Bruce

The Staff of Strength


A large, peeled poplar wood staff, with linework carved down the length of it painted in dark reddish brown, leaning against a wooden door. The Staff of Strength, laying overtop of a radiator on the wall, the dark reddish brown linework standing out strongly from the pale, light brown staff. It gives an air of both love and strength.

This is Bruce. Is big stick.

A staff that has been in the waiting for a long, long time. Started in December of 2020, after the first handful of lines were done, it was put on hold until after I had finished moving to England. And then, after getting to England, an assortment of other items by that time had also accumulated in the "to be finished after I move" pile, and those were slowly worked through as well. And finally, in 2025, the staff returns to the workbench, ready to be worked on anew.

Bruce. A large, solid staff. Gifted to me by friends up in The Pas, it was offered to me ready-peeled and waiting to be carved. It felt... big. But like... Little John from Robin Hood type of big. Like Fezzik in The Princess Bride big. Just... a large staff for a large person. And so, it got its name, a name that felt befitting. A name that was etched into the side in big block letters, because that just felt right. I created the letters in masking tape first, then attached them to the staff and traced them to make sure the size and shape were consistent, because trying to freehand uniform letters on a curved cylinder is basically impossible without doing so. And this staff needed it there. A staff with wide, heavy linework befitting of the feel. And now that its waiting has ended, we will see what becomes of this beast.

And the carving began. We started from where we left off, carving out the letters etched years ago. I carefully deepend the lines so that I could pop and carve out the wood without splintering pieces of the lettering off, and it worked a charm. The carving beginning anew.

Immediately, my mind went where it needed to go. A large man. A big staff, which would look perfectly in place stickfighting as a quarterstaff by someone like this. Though you really wouldn't want to, because it's carved nicely, and you'd dent it. It's not a hardwood like hickory or ash, and isn't actually meant to take large impacts. Though, being not a hardwood like hickory or ash, it has dried significantly lighter than either of those others ever could have. A staff that can be easily walked with by anyone! But, it does need some magic with it, as with most of my staves. The Staff of Strength. A staff that imbues its user with strength, power, endurance, and those types of attributes. Of course with the usual safeties, there's a 'me' imbued with it, to keep watch that it isn't used for bad, and otherwise... Bruce, the Staff of Strength.

So with the name finished, and the mindset prepared, I began to carve the linework. Large, wide sweeping lines, following the example set years ago. Beginning under the start of BRUCE, we curved around, split the linework off into additional vines here and there, and began to work our way downwards.

And the carving continued. We alternated between carving out the planned lines and etching the next ones in, until we had the design fully planned, and about half of the lines carved out. And with the remainder of the lines, we moved on to painting. I wanted the linework with more of a stained finish, a leather brown colour, rather than an opaque smooth paint like I usually do. I happened to have a leather brown acrylic paint, so I added water to turn it into a watercolour wash, and used that to paint inside the linework, avoiding painting the edges, much like I did with the Staff of Zeus. And with only one layer of this watered down paint, I'm quite happy with how the colour turned out. It could have been a slight bit more red, like standard tanned leather, the rough underside of it type of style, but I'm pretty happy with this.

Aaaand after it fully dried, and I tried rubbing it with a reddish leather, I came to several conclusions (see pic #6 on the right). 1. As it stands, it looks like the brown was added with a pencil crayon or something. 2. The smooth leather side up is much better than rough side up. 3. It appears that opaque is the way to go, given I love the look of leather laid into there, 4. I can't do the entire thing in leather, because I don't have even remotely that much of that shade, and it would be a little too "extra", and 5. I'm glad I started smoothing it down, because that first paint both sealed the wood grain for the next paint layer, and smoothing it down both smoothed and finished that process. So all in all, I would consider that first paint layer an surprise success, even though it'll be covered. It made for a surface sealer, aaand now I've got to hunt for a paint of *that* specific colour of leather. I have a big ol' bag of scraps that was gifted to me in The Pas, and could compare the various shades to find my favourite one.

And we found a paint, thank you Warhammer store employee, for helping me pick the best match! Citadel Layer Doombull Brown, which sounds a bit fitting for a Staff of Strength. And so, we set about painting one layer inside of all of the linework (just one layer to avoid overcoating the carving and wood texture beneath), and one layer of varnish (to avoid overglossiness, but just a slight bit). And with all of that laid down, we just needed to clean up the overpaint that went a smidge up the sides of the linework. And some of that had to go back and forth, a slight bit chips off the bottom when cleaning up the side, dab a bit on the bottom chip, varnish, clean up the overpaint from THAT, but eventually we got it.

And with those final few touchups complete, the staff... is complete! Bruce, the Staff of Strength. Is big stick.

Finished January 23, 2026 		Kabutroid holding the staff in front of a blue door. The first few curved lines have been carved beneath the grip area.The upper part of the staff, showing the general shape and colour of it, a pale light brown of the peeled wood, with a slight gentle curve, a knot near the top, and a fairly large circumference.

An animated gif, showing the name Bruce carved out in all capital, block letters, at an angle below the initial linework.The bottom length of the staff held out, showing that the majority of the linework has been carved in, and what isn't carved out has been etched in visible lines.

A photo of about two thirds of the staff fitting in the shot, with a washed out watercolour leather brown painted inside of the carved lines, on the base layer while leaving the vertical edges unpainted. The brown isn't fully opaque, so that the grain is visible through the colour.The line painting smoothed out with a leather rubbing, and a little scrap of a reddish brown leather placed inside of the line, showing the goal that we hope to achieve with paint.

The first bit of linework at the top of the staff being painted in, with the open tub of paint and paintbrush on a sheet of paper on the table behind, as well as a container of water to clean the brush.The top linework above the grip finished, but not yet varnished.

A portion of the bottom linework painted and varnished, showing a little bit of overpaint going up the inside edge of the carved in linework.A photo of the same spot, but with the overpaint cleaned up along the edge, by having sliced through the varnish and paint at the corner, and then shaving away a thin layer of wood along the edge to remove the overpaint.

The fully finished staff, leaning against a wooden door. The dark linework pops brilliantly from the pale wood, and the vinework running from strongly wide to narrowly thin gives it a feel of tribal artwork. The name BRUCE can be seen carved below the grip. A wonderful Staff of Strength.


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