When we were in South Dakota last May, the boys picked up branches to use as hiking sticks.  There was ponderosa pine all over the place, and it wasn’t hard for the boys to find something in their sizes.

The boys begged to bring home the sticks as “souvenirs” from their trip.  How could I say “No” to such a cute idea for a souvenir???  Dave and I had promised for months to “finish” the sticks and make them more permanent: sand them down and coat them with some polyurethane.

We even took the sticks with us to Colorado last August for hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park!

11 1/2 months later, I finally finished this project.  A camping trip to the Green Mountains next month inspired me to get this done.  It was only the cost of the polyurethane and sandpaper.  I fear they might outgrow these pretty quickly though.

YES, we moved the sticks from Nebraska to here.

The sticks last week as I retrieved them from the umbrella bin where they’d been stored since we moved here.

There’s termite or carpenter ant detail in Jacob’s stick.  I’m pretty certain the bugs aren’t there now, but the detail gives some character 🙂

I used some 220 grit sandpaper to sand it all down.

I had to break out a Gerber tool to whittle off the remaining bark.

I then used a foam brush to apply 4 coats of Minwax polyurethane.

The finished products.  Complete with Scouting medallions on J’s, and leather tags on both J’s and T’s.

Love the detail here!

I’ll add on some pictures of the boys with these later this week.  I finished this after their bedtime tonight, and I don’t have my good camera (still with Dave on his railfanning trip).  Stay tuned!