a new walking stick

Here in Alaska they have a type of tree called diamond willow that makes amazing walking sticks. Wherever a branch grows from the trunk (or branch we're not shure which) it makes a diamond shaped indent of red coloring.

A little under a week ago mom and dad bought for me a piece of diamond willow to make a walking stick from. The guy they bought it from had removed all the bark except the bark in the diamonds. To make a staff you have to slice away the bark in the diamonds without peeling off the redness of the wood inside and have to remove all the wormy wood. Then you have to sand and sand and sand some more till its super smooth when you run your hands against it. Once your at that point you can oil it and give it a protective coating.

I've worked on my staff for around ten hours so far and have just begun to sand it today so I can't tell you what you use to coat the stick yet.