My boys were quite young when one day they came up to me and said "Dad buy us a quad" To which I said "Get a job" They said we're too young to get a job. This is where the story begins; I said you found an old walking stick in the corner of the old house correct? They said yeh, so what does that mean. Well I said; we own 500 acres of bush, or 500 acres of potential walking sticks. I'll show you how to choose them and how to peel them, how to do your market research and how to sell them. In order to get their attention I made the following statement; 1000 walking sticks x $15 = $15000.00 That was all it took, we were out in the bush cutting walking sticks, peeling, letting them dry, sanding and scheming...lol. To this day they always have their eyes open for that unique walking stick, and today they're 30 and 35 respectfully. Take a kid out to your woodlot, choose some sticks, buy a spoke shave and have some fun. Spring is the best time for peeling and Maple or Cherry make the best sticks. If you dry them, stain them, wood burn designs, bear paws etc, then give them a coat of shellac, you can now charge more money maybe $50 0r more. And yes they did buy a used quad off their uncle, when I told him what I had made the boys do, they were over at his place one day telling him what they were doing. He said oh really, well how much have you made so far? They said $350.00; to which he replied it just so happens I have a Honda in the garage I'm selling. They said yeh but how much ? He said $350.00; end of story!
They have collectively made hundreds of walking sticks over the years.
