Stick Questions for our Native Scots

**Panache** · 17th April 12, 07:48 AM

One of members just posted about a lovely "market stick" he had just created. I am intrigued and thinking about making one. To be honest I'm not sure I exactly what a market stick is. I'm familiar with cromachs but not this style. Thinking about it further I think it would be very useful to myself and any other stick makers here on XMTS to understand the subject better. So I thought I would put it to Jock Scot and his fellow highlanders to perhaps give us stick makers a "Highland stick 101" class so we understood the various types of sticks the Scots use in traditional highland dress as well as when/where they carry them, and why.

Cheers

Jamie

**David Thorpe** · 17th April 12, 09:19 AM

Jamie, I recently ordered and just received this. It answered the questions you pose here.
I'm in the same situation -- beginning to gear up to make a stick or two, and add a horn or bone top to one I already have.

**Jock Scot** · 17th April 12, 10:24 AM

I think it best to say right from the start that stick height is a very personal thing and what might be too long for one person , will be too short for another. My cromach has lost a few inches over time and each time it has taken time to get used to it. In fact disaster struck about 18 months ago when the shaft finally gave up on the abuse that I have given it and broke in half. My constant companion since my 21st birthday split asunder! Well the carcass was spirited away in the dead of night and some months later it re-appeared with a new shaft at it original length------I am now trying to get used to the new length again.

So the cromach probably started off life to mean a shepherd's crook, but these days I think it would mean a rather more general term which would include the "market stick". The "market stick" is generally slightly shorter and handier for the farmer to lean on and use for driving animals around the more confined space of market.

A stick that is too short is useless on the hill, but hip height thumb sticks made from ash, hazel,or blackthorn are common country sticks and are easily cut if you go around with your eyes open.

For roe deer stalking usually in woodland a "stalking stick" is used to steady the binoculars and rifle when taking a shot. These have no other purpose as they are about top of head height in length and have no adornment, just a straight pole.

We also use a wading stick when wading up to the "Plimsoll line" is strong currents and uneven river bottoms as a depth gauge and third leg. It can save one from a tricky situation and one's life on occasion. The stick often made of hazel and often an antler thumb style top(a fork), it will be about belly button height, with half a pound of lead on the bottom so it stands upright in the water whilst casting and watching the fly swing round and a cord is attached to the top of the stick and then looped around the body to make sure its not carried away.

**Tobus** · 17th April 12, 10:37 AM

To be honest I'm not sure I exactly what a market stick is. I'm familiar with cromachs but not this style.

I'm not a Scot, but from what I've read, market sticks are usually a little fancier. They're meant for looking good when a farmer/herdsman/whoever goes to market, instead of being purely functional like the ones he'd use out in the hills.

That said, a lot of the market sticks I have seen are very similar to cromachs, but they tend not to have the curled nose. This seems so common that I think a lot of folks use the term "market stick" to refer to that shape.

**Panache** · 17th April 12, 12:48 PM

Thanks for the information Jock and Gents! I'm off to play with some Australian lacewood (I will try my best Jock to not make the crook too big)

Cheers

Jamie

**SlackerDrummer** · 17th April 12, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by Panache

I'm off to play with some Australian lacewood....

Sounds perfect!

**A Hay** · 17th April 12, 02:25 PM

Thanks for the link DrummerBoy!

Very interesting catalog and the prices are quite reasonable.

Tom

**Chas** · 17th April 12, 03:24 PM

Not a native Scot, but I have seen market sticks 'in the wild' as it were. Back in the 70s, when Bury St Edmunds still had a weekly livestock market the attending farmers would each have a market stick. Now, they did not require then to get about as they were walking around a bustling market town. The market stick was more of a badge of office. You could tell a man was a farmer (or in charge) because he carried a market stick. As a group, there might be farm hands and farm labourers, but only one man carried the stick - the farmer.

Yes they tended to be a bit fancier than a working stick, but I don't think that was what made them a market stick. It was that they were being carried by the farmer.

Regards

Chas

**creagdhubh** · 18th April 12, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by Tobus

I'm not a Scot, but from what I've read, market sticks are usually a little fancier. They're meant for looking good when a farmer/herdsman/whoever goes to market, instead of being purely functional like the ones he'd use out in the hills.

That said, a lot of the market sticks I have seen are very similar to cromachs, but they tend not to have the curled nose. This seems so common that I think a lot of folks use the term "market stick" to refer to that shape.

I agree, Tobus. Also, I like to have my overall cromach length to reach no higher than the middle to lower part of my sternum. I have visited the Highland Horn website several times, it's very well done. So much so that it almost makes me want to attempt stickmaking myself! Yet, I think I'll leave that to the professionals!

Cheers,

**Tobus** · 18th April 12, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by creagdhubh

I agree, Tobus. Also, I like to have my overall cromach length to reach no higher than the middle to lower part of my sternum.

Interesting. I suppose there's plenty of room for personal preferences. But I usually see it said that the ideal height should be right at your nipple. And this happens to correspond with the ideal height usually recommended for a hiking staff. I don't use my cromach for rough hiking, but my usual hiking staffs are long enough that my hand grabs them just above the level of my elbow. I've experimented with all different heights, and this seems to work best. Especially in the extremely hilly terrain I live in. So it seems a perfect fit for me, using a cromach in the same manner. Using one at sternum height would drive me crazy, even though it's only a couple of inches lower. But, again, it's all personal preference.

I've paid particular attention to the heights of cromachs used by native Highlanders, and it's all over the map. They range from barely higher than the waist, all the way up to cromachs that come up to the cheekbones! Apparently there's no hard-and-fast rule.

I have visited the Highland Horn website several times, it's very well done. So much so that it almost makes me want to attempt stickmaking myself! Yet, I think I'll leave that to the professionals!

Cheers,

The thought has crossed my mind, too. Especially trying to work with ram's horn or buffalo horn. But I think I've lost the youthful energy that once might have possessed me to try to learn artisan crafts like this. It would be immensely satisfying to make my own, but reality dictates that I should leave it to the professionals too!