Birth of a Wizard's Staff

** Note.... If you stumbled upon this blog post via google.. take a look here to see the completed piece...


I went out with James this evening to look for a new piece to carve a wizard's staff... We loaded up the Kawasaki mule and hit the woods. I found this tree and decided to attempt it.. Pine isn't my first choice because the root configuration is nonexistent.. pine has just a bulb of sorts with a few scraggly, small roots shooting off the sides... Young dogwoods make the best ones, their root systems always look cool..

The first step in the process is to check the immediate area for snakes and general offerings of nature that have the ability to kill you... Then you clear the area around the base of the tree in preparation for removal..

Then you pick the height, this one I chose at about six feet, then you saw off the top..

Once the tree is ready, you dig it out.. Many things can happen during this stage & at this point I've encountered most of them.. from grubs to nests of vermin and snakes of all sorts..

Once the digging process is completed, then you twist the tree free of the ground. With a pine, there is always one root that runs off the "bulb" straight down into the ground.. It can be a pain.. But usually comes free with some serious twisting... It's impossible to cut the root out as it's under the end of the tree and you can't get to it...

Then you gather your hired help to return the tree back to the transport...

As I said.. The root configuration of the pine doesn't offer much in the way of anything spectacular to view... so you have to go for the more classic wizard staff design...

Loaded up and ready to head back for the debarking...

The "tree bridge" covering the path on the way in from the woods.. the Kawasaki mule just fits under it so we leave it...

I have a special mixture that I use for the debarking of pine... if you don't treat a piece of raw pine expect a huge sticky mess from the sap.. And trust me.. it gets everywhere & on everything...

The debarked & treated piece ready for carving.. I will allow it a few days to dry a bit.. It's a very soft wood for carving so I intend to cover this thing with some sort of design... It's a bit over six feet in length and quite stout.. I hope the finished product turns out good..

This is a completed dogwood wizard's staff that I made several years ago, yet keep on hand, I love the way the roots played out on this one, so I didn't carve anything on it.. This one is just under six feet in height..

Once the staff is completed I will post photos of the finished piece... But first, I have several projects that I must attend to...