It was such a dry summer the ranchers gave up on the poor ‘grass’ and brought in their cattle halfway through, so I haven’t had much use for my cow spear in several months. I have occasionally eyed it as a walking stick lately, but it’s really too slender for a comfortable walking stick.
For quite a while I’ve had a notion as to what I should do about that last thing, and yesterday while idly gazing at a length of 550 cord I keep in my pocket I decided to try it.
Ended up stripping off 2/3 of my lately-useless clothesline to make it happen*, and…
…now it’s thicker.
Given that I’ve never been into playing with knots I was kind of pleased with how this came out. Except I need to research a better way to finish the wrap – you can see at the bottom it ends pretty clumsily.
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*which just goes to show how cheap I can be, since in my storage shed there’s a 400 yard roll of the stuff brand new. But I didn’t really think it would work and it’s a sin to waste 550 cord.
Having that cow spear is a good idea, having a walking stick is a great idea, but I suspect that routinely using your cow sticker as a walking stick is a BAD idea. I’m just thinking about the bad things that could happen if you take a tumble and lose control of that sharp/pointy spear in the process.
I used to collect and restore old, hickory shafted golf clubs. Here is a video of a guy putting new whipping on a wood. This will show you how to finish the end of your wrapping. The only thing that I did different is that I used a whipping puller (a loop of wire with a wooden handle) instead of a piece of string like he does……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RbIDMI4Ku8
I gotta go with Ben: Good idea, good execution, but there needs to be a scabbard of some sort involved.
You are now Masai.
“…it’s a sin to waste 550 cord.”
Joel, I don’t remember that particular one from the Bible, but I’m going to guess it’s right. First, it sounds right, and, second, you may well have got that prohibition from Gun Jesus Himself.
🙂 It’s in my bible, anyway. I had a little less than 100 yards of 550 cord when I moved here in late 2006 and took me more than 10 years to get to the end of the spool because I kept recycling it. Stuff lasts forever in the sun so it’s never really gone unless you use it in small non-reusable chunks. Being a cheap old bastard I just got into the habit of using it as sparingly as I used to use electricity.
Use it all you want, whenever and wherever you want. There’s plenty more out there if you need it!!!
There does seem to be a glut of 550 cord of late. The hardware store has packs of different lengths in a bin at the store. I have been buying some every other trip or so.
I’m talking about another 400 yards worth!