I picked a nice straight up young Ash tree (2" in dia at thickest part) from my parent's yard. Outer bark took me a half hour or so with a nice sharp knife (one of Tim Olt's bird & trout knives) and I was able to find a groove so that I could peel away the outer bark (about 1/16"). I peeled it without the use of a draw knife. Only problem(s) I experienced was around the small branch knurls. Tricky but be gentle otherwise you will have to restart the pry & peel again. So smooth once I finished the bark, I can see the emerald ash bore's trails on the inner core of the tree. Once it dried, I just hand sanded it down with some fine sandpaper - being careful not to remove those signature ash bore's trails - added character to your stick.
On a side note, I bought my "Kentucky Style" hiking stick about ten years ago on [bleep] (search for Kentucky Naturally) on a willow wrapped hiking staff. Unique and the twisted willow branch gives it a huge character (and durability). They were under $100 because he found a great source to fine these sticks in the neck of his woods. That was my second Kentucky Style hiking stick (from my days hiking on the Appalachian Trail) and I lost it when I had to check it into the cargo portion of jet plane.
The ash style hiking staff is for my grandson to use hiking with me and it was a great project for us to do on a weekend. Good luck on your search.
