![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
New Roads Demand a Hoopak
Jul. 18th, 2022 10:22 amOkay, it's not quite a hoopak, but it looks enough like one that when I replace the foot, I'll see about having a spike made for it, and deepening the split at the top for a slingshot.
I put three coats of Danish Oil on it, since that contains linseed, which is recommended for walking sticks. The oil really brought out a nice warmth in the cypress wood that I wasn't quite expecting. I'll want to rub it down every six months or so to keep it in good shape.
When I started trying to mount these medallions, I remembered one of cypress' famous properties - it's hard as hell. There's a reason houses built with cypress are considered hurricane proof - not merely hurricane resistant. I wound up needing to drill pilot holes for a couple of these, and Fox helped with the rest. I tried to find medals for some of the smaller hikes I've gone on, but I may have better luck getting them locally if I'm ever up that way again.
I have Cades Cove in the Smokies, which was near where I grew up. We also went a lot to Jones' Cove, which wasn't part of the National Park. I went to school with people whose families had lived in that area, and the rule was if you were born there, you could continue to own your property there, but if the last member of a family died, the Park Service took over the land. So what they'd do was go to the old homestead and literally give birth there. Anyway - There's also Daniel Boone National Forest, which is in Kentucky. It's a long, winding forest with plenty of different trails and a lot of things to see. And Cumberland Falls, famous for its moonbow, a nice hike and a nifty gift shop. The other side has the St. Augustine lighthouse - one of the nicer medals for St. Auggie, I thought. And Iceland, because it tried to kill me. Actually I had a nice hike around the Bridge Between the Continents, but GPS at one point steered me down a road that had been swamped with volcanic sand where my vehicle got stuck. The lava fields are actually weirdly beautiful, but they get scary when the sun starts going down and the wind picks up and you can't get your stupid rental car out of the black sand.
The only thing I haven't done here is wrapping part of it, right above that middle fork, with some leather as a hand grip. Once that's done she's ready to go.
I put three coats of Danish Oil on it, since that contains linseed, which is recommended for walking sticks. The oil really brought out a nice warmth in the cypress wood that I wasn't quite expecting. I'll want to rub it down every six months or so to keep it in good shape.
When I started trying to mount these medallions, I remembered one of cypress' famous properties - it's hard as hell. There's a reason houses built with cypress are considered hurricane proof - not merely hurricane resistant. I wound up needing to drill pilot holes for a couple of these, and Fox helped with the rest. I tried to find medals for some of the smaller hikes I've gone on, but I may have better luck getting them locally if I'm ever up that way again.
I have Cades Cove in the Smokies, which was near where I grew up. We also went a lot to Jones' Cove, which wasn't part of the National Park. I went to school with people whose families had lived in that area, and the rule was if you were born there, you could continue to own your property there, but if the last member of a family died, the Park Service took over the land. So what they'd do was go to the old homestead and literally give birth there. Anyway - There's also Daniel Boone National Forest, which is in Kentucky. It's a long, winding forest with plenty of different trails and a lot of things to see. And Cumberland Falls, famous for its moonbow, a nice hike and a nifty gift shop. The other side has the St. Augustine lighthouse - one of the nicer medals for St. Auggie, I thought. And Iceland, because it tried to kill me. Actually I had a nice hike around the Bridge Between the Continents, but GPS at one point steered me down a road that had been swamped with volcanic sand where my vehicle got stuck. The lava fields are actually weirdly beautiful, but they get scary when the sun starts going down and the wind picks up and you can't get your stupid rental car out of the black sand.
The only thing I haven't done here is wrapping part of it, right above that middle fork, with some leather as a hand grip. Once that's done she's ready to go.
