Caman Craft: Traditional Materials vs Modern Finishes

Every caman begins the same way: a piece of wood, a maker who understands the game, and a process built on centuries of Highland knowledge. The finished stick in your hands looks simple. Getting it there is anything but.

People who have never held a caman often assume it is straightforward — shaped wood, bent at one end. Players know differently. The curve, the weight distribution, the grain direction, the finish, the flex of the shaft — every variable changes how the stick feels, how it strikes, and how long it lasts. A badly made caman is obvious within minutes on the pitch. A well-made one can last a full career.

This guide answers the question properly: how is a caman made, what materials drive the choices, and what separates traditional hand-crafted production from the modern laminated approach now used by most professional-grade makers across Scotland.

What a Caman Actually Is — and Why the Detail Matters

The word caman comes from the Scottish Gaelic word cam, meaning bent or crooked. It is not simply a synonym for "shinty stick." In Gaelic-speaking communities across the Highlands — from Inverness to the glens above Fort William — the caman was a working term long before organised leagues existed. It described a specific object with specific demands.

Shinty is one of the oldest field sports in Europe. Records of Camanachd — shinty in Gaelic — being played in Scotland date back to the 5th century. The game evolved on uneven Highland ground, in cold and wet conditions, at pace, with a hard leather ball and no restriction on aerial play. The caman evolved alongside it. Its shape was not designed on paper. It was hammered out through use.

What makes the caman distinct from every other stick-and-ball implement is this: both sides of the head are legal striking surfaces. A hurley has a broad blade designed primarily for one-sided striking and handpassing. A field hockey stick has a flat face and a curved back. The caman has two useable faces, a triangular cross-section, and a curve tight enough to lift a ball from wet turf but controlled enough to play a ground ball at full stretch. That dual-purpose geometry drives every decision in how it is built.

Anatomy of the Caman: Bas, Cas, and the 2.5-Inch Ring Rule

Every caman has two parts, each with its own Gaelic name. Understanding the anatomy is essential before understanding how a caman is made.

The 2.5-Inch Ring Rule

Every caman used in competitive shinty must pass through a ring with an internal diameter of 2.5 inches (6.3 cm). This rule was introduced in the 1920s and referees historically carried such rings to the pitch. The requirement defines the maximum thickness of the bas and limits how bulky the head can become. It also means that carbon fibre or reinforced composite materials — while tested — have never been formally approved, because no legal reinforcement can be added to the structure. No plates. No screws. No metal of any kind. The caman must be strong on its own terms.

The Wood: Why Material Choice Defines Everything

No decision in caman making carries more weight than the choice of wood. The material determines flex, durability, weight, response on impact, and how the stick ages. Historically, makers used whatever hardwood was available locally across the Scottish Highlands. Ash, birch, beech, rowan, willow, elder, and oak all appear in early records. An 1893 account in the Inverness Courier describes the original process:

Ash: The Traditional Choice

Ash was the wood most closely associated with early caman making. It grows throughout the Scottish Highlands. The Caledonian Forest once covered vast stretches of Inverness-shire and Perthshire, providing ready material for generations of makers. Ash has excellent flex — it absorbs impact without cracking — and a straight, predictable grain that responds well to carving. Players from older generations, particularly those who played for clubs like Kingussie and Newtonmore in the mid-20th century, describe ash camans as having a particular "feel" that modern hickory sticks do not replicate.

The problem with ash has always been supply. Ash dieback, a disease now widespread across Britain, has further reduced available stock. The same disease has pushed Irish hurley makers — who also traditionally relied on ash — toward experimental alternatives including bamboo. For shinty, the transition had largely already happened before dieback became critical.

For hurling, however, ash remains the defining material. It is the reason hurlers speak about their stick differently from how a hockey player or rugby player speaks about theirs. An ash hurley is a live instrument — it responds, it flexes, it has a grain you can feel through the grip. That relationship with the wood is what the craft preserves.

Hickory: The Modern Standard

Hickory became the dominant material for professional-grade camans in the second half of the 20th century. It is denser and harder than ash, which makes it more durable under the aggressive contact of senior shinty. Hickory handles impact better at the striking zone without the fracturing risk that affects lower-grade wood. Most leading makers in Scotland — including those supplying Highland clubs from Lochaber to Sutherland — now build primarily with hickory.

The drawback is weight. A hickory caman is heavier than an ash equivalent at the same dimensions. Makers compensate through lamination, which allows precise control of thickness at every point along the shaft, reducing overall weight while maintaining structural strength where it matters.

Other Woods Used Historically

In the Western Isles, where mature trees were scarce, players pressed stiff pieces of seaweed into service as substitute shafts. On the mainland, birch was common in areas north of Inverness. Beech was used in the Lowlands. One of the more unusual materials documented is the natural-curve branch — a branch found already bent at roughly the right angle, pared down and used with minimal shaping. Examples survive in the Highland Folk Museum collection at Newtonmore, where the museum's shinty collection remains one of the most important archives of caman history in Scotland.

How a Caman Is Made, Step by Step

There is no caman-making machine. Every stick is hand-made. Each one takes a skilled maker approximately 2.5 hours of active work from raw material to finished stick. The process is the same whether it is a junior 900mm caman for a school player in Fort William or a full-length senior stick destined for a Premiership club. The scale does not change. The care does not change.

The following describes the laminated production process used by professional-grade makers today, which now accounts for the vast majority of competitive camans made in Scotland.

Traditional Solid Wood vs Modern Lamination

The shift from one-piece natural wood to laminated construction is the most significant change in caman making history. Understanding the difference matters — not just as heritage, but because it directly affects how the stick performs.

Post-War Splicing: The Transition Period

The bridge between these two approaches came after World War II. Wartime disrupted both timber supply and the workforce of craftsmen who made camans. When production resumed, John Macpherson — whose family had been central to shinty and caman craft in Inverness for decades — developed a spliced two-piece design: a hickory head joined to an ash shaft. This became the standard caman through the mid-20th century. Players who grew up in Highland clubs from Beauly to Kingussie in the 1950s and 1960s remember the feel of this design. It solved the supply problem and improved durability in the striking zone while retaining the lighter ash shaft that gave experienced players their preferred balance.

The fully laminated hickory caman came next. Once laminated production became practical, it allowed makers to build from a blank rather than a natural blank — more control, more consistency, greater output without a corresponding drop in quality. Tanera Camans in Inverness, currently the largest-scale producer of camans in Scotland, produces approximately 1,400 sticks per year using this method — around 80% of all camans made in Scotland.

Finishes: Oil, Varnish, and Why Less Is Often More

Finish is where the gap between a playing caman and a presentation piece becomes most visible. For competitive play, the principle is clear: the goal is feel, not shine.

Oil Finishes

Raw linseed oil is the traditional finish for playing camans. It penetrates the wood grain rather than sitting on the surface, conditioning the fibres and providing a degree of water resistance without adding a layer that could affect grip or control. An oiled caman feels closer to natural wood. It has a matte, warm tone — the amber-to-brown colour of seasoned hickory rather than the glassy sheen of varnish. Experienced players who play in the Highland Premiership, across venues from An Aird in Fort William to the Dell in Kingussie, often favour oil-finished sticks precisely because the surface response during wet-weather play is more predictable.

The limitation of oil is protection. A heavily oiled stick in sustained wet conditions will take on moisture if not regularly maintained. Players who use oiled camans need to re-oil after heavy use — particularly after games played in the kind of driving rain that is standard across Highland venues from October onwards.

Varnish Finishes

Modern laminated camans are typically varnished. Varnish seals the surface completely, protecting the laminate adhesive bonds from moisture ingress. This matters for player camans that will see a full Highland season — eight months, on exposed pitches, through all weather conditions. A delaminated caman fails mid-game. Varnish reduces that risk significantly.

The trade-off is surface feel. A heavily lacquered caman can feel slippery in wet conditions — which is why the grip end is always taped, and why the finish on the bas is often kept lighter than the finish on the shaft. Some makers apply different coatings to different parts of the same stick.

Presentation Camans: A Different Standard

Presentation camans — those awarded to winning captains, presented to clubs, given to retiring players — are built and finished to a completely different standard. The tradition of the silver-mounted caman goes back to 1896, when John Macpherson began the practice of presenting a silver-mounted stick to the winning captain of the Camanachd Cup. That tradition continues. These sticks are made from the finest sections of timber, shaped by hand, and finished to display quality: smooth, clear varnish or lacquer, polished silver mounts, sometimes personalised engraving.

A presentation caman is not made to be played with. It is made to be kept. The adhesive formulation, the finish, and the wood selection all reflect that intention. Makers who produce both player and presentation camans describe them as essentially different products that happen to share the same shape.

Position-Specific Differences in Caman Design

Not all camans are the same shape. The angle of the bas, the weight distribution, and the thickness of the head all vary by playing position. This is one of the least understood aspects of caman design outside of experienced shinty circles.

Forwards camans are the most commonly produced type. The flatter face angle favours quick, low strikes and accurate direction. Defenders' camans need more loft — a steeper angle on the bas generates height on a clearance. A defender playing with a forward's caman will find their clearances staying too low. A forward with a defender's caman will struggle to keep the ball controlled at pace.

Players at the senior level in clubs like Lovat, Oban Camanachd, and Newtonmore are known to be precise about which position-type they use, and to order specifically rather than taking a generic stick off the shelf.

Choosing the Right Caman: What Players Actually Look For

Buying a caman is not the same as buying any other sports equipment. Players at senior level describe the process as closer to choosing a snooker cue — a matter of balance, feel, and fit that cannot always be communicated in measurements.

Getting the Length Right

The standard sizing method: hold the caman by the grip end, let it hang naturally beside your leg. The head should reach the ground. Some guides suggest the toe of the head should reach hip height — but this has proven inaccurate in practice, since hip height varies considerably between players of the same overall height. The ground-contact method is more reliable.

Camans are typically left long by the maker and cut to length by the player or club. This is intentional — it allows each stick to be personalised to the individual without the maker needing to produce a range of exact lengths for every order.

Assessing Balance and Flex

A well-made caman has its weight balanced forward of centre — toward the bas — which gives momentum on the strike without requiring excessive arm strength. Too much weight at the head makes the stick feel sluggish in short, quick ground play. Too little and there is no power on longer clearances or full-swing strikes.

Flex matters in the shaft. Too stiff and the stick transmits impact directly to the hands — uncomfortable in sustained play, particularly in cold conditions on Highland pitches. Too flexible and control during fast ground play deteriorates. Experienced players often describe this as "whip" — the way the shaft loads and releases energy through a strike.

How Position Changes the Decision

If you play primarily in one position, order accordingly. If you are developing as a younger player — particularly Primary 6 level and above — a midfield or all-round caman covers the range of skills being developed without over-committing to a positional shape before playing style is established.

Choosing a Hurley: The Same Principles Apply

The sizing logic for a hurley follows identical principles to the caman. The correct method: stand the hurley beside your leg with the toe on the ground. Grip the handle with the V between your thumb and index finger positioned close to the neck. The hurley should be long enough that this grip is comfortable without crouching. Hip-height measurement guides, while widely circulated, have proven unreliable — two players of identical height can have significantly different hip heights.

For the Mystery Hurley range, sizes run from 10" for the youngest beginners through to 36" for senior adults. Position type matters here too — outfield, goalie, and large bas options each have different head geometry suited to the demands of the role.

Caring for Your Caman

A caman looked after properly can last multiple seasons. One left untreated will deteriorate fast — particularly in the wet conditions that Highland shinty regularly produces.

After every game

• Wipe down with a dry cloth to remove surface moisture and grass residue.
• Do not leave the stick in a wet kit bag — moisture accelerates delamination.
• Inspect the bas for surface cracks. Small cracks that are not treated become fractures.

Seasonal maintenance

• Oil-finished camans should be re-oiled at the start and end of the season with raw linseed oil. Apply a thin coat and allow to fully dry before play.
• Varnished camans rarely need re-finishing unless the varnish is visibly damaged. If the laminate is exposed, seal with a compatible wood varnish before moisture penetrates.
• Check the grip tape regularly and replace when it wears down. A worn grip affects control and increases the risk of the stick slipping during a strike.

Storage

• Store upright or flat in a dry environment. Do not lean diagonally against a wall for extended periods — this can cause the shaft to take a set (a gradual warp).
• Avoid prolonged exposure to direct heat. Radiators and car boot storage during summer can dry the wood too rapidly and cause cracking along the grain.

The Future of Caman Making

In 2019, the craft of shinty caman making was officially designated as "critically endangered" by Heritage Crafts, the UK charity that tracks traditional craft skills. The designation highlighted a genuine problem: very few full-time professional makers remain, the knowledge base is concentrated in a small number of individuals, and the economics of hand-making a niche product for a sport with approximately 3,500 registered players across Scotland has always been challenging.

The situation in 2025 is more nuanced. There are signs of recovery. Younger makers are training in the craft. Established makers report that players and clubs are now willing to pay realistic prices for quality camans — a shift from a generation ago when price resistance made it difficult for makers to charge for the time that good caman making actually requires. A senior player at a Highland Premiership club expects to pay in the region of £50–60 for a playing caman. Presentation-quality camans command more.

The Carbon Fibre Question

Carbon fibre camans have been tested and discussed for years. They have not been approved for competitive play. The reasons are partly regulatory — no material other than wood currently satisfies the no-metal, no-plate rules and the ring test requirements simultaneously — and partly cultural. Shinty is a Highland sport with deep material roots. Players, clubs, and the Camanachd Association have consistently resisted the move toward synthetic materials that has changed other stick-and-ball sports. Whether that position holds as wood supply becomes more difficult remains an open question.

Ash Dieback and What Comes Next

The ash dieback crisis affecting British woodland has not yet fundamentally altered caman production — the shift to hickory had already happened before the disease spread. But it serves as a reminder that material supply is never permanently guaranteed. The hurling community in Ireland, facing the same ash dieback problem, has begun producing bamboo hurleys as an approved alternative. No equivalent approval process has begun in shinty. For now, hickory sourced from North America remains the standard.

Sustaining the Craft

Caman making will survive as long as shinty survives — and shinty, despite everything, is thriving. The sport has expanded beyond the Highlands. There are now shinty clubs in London, Bristol, Oxford, and Cornwall. A competitive 6-a-side league operates in Cornwall. Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen all have established clubs drawing players from outside traditional Highland communities. Each new player needs a caman. That is a market the craft can serve.

The craft is best supported by understanding what it involves. Every caman sold by a maker who makes by hand, who cuts laminates personally, who tests each head against a ring before it leaves the workshop — that caman carries 500 years of Highland sport in its shape. The grain, the curve, the feel of the bas on impact — these are not coincidences of design. They are the result of a process refined by use, over centuries, on the same wet pitches that Highland clubs still play on today.