Survival Walking Stick Project

Since moving to Alaska, I have seen many Diamond Willow walking sticks and they all cost between $70 and $100.  Although the sticks do have a lot of character and look great!  I just wanted to make my own.  Then, I through about taking it to the next level, by making it a "survival" stick by adding a few survival gear items like a small flashlight, a magnesium fire starter, whistle, compass, signal mirror, parachute cord, and a small knife.  The plan is to cut, carve and drill out places in the stick for these items to fit neatly into the stick.  Then the parachute cord would hold the items in place and be used as a handle wrap.  The parachute cord would be wrapped using a quick release hitch.

I was able to procure a five foot piece of Diamond Willow and I began my project.  The wood was cut probably two years before and had just been sitting around in the corner, left behind by a former employee.

I had no idea how easy or difficult it would be to remove the bark from the stick.  I sat down with a paint scraper and began to work.  After just a few minutes, it was apparent that the bark would come off with a moderate amount of work...then I remembered I should take a picture.

After about 1 hour, I had all of the bark off of the stick and was down to easy scraping to remove the residual layer.

After this was all removed, I began sanding with 100 grit sandpaper.

Before I had all of the sanding competed, I was anxious to get started on the survival gear.  I started with the knife.  I drew an outline of the knife and began carving out the stick using a rotary tool.  I used two different bits, cone and drum carving bits.
Then I drilled into the top of he stick using a 5/8" wood bit.
This is where I began to run into trouble.  I am not very good with tools, carpentry, or mechanics, so as I drilled past one of the knots in the stick, the bit began to come through side of the stick.  So as it stands, about 1/2" of the bottom of the flashlight can be seen through the side of the stick.  At this point, I have put in 3 hours of work into the project.

My fix for this problem will be to begin the parachute cord handle higher that I first wanted to.
I hope this will cover the flaw.

I have not begun carving any other slots for the remainder of the gear because I don't have them yet.  The items I want are a little harder to come by up here and I will have to order them off the internet.