shillelagh and walking sticks

[James]

Though it is dying out in towns, a gentelman should always carry a stick: common at gatherings are the long shepherds crook type-cromach, and a thumb stick is also popular. Both very practical on the hill, as a walking aid-and for supporting a spotting scope.

The drum major of a band should carry a decorative mace-both for display and instructions above the noise of the band.

James

[Brasilikilt]

Hey all

I googled Cromach and found this site:
http://www.caledoniansticks.co.uk/Fa...20cromachs.htm

Obviously these folks are a lot more skilled than myself! These definitely are the sticks I was referring to!!

Dread........I must say that what you wrote was a very interesting read! I had seen tourist type of shillelagh but knew right off the bat that they were merely an overpriced piece of firewood. NEVER did I imagine that a real shillelagh was such a refined weapon!
here's a pic of me holding my thumper still in the works.
I'm thinking about pouring some lead in the end, but think that this might be a little overkill since it's made of white oak and is already pretty heavy!

[David Thornton]

Thumb stick, NICE!
Walking staff and a shooting stick combined.
Don't know why I hang out here, always something else to buy, and rarely cheap!
David

[millar]

My grandfather had a Blackthorn walking stick that he used to club us with from time to time. That bad boy hurt like hell. A guy I work with just picked one up on one of his many sojourns back to Ireland. The fricking thing will leave a mark.

[Brasilikilt]

The best Shillelaghs spend a year buried in manure

Would that be to add insult to injury perhaps?
It's bad enough to get wacked with an Irish super stick, but one which has been stewing in feces for a year.........YUCK!

I think I'll experiment with Ipe' a.k.a. South American ironwood which is an incredibly dense and heavy variety of hardwood which contains high levels of silica

This has gotten to be a very interesting subject........Does anyone have pics of their Cromachs or Shillelaghs to show off??

[Dreadbelly]

The best Shillelaghs spend a year buried in manure

Would that be to add insult to injury perhaps?
It's bad enough to get wacked with an Irish super stick, but one which has been stewing in feces for a year.........YUCK!

I think I'll experiment with Ipe' a.k.a. South American ironwood which is an incredibly dense and heavy variety of hardwood which contains high levels of silica

This has gotten to be a very interesting subject........Does anyone have pics of their Cromachs or Shillelaghs to show off??

Yeah, but that year spend stewing in manure or a peat bog and then spending some time smeared in fat or butter and left in a chimney to cure turns the darn thing in to petrified wood just about.

For a while, here in an antique store, there was an Irish Shillelagh for sale. Amazing beautiful thing it was. At the top, somebody had cleverly affixed a long curled ram's horn as the handle, set in to the knob of the club with poured silver. The antique shop was asking for over five grand for the thing. It had been used to kill some such person or another, I forget who. It came with papers and legal documents stating that it was what it claimed to be. Some poor Irish guy clubbed somebody important, I dunno who, clubbed this fellow to death with this Shillelagh, and fled to America sometime around the late 1800s. He brought his noodle knocker with him.

When I saw it, it was so beautiful in design that a single big fat tear welled up in my eye. I'd love to have a ram's horn Shillelagh.

[James]

That was an ouch reminder from many many years ago-bent over kitchen table with kilt lifted out of way for application of walking stick to a very sad posterior-the rest of me not too happy either.

For those anywhere near London [OK England], there is a shop in Holborn-head east from Holborn Tube Station and it's about two hundred yards along on the south side.

It sells a fantastic range of sticks-from Thumb-Cromch and of course the traditiona shilleglegh [oops spelling], and blackthorns. Too I've seen decorative/ram horn handles etc there.

Also have a look at some of the British craft sites-for there is a long tradition of both practical and decorative sticks in this country.

James