| Carving walking sticks wasn't meant to be a | | | | leather handgrips. The leather came from old |
| money-making hobby for me. I sometimes made | | | | leather coats I bought at thrift stores for $5 each |
| them when backpacking, and I had always | | | | and cut into strips. It was attached with glue and |
| enjoyed taking my pocket knife to a piece of | | | | small nails. Each stick had about fifty cents in |
| wood to see what I could make. I just hadn't | | | | materials in it at most. |
| thought of doing anything more with the hobby. | | | | A Money Making Hobby |
| One summer, when my wife Ana and I briefly | | | | They sold for as little as $6 each to as much as |
| got into the flea market business, I noticed the | | | | $24. This was less than others sold walking sticks |
| occasional vendor selling walking sticks. If the | | | | for, but then we were mostly selling them at flea |
| event was more of an arts and crafts show than | | | | markets, rather than arts and crafts shows, |
| a flea market, they sold for as much as $50 | | | | where they would get a higher price. I also |
| each. Ana suggested that we could sell them too, | | | | wholesaled them to a vendor who sold them at |
| so I went to work. | | | | gun-and-knife shows, and to a friend who sold |
| I could cut 20 or young poplars in an hour with | | | | them at Native American pow-wows. |
| my "shortcut" saw, and get two sticks out of half | | | | How much could you make selling walking sticks? |
| of them. My favorite wood, however, was white | | | | Who knows. I sold about $1200 in walking sticks |
| cedar. In the Cedar swamps near home, it grew | | | | that summer, before we moved on to try an |
| straight and died young from overcrowding. Cedar | | | | internet business. They were a nice addition to |
| wood remains solid for many years after dying, | | | | our other crafts and the stuffed animals we sold |
| so I could quickly cut many straight and perfectly | | | | at various flea markets. My advantage was that I |
| dried sticks. | | | | was very efficient in making them, spending less |
| There was soon a pile of wood shavings behind | | | | than an hour even on the most elaborate ones. |
| the house, as I cut the bark off and carved each | | | | The most I sold was $250 in walking sticks in a |
| stick into various forms. Many were just rounded | | | | day. However, I saw vendors who paid $300 to |
| off on top. Others I cut into a spiral, or pyramidal | | | | rent a space for the weekend (we typically paid |
| shape. I put padding and leather covers on some, | | | | $10/day for a flea market space), and sold only |
| and drilled out the tops to inset nice stones on | | | | walking sticks. They were undoubtedly selling |
| others. This is a hobby that lets you really | | | | much more than I, but in any case, doing |
| exercise your imagination. | | | | something you enjoy AND making a profit is a |
| I wrapped the walking sticks with leather near the | | | | nice advantage of any money-making hobby. |
| bottom, to prevent splitting, and most also had | | | | |