Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Split Hickory Co. #1 (From Roger Smith)


Hope Arkansas I0001, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

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Here are two gentlemen of Split Hickory Company, late of Hope, Arkansas, admiring their canes. I believe one of them might be Brack Schenk, the manager. I was there, but did not meet him. I have an elephant cane from them. There were none like them in this country, as most of us know.

The 2nd photo depicts the stacking of the poles preferred by many trainers of the era. Clyde Beatty bought them in bundles of 50. The company designation for them was "6-foot, Round, Tapered, Wild Animal Sorting Prods", and the price in the 1960s was one dollar each. I still have the one I shellacked for Mabel Stark, in 1966. I last bought from them by stopping in person during the Castle tour of 1972. I was amused to see how the poles were graded. No. 3 poles were slightly warped, and the man who took me to the back simply slid them, one by one, between two padded 2 x 4s, and stressed them up and down until--bingo--your No. 3 pole straightened into a No. 1.

Roger

Posted by Buckles at 11/03/2010 05:49:00 AM

6 comments:

Wade G. Burck said...

The Hope Hickory sticks were the best in the world, and nothing available today even compares. John Cuneo used to also buy them by the bundle also, and our's came stamped on the wide end with a blue Hawthorn Corp. designation. They had to be stored in a flat position, other wise they too would warp, if just leaned against the wall.
Wade Burck

03 November, 2010 07:09
tanglefoot said...

Those good old "hickory sticks" from Hope. I got the polygon ones, plus the cane. I guess they still make them. Anybody know? We used to get our hook cut out of a Blaksmiths rasp and then put it in a vice a smooth it out. Brass pipe was good for a feral. They would last a few weeks before they got "busted" one way or another. How many guys remember how it hurt like hell when the end of the cane twisted in your wrist.tanglefoot

03 November, 2010 08:48
tanglefoot said...

And how about those nice whips from Springfield Mass.tanglefoot

03 November, 2010 08:52
Wade G. Burck said...

Tanglefoot,
Next to the whale bone whip Lou Regan had in his box of antique whips, Westfields were/are the best for lunge whips. I still have a "rasp" hook Lou made for me in 1974, along with a "rake tine" hook. I promise they will outlive stainless. Biggest problem I had with a cane hook was getting it caught in my pant's pocket or jacket pocket, and ripping them off. Lou used to saw them off in the middle of the hook, which helped somewhat.
Wade Burck

03 November, 2010 11:25
Anonymous said...

Rog:

Dave Hoover used to get (log) "sorting poles" from some lumber connection in the North West. Ned used them to reinforce the Bentwood chair-legs since the original ones would splinter with one "swipe!"

I do recall at the time that there was a source that wasn't available any more...could be these.

:-)
Cindy Potter

03 November, 2010 13:47
Roger Smith said...

CINDY: This may explain the end of availability you speak of. I last got poles from Split Hickory in '74. By 1980, the price for 6-foot poles had jumped from $1 to $3each. I kept up with them for some time after that, but by June of 1990, Brack Schenk had sold the business to Steve Link, and the name was Bruner-Ivory Handle Co. Their logo boasts "Established 1888", and one wonders if this was actually Split Hickory's birthyear, with borrowed longevity credited in the tradition of some circuses. The inventory had changed, and their catalog no longer carried the highly-prized poles and elephant canes of old.

04 November, 2010 06:34

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