These colors never run. And so that's why I like using it as my walking stick. Hooah!

Army Ranger Rick's 
Bamboo Walkin Stick

I don't know about you, but I've always been a tightwad when it comes to money, just ask my wife and she'll tell ya. Well if there's one thing that I won't spend money on and that’s on things that I can make myself. For example, check out these walking sticks.

$99.00

Man, can you believe these prices? Unbelievable! But I guess if you're rich and wealthy it doesn't matter how much things cost. Because if you like what you see and you've got the $$$$, you're gonna buy it, right? Nope! Not me, no way Jose.

Now I've been making my own walking sticks since I was a little kid, and I've read dozens of outdoor survival books on how you should select and make a walkin stick too. Some books say a walking stick should be as tall as the person using it, and some books say it doesn't matter how tall it is as long as it's got a fork on the end so you can use it to pin snakes, whack bears and beat up other defenseless critters with it. Yea, right, sure, uh-uh, whatever.

Well, here's my philosophy and two cents on walkin sticks… As long as you're comfortable with the length and it's durable enough to support your weight when used as a walkin stick, weapon or whatever. It doesn't make a damn bit of difference if it's got a fork on the end of it or not, nor if it's taller or shorter than you. Because if it's too heavy, too bulky, too long, too thick or too whatever else… you're probably gonna get tired of hauling it around and get rid of it, Right? So you may as well choose one you're comfortable with and the hell with what all these damn survival books tell ya. Ya know what I mean? Duh?

Now here's a walking stick I'm sure you're gonna like, it's not only lightweight, durable and inexpensive, but you can buy'em in almost any garden supply store, it a bamboo stick.

Yep, believe it or not, all these items you see here in the photo fits inside the top portion of my bamboo walkin stick. No BS! The Mini Mag-Lite, the small Swiss Army Knife, a condom, water purification tablets, fishing line, hooks, sinkers, etc, including a small compass too. And to make sure these items stay securely inside, I plug the top with a plastic cork. Cool, huh? Now if you decide to buy a bamboo stick, you don't necessarily need to have a certain length. Because most likely the shorter it is, the more likely it'll be a very narrow bamboo stick which means you won't be able to fit all your survival goodies inside of it. So study the diameter of the bamboo stick you're thinking of buy to make sure your survival items will fit inside of it. Because if you find the right diameter bamboo stick and it's too long, you can always cut it down. You know what I mean bubba? Here, check out these pictures and see what else I did to my bamboo walkin stick.

That's right, the next to the last compartment near the bottom of my walking stick I put an "improvised lantern" into too. How in the hell did I do this? Hee, hee, hee, all I did was drill a hole in the top portion/section, fill it with pure rubbing alcohol, cut out a short square piece of aluminum from a beer can, place a long narrow strip of cotton clothe along the edge of the tin and then rolled it up until it fit nice & snug inside the hole.

IMPORTANT: The rolled up piece of aluminum should rest "flush & securely" inside the hole, and if it doesn't, then you'll need to trim it. But be careful, because if you trim it too short it'll fall inside the hole and you won't be able to grab and remove it to use.

Now before lighting the wick for the first time; (a) make sure it's completely saturated with alcohol (b) make sure the rolled up aluminum is pulled out as far as it will go so the flame won't touch & burn the bamboo and (c) the wick is kept as short as possible. Because the longer the wick - the bigger the flame and the more fuel it’ll absorb and burns.

WARNING! DANGER! Use strictly pure rubbing alcohol because (a) it's less combustible than other flammable liquids and (b) it won't leave a poison residue inside the bamboo stick when it's used up. To prevent the alcohol from evaporating and leaking, just seal the hole with some duck tape.

I also placed on the end of my bamboo walking stick one of those rubber chair leg cove to keep out the dirt and to prevent my bamboo stick from splitting should I poke something hard with it like a rock. Then I got me a long thick nail, melted a whole in the center of this rubber chair leg cover and slid the nail inside of it. So now if I ever need to use it as a fishing or hunting spear, all I have to do is remove the rubber cover, run the nail back through the other way, place a piece of wood inside the bottom to prevent the nail from being pushed inward and placed it back on the end.

You can buy these rubber chair leg covers in almost any hardware supply store, but before you buy one make sure you know what size/diameter you need or you might be throwing money out the window. And if you can't find the right size, no problem, just plug the bottom with something else and wrap some tape & wire around it to keep it from splitting.

I also drilled a couple more holes so I could use the other bamboo compartments for storing water, but I doubt if I'll ever use them unless I'm in a real life or death survival situation. Why? Well I'm not sure, but if my bamboo stick came from outside the United States it was probably treated with some sort of bug killing chemical before being allowed in country. And so I have no idea if it's harmful to humans or not. So if you make a couple holes in yours and use'em, you do so at your own risk

And here's something else I attached to my bamboo walkin stick, a large plastic trash bag and several yards/meters of parachute cord. Why? Oh, just in case I need to make an emergency field expedient rain jacket or shelter.

First you fold the trash bag to the size you want it, then you wrap it around the stick and secure it in place with some duct tape. Then wrap the parachute cord firmly around the bag and add a couple of cut up bicycle"inner tube" bands around it to help keep it securely in place.