Still inspired by all of the shillelagh and war club talk we've had here, especially the ash club that Katana made, I made this out of a beech sapling which a farmer let me harvest, since it was "in his way".
I never worked with beech before; it's really heavy and fairly dense: the perfect material for a good root-ball war club. After stripping the bark, sanding, staining, and drying it, I soaked it for a full week in the linseed oil tank. I also found a new way to get a good, realistic looking patina going.
Full Shot:
With a 30" ruler:
From the top:
From the handle:
I love the head on this thing. While stripping and cleaning it, I found that it had a natural "hole" from the way a smaller root grew and connected with the rest of the head:
The roots had really deep fissures between them, making for some nice potential impact points. This is a shot directly overhead to illustrate further:
Finally, up against the tree in the yard:
Thanks for looking.