My grand dad was a stick carver and I always admired his craft but I'm more of a powertools guy myself. However, I've taken some of his hand carvings and duplicated them with my carvewright (cheating I know) and handed them the family members. They were so well reproduced that my family thought I had done it : P Of course then I have to admit that I didn't do it myself since I'm honest.

Hi there, just joined your site today. As a relative beginner to woodworking I will soon be asking loads of questions about loads of topics.... In the meantime....

I live in Scotland and have made a few walking sticks. I have used solid cow and/or Buffalo Horn Tips ( I managed to buy bag of tips somewhere ages ago, cant remember where ) Attach to bottom of stick with Epoxy Glue and a narrow nail drilled and glued into tip then this into stick. Roughen joint by drilling small dimple. Works well and can be changed easily if it wears down.
Both are then sanded to required diameter etc and when polished come up great.

Some sites to try here in the UK for stickmaking supplies ( I know some States in US do not sell / import Horn ) but if yours does then try these. ( no particular order though Highland Horn is very good )

www.highlandhorn.com
www.brynheuwg.com/stickmaking
www.speyside-horn.co.uk
www.wupensticks.com ( canada )
www.turnaltfarm.co.uk
www.stickmaker.com

I hope these get you what you need. If not please let me know I have more sites you could try.

Best regards, Thomas.

Hello Thomas, and welcome to the site.

There's some great work in those links. The www.wupensticks.com people are from the same area where Colin lives ... wouldn't be surprised if he knows them.