An editorial publication about Irish walking sticks, shillelaghs, and the heritage of stick-making across Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/en-IEhttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-arthritis/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-arthritis/Handle ergonomics, weight, grip diameter, and ferrule choice for walkers with arthritis — the four specifications that determine whether a stick relieves or aggravates joint discomfort.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-a-woman/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-a-woman/Sizing scaled to typical female proportions, weight reductions for smaller-frame carrying, handle scaling, and the woods and forms that suit women buyers — without the patronising 'lady's stick' register that mars most of the cane trade.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-ceremonial-use/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-ceremonial-use/Length, wood, head, and presentation specifications for sticks intended primarily for ceremony, formal carry, and gift-register — where the working-stick sizing rules give way to the aesthetic and symbolic register.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-hill-walking/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-hill-walking/Length, wood, ferrule, and balance specifications for serious upland use — where a flat-ground stick stops being the right tool and what to specify for hill work specifically.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-shorter-walkers/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-shorter-walkers/Sizing, weight, and handle recommendations for walkers under 5'4 — where the standard Irish stick is too long, too heavy, and proportionately wrong, and what to specify instead.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-tall-walkers/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/best-stick-for-tall-walkers/Sizing, balance, and material recommendations for users 6 ft and over — where the standard 36-inch Irish stick stops being the right answer and what to specify instead.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/dating-a-vintage-walking-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/dating-a-vintage-walking-stick/How to date an inherited or acquired walking stick — the wood, ferrule, head fittings, strap, finish, and silverware markers that locate a piece in a specific historical period.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/commissioning-a-bespoke-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/commissioning-a-bespoke-stick/How to brief a working stick-maker, what specifications to include, the lead times you should expect, and the seven-section briefing template that produces the right stick the first time.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/grading-stick-quality/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/grading-stick-quality/The four working quality tiers — working, show, presentation, and museum — used by working makers and the British Stickmakers Guild competition culture to grade pieces, and what each tier actually requires.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-clean-a-walking-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-clean-a-walking-stick/The practical routine for cleaning a walking stick — daily quick clean, periodic cleaning, deep cleaning after weather exposure, and what to avoid (water immersion, harsh chemicals, abrasive scrubbing).Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-oil-a-stick-step-by-step/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-oil-a-stick-step-by-step/The detailed step-by-step procedure for annual oil-finish maintenance on a working walking stick — oil selection, application technique, drying time, buffing, and the difference between routine maintenance and full refinishing.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-refinish-a-darkened-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-refinish-a-darkened-stick/Restoring the surface of a stick whose finish has darkened, dulled, or accumulated dirt and surface damage — stripping the old finish, cleaning the wood, and re-oiling for a fresh working surface.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-repair-a-cracked-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-repair-a-cracked-stick/Assessing the crack, deciding whether the stick is salvageable, and the practical repair procedures — wood glue for hairline checks, splice for substantial cracks, and when the stick is beyond home repair.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-replace-a-leather-wrist-strap/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-replace-a-leather-wrist-strap/Removing a worn or broken wrist strap and fitting a quality replacement — selection, attachment methods (knot, drilled-through, swivel-fitting), and the small details that distinguish a working repair from a botched one.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-vintage-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-restore-a-vintage-stick/When and how to restore an inherited, acquired, or rediscovered vintage walking stick — assessment, deciding what to preserve, the conservative restoration approach, and when professional restoration is appropriate.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-spot-a-counterfeit-blackthorn/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-spot-a-counterfeit-blackthorn/Eight visual and physical markers that separate a genuine handmade blackthorn from the imported lookalikes that flood the retail market — and what a real working maker's piece actually shows.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-fit-a-brass-ferrule/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-fit-a-brass-ferrule/Step-by-step replacement of a worn or lost ferrule on a working walking stick — sizing, removal, fitting, securing, and what to do when the shaft end has deteriorated under the old ferrule.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-store-a-walking-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-store-a-walking-stick/The practical guide to storing walking sticks — daily storage, seasonal storage, long-term archival storage, and the environmental factors (humidity, temperature, light, support) that determine whether a stick survives storage in good condition.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/identifying-an-authentic-shillelagh/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/identifying-an-authentic-shillelagh/How to tell a genuine handmade Irish shillelagh from the souvenir-shop reproduction — six markers that locate a piece in the working Irish tradition or the tourist trade.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/identifying-stick-wear-and-damage/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/identifying-stick-wear-and-damage/How to recognise the common wear patterns and damage modes that develop on working walking sticks — what's cosmetic, what's structural, when to repair, and when to retire.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/protecting-against-woodworm-and-rot/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/protecting-against-woodworm-and-rot/The two main biological threats to wooden walking sticks — woodworm infestation and fungal rot — and the prevention and treatment approaches that preserve the working life of a stick across decades.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/sizing-and-fit/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/sizing-and-fit/The seven-measurement method — wrist, elbow, terrain, posture, footwear, intended use, and seasonal layering — that gets a working walking stick to the right length the first time.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/walking-stick-price-ranges/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/walking-stick-price-ranges/Honest price transparency across the working stick market — entry, mid, high-end, presentation — what's actually inside each price point, and where you should and shouldn't economise.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-trim-a-stick-to-fit/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-trim-a-stick-to-fit/Practical trimming of a too-tall walking stick to the right working length — measuring, marking, cutting, finishing the new end, and re-fitting the ferrule.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/winter-maintenance-for-walking-sticks/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/winter-maintenance-for-walking-sticks/The specific seasonal care a working walking stick needs through winter — wet-weather drying, salt and grit exposure, freeze-thaw cycles, indoor humidity changes, and the autumn-and-spring maintenance bookends.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/your-second-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/your-second-stick/When and why to buy a second walking stick, what it should complement, and the four common second-stick patterns — paired pair, working-and-ceremonial, daily-and-hill, and personal-and-guest.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/antrim-bata-tradition/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/antrim-bata-tradition/The substantial Northern Irish stick-fighting lineage centred on County Antrim — its survival through the twentieth century through specific family teaching lines, its modern revival, and its distinctive working blackthorn register.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/bamboo-history-east-asia/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/bamboo-history-east-asia/Three thousand years of stick-and-staff bamboo across China, Japan, Korea, and South-East Asia — and the cultural depth that distinguishes East Asian bamboo-stick traditions from Western hardwood ones.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/blackthorn-county-by-county/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/blackthorn-county-by-county/The Irish blackthorn-stick tradition mapped across the working counties — Wicklow, Kerry, Cork, Donegal, Antrim, and the broader four-province distribution — and how each county's hedgerows, climate, and working culture shaped the local register.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/canne-de-combat/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/canne-de-combat/The French martial art of fighting with a chestnut walking stick — born in early-nineteenth-century Paris, codified by Maurice Larribeau and others, and surviving today as a recognised competitive sport alongside savate.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/cork-stick-makers/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/cork-stick-makers/The Cork working stick tradition — nineteenth-century commercial activity, the distinctive Cork carved-handle subtradition, the smaller modern community, and the regional connections to Kerry, Limerick, and the broader Munster working register.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/donegal-stick-makers/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/donegal-stick-makers/The Donegal working stick tradition — the substantial coastal Ulster working community, the family-and-community working register (less commercial than southern Irish traditions), and the distinctive mixed-material working culture.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/famous-stick-carrying-figures/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/famous-stick-carrying-figures/Beyond the shillelagh-owner roster — political leaders, military commanders, religious figures, literary characters, and broader cultural icons whose carrying sticks became part of their public identity.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/makers-marks-by-region/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/makers-marks-by-region/A regional cut on the makers'-marks reference — Irish (Wicklow, Kerry, Cork, Donegal, Antrim), English (Lake District, Wealden, Midlands, others), Welsh, and Scottish marking conventions and how to read them.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/regional-stick-styles-of-britain/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/regional-stick-styles-of-britain/How to identify a British walking stick by its English, Welsh, or Scottish regional origin — the Lake District, Sussex/Kent, Welsh hills, Scottish Highlands, and the broader four-nation tradition.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/regional-stick-styles-of-ireland/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/regional-stick-styles-of-ireland/How to identify an Irish walking stick or shillelagh by its county or regional origin — Wicklow, Kerry, Cork, Donegal, Antrim, and the broader Munster, Leinster, Connacht, Ulster traditions.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/single-stick-english-martial-art/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/single-stick-english-martial-art/The English fencing-stick tradition that flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was central to military and public-school physical education, and substantially disappeared by 1914.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/the-stickmaker-as-craftsperson/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/the-stickmaker-as-craftsperson/The identity, training, working life, and succession of the working stick-maker — from the traditional family-line apprenticeship to the modern British Stickmakers Guild structure, and what it means to take up the craft as a working trade today.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/walking-stick-in-irish-mythology/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/walking-stick-in-irish-mythology/Beyond blackthorn — the broader Irish folk-mythological tradition of walking sticks, staves, and rods: the Cailleach's hazel rod, the druidic staves, the warrior's spear-stick, the saint's crozier, and the folk-tradition of the stick as protective object.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/walking-stick-in-victorian-literature/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/walking-stick-in-victorian-literature/Sherlock Holmes, Dickens characters, Oscar Wilde's dandies, and the broader Victorian-Edwardian literary register of the walking stick — how the cane and stick functioned as character marker, plot device, and cultural signal.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/blackthorn-stick-vs-blackthorn-cane/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/blackthorn-stick-vs-blackthorn-cane/Same wood, two distinct objects — the working walking stick (long, heavy, traditional Irish register) and the gentleman's cane (shorter, slender, urban-formal register). When you want each.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/blackthorn-vs-hawthorn-for-walking/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/blackthorn-vs-hawthorn-for-walking/The two close-kin Rosaceae thorn-woods, side by side for working walking sticks — density, hardness, weight, the cultural register, and which is the right buyer's choice.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/bo-vs-jo-vs-hanbo/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/bo-vs-jo-vs-hanbo/The three Japanese staves, side by side: six-foot long, four-foot medium, three-foot half — and the distinct martial-arts traditions each anchors.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/handmade-irish-vs-imported-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/handmade-irish-vs-imported-stick/How to tell a working handmade Irish stick from an imported lookalike — six diagnostic markers that separate the real artisan piece from the mass-produced product priced as if it were.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/hickory-vs-ash-for-hiking-staves/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/hickory-vs-ash-for-hiking-staves/American hickory and European ash, side by side: which is the better hill-walking stave wood, and why the answer is not the same on both sides of the Atlantic.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/walking-stick-vs-walking-cane-vs-trekking-pole/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/walking-stick-vs-walking-cane-vs-trekking-pole/Three different objects for three different use cases — and the terminology to keep them straight when you're buying one.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-irish-walking-sticks-are-made/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-irish-walking-sticks-are-made/From hedgerow to hand: the slow process behind a stick that takes a few hours of bench-work and one to three years of waiting.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-care-for-a-blackthorn-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-care-for-a-blackthorn-stick/A real handmade blackthorn stick is meant to last a lifetime. The maintenance that gets it there is small and simple, and it is mostly about keeping the wood fed and dry.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-choose-walking-stick-height/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/how-to-choose-walking-stick-height/There is one rule that gets you 95 % of the way there. The remaining 5 % is small adjustments for what you'll actually use the stick for.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/passing-the-stick-on/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/passing-the-stick-on/A real handmade stick lasts longer than the user. Sooner or later, every working stick changes hands. This is what to think about when it does.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/short-history-of-the-irish-walking-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/short-history-of-the-irish-walking-stick/Three centuries of an everyday object — from faction-fight weapon to emigrant gift to the heritage piece a small handful of makers still cut by hand.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/what-is-a-shillelagh/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/what-is-a-shillelagh/An Irish blackthorn club, a contested word, and a heritage object that has outlived its job description.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/why-blackthorn-must-be-seasoned/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/why-blackthorn-must-be-seasoned/It comes down to water — how much of it is in fresh blackthorn, how slowly it has to leave, and what happens when it leaves too fast.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/year-of-a-stick-maker/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/year-of-a-stick-maker/Twelve months of a small Irish stick-making workshop, in the order they actually happen — winter cuts, spring sorting, summer drying, autumn shaping, and the rhythm of work between them.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/your-first-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/guides/your-first-stick/If you've never owned a real handmade Irish stick before, this is the eight-question framework that will get you to the right one. Most readers can answer all eight in five minutes.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/american-irish-diaspora-sticks/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/american-irish-diaspora-sticks/How an everyday Irish countryside object became the central material symbol of Irish-American identity — and what the symbol carries that the original object does not.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/auraicept-na-neces-tree-list/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/auraicept-na-neces-tree-list/The early Irish text that gave each ogham letter a tree, ranking them by social status — the nearest thing the medieval Irish material has to a formal arboreal taxonomy.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/bataireacht/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/bataireacht/Irish stick-fighting — once everywhere in rural Ireland, suppressed for over a century, taught now by a small number of teachers and clans.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/blackthorn-in-irish-mythology/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/blackthorn-in-irish-mythology/The fairy tree, the Cailleach's staff, and the dark twin of the May hawthorn — what the older tradition actually says about the wood.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/fairy-thorn-taboo/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/fairy-thorn-taboo/The proscription against felling a lone hawthorn or blackthorn — the most durable element of Irish folk-belief, observed in 2026 by people who would not call themselves believers.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/famous-shillelagh-owners/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/famous-shillelagh-owners/Most of the famous-shillelagh-owner stories are gift stories: heads of state, military officers, and dignitaries given a stick on a state visit. The personal-ownership angle is largely myth.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/makers-marks-catalogue/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/makers-marks-catalogue/What a stick-maker's mark is, where it appears, how to document an unknown one — and the small number of marks the journal can currently identify with any confidence.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/may-bush-tradition/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/may-bush-tradition/The branch of hawthorn — sometimes blackthorn — decorated with ribbons and eggshells at Bealtaine, set up at the door to mark the start of summer. A folk-craft that nearly disappeared and is now slowly returning.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/scottish-stick-tradition/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/scottish-stick-tradition/Holly, the gillie's pole, the deer-stalker's stick, and the Highland sporting-estate culture that produced one of the more distinctive walking-stick forms in northern Europe.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/swagger-sticks/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/swagger-sticks/The short military stick that was, for a century, the universal symbol of an officer in dress uniform — and is, today, almost extinct outside ceremonial use.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/the-cailleach/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/the-cailleach/The hag of winter, of the high places, of the storm, and of the blackthorn staff that keeps the cold in the ground.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/timeline-of-the-irish-walking-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/timeline-of-the-irish-walking-stick/Three thousand years of stick-and-staff use in Ireland, from the Bronze Age coppice records to the small-batch revival of the present day.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/village-of-shillelagh-wicklow/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/village-of-shillelagh-wicklow/A small village in south Wicklow that gave its name to a stick — or, on the other etymology, didn't. Either way, it is worth knowing about.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/welsh-stick-tradition/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/history/welsh-stick-tradition/Ash, the shepherd's crook, the sheepdog handler's stick, and the agricultural-show culture that has kept the Welsh stick-making alive at a working scale.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/gift-vs-personal-use-sticks/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/gift-vs-personal-use-sticks/Buying a stick for yourself and buying one as a gift are two different decisions. Here is what each one weights differently.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/handmade-vs-machine-made-sticks/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/handmade-vs-machine-made-sticks/The two products look almost identical at the price-point of $15 vs $150. Here is exactly what the price difference is paying for, and what fails on the cheap one.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/holly-vs-blackthorn-vs-oak-vs-ash/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/holly-vs-blackthorn-vs-oak-vs-ash/Four traditional stick woods, side by side: how they look, how they behave under the hand, and which one belongs in which kind of stick.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/irish-vs-scottish-vs-welsh-sticks/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/irish-vs-scottish-vs-welsh-sticks/Three closely-related stick traditions that share a wood-sense and a craft-rhythm but produce visibly different objects. Here is how to recognise each.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/shillelagh-vs-walking-stick-vs-blackthorn-stick/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/shillelagh-vs-walking-stick-vs-blackthorn-stick/Three terms that are used interchangeably in tourist shops but mean different things in the workshop. Here's what each one actually refers to.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/vintage-vs-new-sticks/https://thewalkingstickjournal.com/comparisons/vintage-vs-new-sticks/A thirty-year-old well-cared-for blackthorn stick is, in some respects, a finer object than a new one. Here is what time does to a stick, and what to look for in the secondary market.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT