How
it all began
I started making
sticks in 1985 after my wife, Jacky, bought me a
present - a stick with a Labrador head as the
handle. Thinking it was too good to take out (in
case it got broken), I decided I would make my own.
I had seen a TV programme featuring a retired
Gamekeeper who carved his own sticks - using a
small knife and bits of broken glass - yes, broken
glass - he made some wonderful sticks! Inspired by
this, I started with a cock pheasant head. It was
rubbish! Undeterred, I made another - which was a
bit better - then another. I was quite pleased with
that one and was prepared to be seen in public with
it!
The first day out
with it probably changed my stickmaking life from
being a small hobby into a potential business -
though I didn't know it then. I had made my third
stick - with the head of a cock pheasant carved on
a one-piece hazel stick. A side branch had been cut
leaving a lump where I could carve the face and
beak and I'd used "Airfix" model paints to colour
it. I took it out on the first day of the pheasant
shooting season. At the end of one "drive", as we
call them, I had a couple of shot pheasants in one
hand and my stick in the other - held round the
neck of the "bird". A man came to take the dead
birds from me and took the two real birds and then
put out his hand for the third. He visibly jumped a
little as I showed him I had a stick in my hand.
"That's bloody good" he said, "I thought you had a
real one there!"
I was obviously
being watched because a short time afterwards one
Gentlemen who was shooting came up and asked about
the stick. When I said that I'd made it myself he
asked if I would make him one too, and how much
would it cost. I had no idea what to charge, so
suggested £20. That was fine he said, and we
arranged for him to collect it a few weeks later
when he next came shooting. It turned out that he
was the Arch Duke of Austria! I had my first
commission - from "Royalty". Austria no longer has
a King and Queen, but the Arch Duke had the highest
rank so was really King!
The same day
another of the shooters said he had heard me saying
I would make a stick for the Arch Duke - and would
I make him one too! We agreed the same terms and a
few weeks later the sticks were delivered to their
new owners. I got my £20 from the Arch Duke
but the second man said that I had not charged
enough and gave me £35! You can imagine my joy
as I told my wife what had happened when I got
home!
That day gave me
the germ of an idea and I had in the back of my
mind the dream that one day I might just make a
living from sticks - my dream came true!
After several
years - and several hundred sticks - I decided to
try and turn this hobby into a business. I joined
"Brigantia", a craft organisation in North
Yorkshire. With Brigantia's help I attended some
country shows and found I could sell a few sticks -
not a lot, but a few. I sold a few more through
local shops on a sale or return basis. I began to
have help from Business Link and my advisor there
thought I could just make a go of it - but I had to
take it seriously and put real effort in to it if I
wanted to succeed.
I found it
difficult to give up my job as a Trout Farm Manager
- as the main wage earner and with a wife and son
to support it was frightening to think what might
happen if things did not work out! In 1998 fate
stepped in - a car crash made me realise that life
is for the living. Although I wasn't hurt, I was
diagnosed with epilepsy (I had blacked out, causing
the car to crash) and so had to give up driving for
a year, while my medication was sorted out. It was
during this period that serious plans were made - I
arranged a part-time job with local butcher, Brian
Thompson. Brian was instrumental in me taking the
big leap into self employment - he was very
understanding and allowed me to be fairly flexible
with the hours I worked. Having left my old job, I
worked almost full time for Brian for a few weeks
while I sorted out the workshop I had rented from
Helmsley Estate. After a while I had enough stick
business to keep me employed each afternoon and
after only six months I had to leave Brian
completely and become a full time
stickmaker!
After a few years
the business took another turn when I started
selling a larger amount of stickmaking materials.
My older brother, Martin, had helped me set up this
website (actually, he did it all - I just provided
the photo's and information) and without the
website I certainly could not make a decent
full-time living from the business. The website had
been running as an add-on to Martin's own website
selling everything concerned with Satellite and
Digital TV so didn't attract that much business -
though Martin's was hugely popular! Only later did
I get my own website address and learn how to
update it with new items, photo's etc.
Jacky came into
the business - well, I dragged her in really - a
few years later and she's a great help making a lot
of the sticks - she won't carve or make horn
sticks, but does make a lot of the walking sticks,
hiking sticks and thumbsticks. She also packs most
of the orders and does my book keeping too! Jacky
was a real help at shows because she organised me
when we packed the car and trailer and when we set
up the stall and put all the sticks and DIY items
out for customers to see. We're a real team now -
full partners in 'The Stick Man' business. I deal
with the website now and normally take the phone
orders too. I concentrate on the carved sticks -
when the phone stops ringing - and do most of the
horn sticks, though I have a couple of local
helpers who make some of them if I'm too
busy.
100% of the
business is generated from this website now. We
closed the shop after 25 years - it was long
enough. I'm often asked by other stickmakers how I
can sell my sticks, while they can't. I think it's
primarily down to three things: 1) An excellent
product range. 2) Great customer service and 3) A
brilliant website - these aren't my own words, they
are what customers have told me!
Thanks for
reading this - I hope it didn't bore you too much!
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Keith Pickering,
AKA The Stick Man
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