Beech War Club

[Queequeg]

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.