years, and which took its initial inspiration from recognition of the fact that charred wood outlasts both untreated, and painted or stained wood many times over. In this case the treatment was kept light, to preserve the Hickory top texture.

Blackwood is a flame-worked, lacquer-treated and double-waxed surface. It feels and looks amazing and can always be refreshed with another light, loving wax treatment, just like any of your favorite old and well-crafted furniture. The process creates a wonderful depth of color which is also extremely durable; it will not chip or flake or peel because the color isn't applied to the wood. The wood surface material itself has been transformed by the flame-working. The color is in, and *of* the wood, and will never fade or leach out because it's not a stain. The wood is made black, the lacquer soaks and toughens the transformed wood, and the wax fills and polishes the surface to richly colored, soft and warm. Blackwood.