Making a Cane

Here you go Jim.

Have since made a bunch of oak a black cherry


A bunch of canes

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Finally resolved some camera/computer/ photobucket issues.

Here are a few I have made recently. Forgive tha lack of photo skills they are gorgeous in peron if I do say so myself.

From left to right.

1 A beautiful maroon, twisted, piece given to me by my sil. I believe it is gum wood I just carved the head to be comfortable, cut to fit me, and polyed it.

2 A solid piece of black cherry. Sanded lightly with 000 steelwool, fitted a right angle handle, and polyed.

3 A Knobby piece of oak that took forever to debark and sand. Ball handle is fitted with a long screw that I cut the head off after it is in the shaft and afix the ball. (My favorite)

4 Another oak piece with an egg handle. 3/4 in hole in egg makes the shaft flush with the top an it is epoxyed and pined

5 An oak that failed the whack test and ened up in th fireplace

6 A sturdy pice of oak I cut somewhat square on my table saw. Ball is fitted by using a 3/4 paddle bit to drill into the ball and shaft is glued/epoxcy on to ball.

7 Just a piece of maple sanded and polyed. Doesnt get much use out side the house

8 My wifes dogwood stick with ball drilled and epoxyed witha horozontal pinshe uses when out in the woods with the dogs. It is nochted cut top to bottom.

9 Another oak, unfinished in this pic but since stained red oak and polyed, About an inch around and fast becoming my favorite Drilled ball and fitted and expoxied to shaft.

I use a draw knife or a spoke-shave to take them down to heartwood. Locust is some hard stuff. If it takes on some bend during curing you can use a heat gun to straighten by heating it up in a vice or clamp and it will take a set as it cools if you hold it in position. I like to finish with an oil finish, either Landark oil or Fidde's hard wax oil.

Good looking canes.

Jim not so much skill as patience.

A few of the recent ones.
Bottom to top, Black Cherry, Unknown, and oak( while it looks awkward the natural ball recurves over the tip and is surprisingly comfortable and balanced.
View attachment 630237

Notice how none of them have any taper towards the tip?

If you look closely, especially at the sixth one from the left, you will see that several of them actually have a reverse taper presumably to offset the weight of the ball handle and maintain a central balance point. This is what a proper fighting cane should look like!

Great looking Canes Owen!

They are not mine, they belong to bikerdoc.

Owen,
no reverse taper, just the cell phone perspective. I try to keep a uniform thickness of an inch to 1 1/4 inches. Reverse taper would not be to my benefit as I fight a pugil style. Thrust, butt stroke, head smash, with a few groin snaps thrown in for good measure.

Your right #6 is quite the fighter and just got gifted to a brother Viet Nam vet fighting cancer.

The middle one in the second set is similar in heft and going to a Desert Storm vet soon.

They look great Bikerdoc. I got a 2 inch live oak limb cut and sealed setting in the garage. I made a one the other day out of a limp that got knock out last spring down the street. I sealed it and threw it up in the attic and got it down last week.

I really dont have a process or maybe I do and dont know it.
I collect or cut limbs with a bow saw I keep in the truck or take on walks in the woods or river bank. I bug the the tree cutting guys when I am out and about or sometimes see a pile at the side of the road for the monthly county pickup.

Seal the ends tag the group with the date. and put in the crawlspace.

When it is ready I wacktest it and if it passes then the fun begins deciding whats going to happen.

bark on just 000 steel wool and poly

bark off use a knive to get down to heart wood, sand, and poly.

Mix of heart wood and under bark.Whatever hits ya.

Stipple if want. ( stipple = whittle flicks, good for boring grain wood)

fit rubber tip

Handles, here is where it gets tricky.

Natural nob = finish like the shaft

Ball =3/4 paddle bit to drill into ball and carefully trim shaft to fit, must be tight, use epoxy to hold, Or some times I use a 3 inch sheet rock screw cut off the head. screw half into the shaft and half into the ball, small amt of epoxy helps

L 's drill at least 3/4 the way or all the way through , fit carefully, it must be tight, and secure with a small brad horozontaly, grind off head, and finish.

Finish= natural and poly. stain and poly, combo stain, get creative.

Have fun and remember more than one will end up in the fireplace right after you say, "Poop" or some such epitaph.

John
You most certainly will see some canes. I strive for a shiny yet grippy cane. Pm me your lentnth in inches from ground (wearing shoes) to your watch band and I will see what I can come up with.

This time of year stock is low and I got to get to cuting soon.
I figure I gifted about 2 dozen this year. Yours will be from private stock if the measyrement is right.

38 it is, see you in nov.

Well, I'm know that there's more than one way to use a fighting stick. I just know that I personally need something my skin can slide over easily.

Click to expand...

This is why I can't use traditional Irish Blackthorn.

My brother built this and eventually gave it to me. It's a "shaving horse" designed to hold sticks while the operator uses a draw knife on them. It's incredible how much easier it is to use this setup than it is to peel/carve sticks with a pocket knife.

It took him a lot of work to do this, but if you're seriously into carving sticks it's a great thing to have.



Hey, everything's on Wikipedia now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving_horse

That is neet!