I know I'm coming in way behind the curve on this, but with a couple of thousand hiking mikes behind me, I think I can offer an opinion. If you're looking for a hiking staff to give him, the best one, and most unique, as well as useful was from an ironwood sapling. We dug up the root and left it pretty much intact (with a little pruning and shaping. Think of Gandolf's staff from The Hobbit movies.) That was the top. I gripped it about 5 inches below that. The staff was cut to be about shoulder high and was about an inch and a half in diameter at the grip. The length was determined by where I wanted to grip it.
The gnarlier the better! The curtained feature of the ironwood gave it a lot of character! If you can find one wrapped by a vine, it will often look spiraled. If you want to leave the bark on, harvest it in the dead of winter - less shrinkage.
Cherry saplings work well, too. Probably want to remove the bark from them. Harvest in the winter or dry months of summer or fall. The swollen spring wood often checks when it dries. Sand down to 320 grit, then wipe with a wet cloth to stand the grain up as it dries sand to 400 grit and repeat the process to 600 grit. It will be smooth as glass and never bear a splinter!
