# Did you have a "stick" as a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966 "2009-05-10T20:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/41 "2009-05-11T20:17:47Z")
I was thinking you grip the snout. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/42 "2009-05-11T20:20:56Z")
It is pretty long - more like a staff than a walking stick in length. The top part is purely decorative. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/43 "2009-05-11T20:40:44Z")
Malthus do you have pictures from different stages of its construction? Would you start a thread talking about how you made it, including how you picked up the techniques you used? That is just too many kinds of cool. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/44 "2009-05-11T20:42:32Z")
I had a stick. Painted it with chrome paint, so it looked like metal. Carried it around for months. I think I was 16 or 17, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/45 "2009-05-11T20:52:29Z")
I had many a stick in my girlhood–sticks were more or less the whole point of getting a Swiss Army Knife. ---
**Author:** ![erleichda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4da419/32.png) [@erleichda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erleichda)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/46 "2009-05-11T20:56:38Z")
I’ve been happily introducing my two-year-old granddaughter to sticks the last couple of weeks. Yesterday we fished all afternoon and evening and she was quite happy digging in the dirt with her stick. And yes, she already wants to keep them and take them home. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/47 "2009-05-11T21:02:52Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Malthus do you have pictures from different stages of its construction? Would you start a thread talking about how you made it, including how you picked up the techniques you used? That is just too many kinds of cool. Thanks. 🙂 I don’t have other pics made during construction. Basically I just uprooted a maple sapling and carved the roots for the head of the stick with a jack-knife. I sawed the tines off of a cast deer antler I found lying around, carved sockets in the stick, and glued them in. I found a couple of malacite beads and nailed them in as eyes. As for what to carve, it just sort of evolved as I carved it. The roots looked kind of like a dragon’s head, so I just made them look more like what they already looked like. Since I like swirly abstract patterns, I used those. It’s pretty easy to do, if you have a lot of time - carving maple is hard, as it is a very hard wood. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/48 "2009-05-11T21:18:17Z")
I fashioned myself a stick on nearly every camping trip. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/49 "2009-05-11T21:34:33Z")
I had many sticks, and never put an eye out. Mum lied! ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/50 "2009-05-11T21:46:25Z")
No, but quite often on woodland hikes, I would try and find a decent walking stick upon entering the wood. During the walk, it got trimmed to fit, side branches broken off, the top smoothed out, etcetera. During the walk it served all purposes of The Stick. At the end of the walk, I threw it next to the path in the hope that someone else would use it. There was no use, or room, for a Stick in my apartment. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/51 "2009-05-11T22:03:09Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > No, but [explains having a stick] 😕 ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/52 "2009-05-11T22:08:59Z")
When we lived up in Friday Harbor I found a stick around the marina. I thought it was plastic, but it ended up being fiberglass. My hands were burning for a good three days from that damned thing. Since then I’ve always gone strickly organic for any such sticks. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/53 "2009-05-11T22:40:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I had many sticks. I preferred a stick about as long as my arm and as big around as my thumb for most of my stick purposes. Waving and pointing figured prominently there. The very best sticks were straight and relatively stiff. > No stick lasted more than a day. Exactly. You don’t want a stick that’s too long because then it’s a pole. A pole’s good too but it’s different from a stick. A stick is about waist high and a pole is about shoulder high. If what you had was in between you had to give it the weapon test. You start a fight with your brother and use it as a weapon. If you hold it with one hand and swing it like a sword, it’s a stick. If you hold it with two hands and swing it like a quarterstaff, it’s a pole. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/54 "2009-05-11T23:09:21Z")
I never had a stick as a child but as a late teen for a few years after campout I had a walking stick (staff? it was six feet, not terribly straight, twice as thick at the base as the tip, debarked and detwigged/debranched) kicking around my bedroom for no apparent reason, and then after that I found myself in possession of a three foot long piece of straight green bamboo as thick as my pinky (I don’t know where I got it) that was _perfect_ for turning the lights on/off without leaving my bed. Also for poking things (and people) in the room as needed. Based on this thread, though, I’m not sure _either_ of those counts as a “stick”. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/55 "2009-05-11T23:18:25Z")
There is an elemental connection between the stick and the pocket knife. Unless you cut your stick with your pocket knife, it is neither truly a stick nor truly yours. It is, at best, a borrowed twig. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/56 "2009-05-11T23:24:47Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > There is an elemental connection between the stick and the pocket knife. Unless you cut your stick with your pocket knife, it is neither truly a stick nor truly yours. It is, at best, a borrowed twig. Hey, give me some credit. I’m moderately certain that the bamboo was outright _stolen_. And the walking stick was definitely cut, and rather a lot - but I think the pocketknife was borrowed. I don’t recall owning one. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/57 "2009-05-12T00:17:44Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Malthus do you have pictures from different stages of its construction? Would you start a thread talking about how you made it, including how you picked up the techniques you used? That is just too many kinds of cool. Seconded. I’ll drag out my Dremel. I won’t copy yours. I’ll make my own, “in the style of” **Malthus**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/58 "2009-05-12T00:27:36Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > So _thats_ where my stick went! 😉 > Why would living in the country preclude you from having a stick? It precluded me from needing to _keep_ one. I could just find a new one each time I set out. ---
**Author:** ![timbicile59](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@timbicile59](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timbicile59)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/59 "2009-05-12T00:30:49Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysseRhMi6U) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966/60 "2009-05-12T00:39:55Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > There is an elemental connection between the stick and the pocket knife. Unless you cut your stick with your pocket knife, it is neither truly a stick nor truly yours. It is, at best, a borrowed twig. Two truly womderful things, one in each hand, each begging for contact with the other. And a boy (sometimes a girl) happy to oblige. I don’t want to be a kid again, but most often it was good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-a-stick-as-a-kid/495966.md?page=4)