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 Many
people carve walking sticks for a hobby, but few do it for a
living. By a long route, Keith Pickering has discovered that
it is the career for him. Like many other boys, Keith had
little idea what he would do when he grew up - after all,
few school teachers suggest a career making sticks! All
Keith knew was that he loved fishing. He fished at every
opportunity.
As a boy in Middlesbrough, he also enjoyed woodwork lessons.
However, he was thought 'bright' and so was pressured to
give up woodwork and take more academic subjects instead.
After leaving school, he studied for a degree in
Environmental Studies. Still not sure what he wanted to do,
he saw a job offered on a trout farm near Helmsley. Liking
fish, he thought this would do while he thought about what
to do next.
As so often happens, the temporary became the permanent.
Keith came to Helmsley and, just when he thought he might
move to Scotland to work on a salmon farm, he met a girl
working in a local stables. They married and Keith settled
down to work at the trout farm and bring up a family.
During this time, Keith learned to shoot. It began as a way
of controlling rats on the farm and progressed to pigeons
and rabbits on local farms.
Through this shooting Keith got to know the local game
keepers and became a beater for the pheasant shoot. He
bought a Labrador to train as a gun dog. This precipitated
the turning point in his career when his wife bought him a
stick decorated with a labrador's head.
Keith thought his gift was wonderful but felt the challenge
to make an even better one. Using a pocket knife, he had a
go at carving the head of a cock pheasant. He didn't feel
this was very good but had another go. The next one was
better and he used it for beating at the shoot. Others saw
it and asked if he'd make one for them.
Next season, he was 'promoted' from beater to loader. This
meant that visitors saw much more of him and his sticks. He
rapidly became known as the 'stick man' and requests to
carve sticks came in thick and fast.
Keith saw that there was an opportunity here. He began his
preparations: building his customer base, practising his
skills, and visiting shows, to get his name more widely
known. Eventually, in November 1999, he hired a workshop at
Helmsley's walled garden and gave up the job at the trout
farm.
Winter proved a busy time as people came to Helmsley to
shoot and put in orders for personalised Christmas presents.
Keith can carve a portrait of a favourite dog, from a
photograph. These make popular gifts for special
occasions.
He has also carved sticks with family crests on them. A
particularly successful one, he says, was the crest of a
raven holding a gold ring in its mouth. When painted, the
gold showed well against the black.
Although Keith visits shows to demonstrate his work, he does
not enter competitions. In a competition, he says, you have
to please the judges. Keith's judges are the paying public,
those who buy his sticks.
Keith also runs training workshops, teaching people to carve
their own sticks. In a one day course, people can make a
basic crook stick, with a handle of polished hardwood or
deer antler. A carved animal head takes two days. These
workshops run in the winter months. Participants get a
double satisfaction; they take home a unique stick, and they
made it themselves.
HAZEL
The sticks are hazel, cut by Keith in nearby woods. They
have to be straightened, by heating the wood with a hot air
gun. When sufficiently hot (taking care not to scorch the
bark) the wood is pliable and can be straightened. A peg is
cut at the top of the stick and inserted into a hole drilled
in the hardwood handle. This is glued on, and is then ready
to carve.
 In
the picture, Keith shows how the hardwood blank is fitted
over the peg in the handle before carving the head.
Keith carves using a small, sharp knife and a set of small
chisels and gouges given to him by his mother-in-law. He
reciprocated by giving her a stick carved with a witch's
head! It seems she was pleased; her grandchildren are
entertained with stories of adventures on her broomstick.
Now she has a personalised
wand to go with it.
Keith's animal head carvings are very lifelike. The eyes, he
says, are the most important part, as these bring the face
to life. He works carefully from one side of the head to the
other to ensure that the features are balanced. When Keith
first started he used to painstakingly measure, marking out
the positions and proportions of the features. He worked
from real animal heads, which he kept in his freezer. For
years, he says, he kept a fox's head there.
Now, after 15 years' experience, he can carve freehand. He
is very good at trout: after 19 years in fish farming, he
says he knows exactly what a trout looks like!
After carving, the heads are painted in natural colours then
varnished to protect them. The eyes are given a life-like,
liquid shine with high gloss varnish. The sticks are left
long, then cut to size and the ferrule fitted when
purchased, to perfectly fit the owner.
Now that he has found what he wants to do, Keith is a
contented man. He loves the countryside around his home in
Helmsley, loves the animals, and the people he meets. His
customers include royalty from all over Europe, and he now
has sticks in the USA too; he is currently working on a big
order for a store in New York. The 'Stick Man' has finally
found the career that suits him.
Keith's workshop at Helmsley Walled Garden is open most
days. He can be telephoned on 01439 771450.
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