whittling in the backcountry

ok...so often i like to whittle at camp after a day of hiking...nice to get dry by a fire making a decoy or a nice stick...or heck just something to do in the rain under a tarp...

however i never really thought about the environment...so i guess this goes to my extreme conservation friends...

is my idea of making a walking stick from every state of the AT a bad idea? is taking the branch from its natural decompising spot an issue?

also what about all the shavings i leave behind? i'm not leaving anything that normally wouldn't be there just in a diffrent package....

i imagine my impact is small...but i also imagine that if everyone took a few berries from a bush by days end that bush would be bare....

As long as you're not cutting green wood, I don't see it as a problem.

If it bothers your conscience, then don't do it.

If the idea of a walking stick is too much, then carve a small token from small pieces you find along the trail.

Of course if you want to pick up a rock in PA and take it with you out of the state and off the trail, I'm sure the other hikers would appreciate it.

i think i'm good then!

and green wood!!! clearly you have never whittled!!!


with my conservationist inside happy...i will probably go with the token idea(orginal idea of the walking sticks was to gift them to my father a cane user for years)...but i'll probably only do that if i see a really nice piece of wood...


anyone have any recommendations on hardwoods of the south...GA<NC,TN area of the trail, and was wondering if anyone ever finished a piece had it stained etc....i'm used to the woods of NE, like oak, maple, birch...and 987090879 pines...but i'm curious/excited to sink my edge into something new!

Whittle away responsibly, you're using a renewable resource. If you feel guilty just plant a few trees.

You are not whittling, you are clearing brush and reducing the fuel load......

I like to whittle sometimes as well, IF I bring a knife big enough to do so. As far as the "environment" goes....I cut and clear more big branches, live green ones, from my park all year long, than you'd ever whittle in a lifetime. Incorporate your whittling with some trail maintenance!
One of my most prize possessions is a cedar walking stick with a leather grip, turquoise stones hanging from leather strips, and a silver dollar embedded in the end. Glossy blond finish, with a rubber tip. A guy in my neighborhood asked if he could cut some cedar boughs for walking sticks. I said "take all you want!" (cedars are a plague here). My stick showed up on my front porch....it's art and too pretty to hike with!

Post pics of some of your artwork.

If the idea is a token from every AT state, it could be sort of neat if you combined a piece of deadwood from the crest of the trail in the smokies, where it straddles the TN/NC state line, to represent both states...

I sort of had an idea of something NC whittled on one side of the piece of wood, and something TN whittled into the other side.

Just a thought...

Surely you jest!

I've both whittled and carved, green and dry. Both for required effect. Is it easy? NO. Is it worth it? Depends on the piece. The trick is getting it to dry the way you want it to.

I'm not familiar with woods of the South or NE, but some woods in the NW are best carved green; for example, alder is too hard & brittle to carve otherwise. Professional carvers from my tribe will even harvest alder, debark it, split it, and store roughed chunks in water for future use.

The only trees I will actively cut are alders, which fill in roads & trails if left unchecked. Otherwise I look for good wood that's already died naturally, my favorite being western red cedar. The stuff never rots.

Happy whittling! Leaving behind wood chips is worlds away from leaving stone chips. I wouldn't worry about it.

i'll have to improve my whittling....most of my green experience has left me sticky...and warped weird...

i don't like completly dead as it can chip off/crack....i like something thats felled but not for years....

i def like the nc/tn idea...i bet i could do something along that everywhere really...

I am a student for Wildlife Biology and am aspiring to be a conservationist in the near future. I have to say, taking dead wood is not a bad thing. When there is room on the forest floor, plant life will quickly take its place and compete for space and light. So taking that stick will allow any seedlings underneath to wake up and sprout, or makes new room for seedlings to land and grow.

As for the chips, just think decomposition and organic matter making all the richer soil.

I see your point, however, where your impact is small, but if everyone did the same thing there would eventually be no berries for birds and animals.

Depends on where the dead wood is. In alpine regions, the Forest Service and Park Service want you to leave it strictly alone. That's because those thin soils need all the decaying organic matter they can get. Fires are generally prohibited at or above timberline for that reason.

Of course lower down in the thick forest, there's plenty of wood to play with!

In the interest of Leave No Trace and the next folks to come along, you might want to toss your shavings in the bushes, if you don't use them in your wood stove or campfire.

River Sticks;

I think the neatest wood I have ever found was in a creek that ran down a mountain. There was a huge stick jam (not a log jam, cuz the sticks were smaller in diameter). I dont know what this stick orignally looked like, but when I happened upon it, it was knobbly and warbly but still very oddly straight. It was red and dark brown stripes when it was waterlogged, and even now with laquer on it, it is still fairly striped. It is almost 6" tall, and it was a heavy burdon to bring down to the camp. (good thing thats what boyfriends are for)

Its so full of characteristic, and I am going to get some palm leather, cuz on hot days it gets sticky/stinky. <--laquer = yucky. (But I like shiney things) I dont bring it out very often anymore. Its too prized. Fat lotta good it does me at home tho...

(never thought Id feel this way about a stick, but its my favorite stick. Thanks Mother Nature)

Oh yeah, and 1 more thing, the most common game we play, every single time we go out into the woods. Spear the dead log. I have learned how to spear, how to make a spear and what is the best rotted out log to throw a spear into etc. Its all about balance, concentration and will-power, and a little show-offiness

Whittle away! I enjoy whittling old timey looking fishing lures. If your worried about the impact of picking up a stick or the shavings, then you should probably stay home, better yet you shouldn't own a home, you should sit perfectly still in silence in the middle of the woods until your borrowed energy is given back to mother earth...ok I kid I kid but it is good that you are thinking about it