STICK-MAKING RUNS IN FAMILIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 10 February 1938, Page 9

STICK-MAKING RUNS IN FAMILIES

Stick-making is a rural industry in which there are many process details, and labour-saving devices. Hencb stick-cutting families have preserved secrets as closely to be guarded as the one-time Yokohama fowl at the Palace of Pekin, with its tail ranging anywhere from fifteen to twety-five feet. There is a large market for parasol, umbrella, and sunshade sticks, stick and handle in one piece, or separately. Manufacturers are always seeking new styles and ideas in sticks, so much so, that, on the Continent, many growers cultivate sticks of recognised best kinds solely to supply the market. The English natural stick-cutter has a large variety of materials to choose from, both for walking and other kinds of stick —ash, aspen, birch, blackthorn, cherry (especially a variety known as the Hungarian or tiger). Spanish chestnut, crab-abble, elm, furze or gorse. hazel, holly, hornbeam, maple, mountain ash, white thorn or hawthorn, etc. For a walking-stick the length should not be less than forty-two inches —preferably forty-eight—and the stoutness should run from half to a full inch in diameter at the middle of its length.

One of the most surprising things about stick-making is the fact that, by the man who knows how to do it, the most irregular and crooked stick can be straightened. Hardly any two operators use exactly the same devices to secure the same end.