I love my bamboo staff. It's light and strong. I have added a wrist strap and a camera mount.

A missing feature I would like is an antishock system, as I find I get sore wrists towards the end of a day's walking.

Any engineering types out there with thoughts on how I could add antishock to my bamboo pole?

I'm no engineer, but maybe adding some foam to wherever your grip the bamboo would help? Also, maybe some grippy rubber to the bottom?

Connect your wrist strap to the staff via a loop of shock cord.

Edited by greg23 on 07/16/2011 14:00:40 MDT.

Both of these ideas seem like champs to me. I was thinking put grips on em, and Gregs idea seems very elegant, also.

Personally I don't like antishock (as a mechanism) it feels like you're sticking your poles in mud.

I'd be willing to bet that with grips, shock cord strap, and the natural flex, they would be comfy.

Show us a photo of how you are using the wrist strap. Are you really slamming the pole into the ground? I swing it with a flick of my wrist and land fairly soft on it. Never had a problem.

Slip on bicycle foam grips would be interesting. Anti-shock sucks, IMHO. Most antishock mechanisms are some sort of spring loaded plunger, so you need an independent column somewhere in the line.

I made a bamboo pole that had a broken pole tip silicone-glued into the hollow end. That allowed using pole baskets too. Worked pretty good and had a nice blended organic/high tech look. It wasn't any lighter than a typical telescoping stick :(

Why would you want to mess up perfectly good bamboo poles with squeaky, heavy, ineffective technology?

Tape your wrists. Or stop doing it that way.

From an engineer.

Thanks for the responses, guys and apologies for the slow reply on my part.

Greg and Pilate - I will def. give those suggestions a go.

Jason - if I had to start taping my wrists to reduce pain/inflammation, I reckon I would have to use another pole

Dale - I don't think I'm a slammer. :)

I have attached a photo of the staff as-is.

That pole looks too short for you. Could that be the cause of your discomfort?

Is the pole too short? Well, I'm 5' 11" and the pole is 44"

Maybe. I'm 6'3" and use 51" (130cm) poles. Do you have to bend your wrist to use that pole?

Hi Ken

Yes, I have a slight bend in my wrist. My forearm is at slight decline from the horizontal.

Hmmm..might have to find a longer piece of bamboo!

Cheers
Andrew

real quick here ...

if on an uphill, the poles tends to flare outwards when you are getting tired, they are too long.
don't shove all five fingers thru the wrist strap, leave out the thumb. that way, when it gets jammed in a rock/crack, and it will , you can let it trail behind and it will auto-disconnect.

if you can get the grip/strap combo worked out optimally, you really won't have to hold on very much.

cheers,
off to HIKE ! (lost coast)

peter v.

Yeah, it's too short. Your forearm should be about level in that pose. I'm 5'10" and my single staff is set at 49" from tip to strap mounting. For downhill travel a little longer is good. I tend to go a little longer with a single staff too.

Also, A wrist strap that gives some support will take the load off your forearm muscles and hands. It is easy enough to tie a tubular webbing loop in a Prusik hitch. Your hand can go through with the webbing in your palm as you would do when cross-country skiing. With that, moving the pole forward is just a flick, and your weight comes down on the strap and doesn't require a tight grip. For the loop and Prusik hitch plus some extra, your staff will need to be another 8" or so longer.

I would concoct a cover for the camera screw. If you fall on that, it won't be pretty!

Thanks, comments appreciated

+1 on the too short post...

A little length (maybe 4-6") above the wrist would act as COUNTER WEIGHT when pivoting the pole ...less stress on the wrist

Andrew,

What is the external diameter of your pole at the tip and at the "handle"? What is the weight?

I'm curious because I just found out there is a grove of bamboo behind a local park and would like to give making one a go. How did you dry the bamboo? I don't want to leave it out baking in the sun incase that might split it or crack it, but whatever you did looks great.

Thanks.

Hi Pilate

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

The bamboo staff weighs 310 gms. The circumference at the top is 80mm (with a couple of ridges where there are knots) and at the bottom is 72mm.

It was cut when already someone dried out and it was another 18 months before I made it into a staff. (It may have been okay to use it for a staff earlier, but I wasn't interested in staff making at that time!)

Cheers
Andrew

The diameter of the pole seems a little small, I know for me that just gripping such a thin pole would result in wrist fatigue.

+1 for wanting to see how you position the straps (if any) while walking. In the event that you use no straps, then I'd definitely blame the wrist pain on the small diameter.

Actually I only use the straps to stop me losing the staff when crossing rivers!

So, I am now looking for a longer and thicker length of bamboo, to which I will attach a decent strap, which I will use properly! Phew!

Thanks guys