So on a completely non-filmmaking-related note, I made a walking staff last week.
I wanted something to do that didn’t require me sitting in front of a computer for once, so I found the straightest pine sapling I could find, and probably close to twenty feet tall and the perfect width almost the entire way. I took an axe to that sucker, and got two staff-lengthed pieces out of it.
I let the pieces sit upright and start drying out overnight. The next day, I took the longer of the two pieces and started whittling the bark off. I forgot to time myself, but I’m guessing it took half hour to an hour. Since I don’t have a handsaw, and I didn’t want to use any power tools on this, I used a chisel to take off the jagged ends.
I let the naked stick sit out overnight, and I sanded it down the next day. I used five different coarsenesses of sandpaper, progressively finer each time. Viola! Ain’t she a beaut? 
Before and after
And, because I’m a nerd…
As Linkara would say, I AM A MAN!!!