There are a lot of theories about the blacking that people used to use on their staves. Some people talk about rubbing lead on a staff, others talk about boot polish… Both are possible, this was a time when your house wasn’t made of treated timber, so the presence of borer larvae was a real …
There are a range of opinions on the origin of the term “Shillelagh”. Some believe it refers to the Irish words sail éille which refers to a willow staff with a cord about the wrist. This is possible, although of the options, willow naturally tends not to grow in a way that makes good shillelagh, …
You’ll read us talk about “Immersiveness” a lot. One of the reasons to carry a stick on a walk, is that we’re four-limbed animals. We only walk with two of them now, but our brains are wired up to explore our environment with our tactile senses. The brain of four legged animals are constantly processing …
I was in a hurry getting some workshop time in this week, and stopped by the store for some paint brushes for laquering some staves. For laquer brushes I like narrow , 1-2 inch face and plenty of body behind the brush (lots of brush gives you long smooth, even distributions of laquer rather than …
There are three ways to carry an “orthodox” shilellagh, and they refer to how you recover the shillelagh after each walking step. Palm carry is where you grip the head from above, with the bulb sitting in your palm, and friction holding the shillelagh in place as you walk. It’s immersive, traditional, and suits small-headed …
The hardest thing about running ClaymoreShillelagh.com is easily photographing the staves. We don’t make shillelagh for their visual appeal primarily. It’s nice when they look nice, but the magic is how they feel in the hand. I know I‘ve cut a stave right when it feels almost alive, get it right and it creates a …
Gorse is one of the traditional woods for Shillelaghs, and frankly I can’t help myself, Every time I pass a gorse thicket I’ll slow down and take a long look for any straight looking staves… it’s rare that there are, but when there is one a huge battle begins. Gorse is hard to get, hard …
For our products, whether they be shillelaghs, cudgels or kippens we use Acacia wood for a few reasons, among them it’s strong, lightweight and handsome , but primarily is in our part of the world it escaped from old ornamental plantings about a hundred years ago and now grows like a weed.The local Council has …
To foot or not to foot, that is the question. There are a few ways to shoe shillelelagh. In the late 1800s it became fashionable to put brass ferrules on the feet of walking sticks to increase their durability and add a stylistic element of appeal.Some people consider this an absolutley mandatory part of a …
You’ll notice the heads of some of our shillelagh have “corks” in them. These are for our weighted shillelagh, where we add an ounce or so of lead shot to the head. Sometimes for balance, sometimes for weighting and frankly sometimes because the stave just seems to ask for it. There’s a couple of ways …
