# beginner



## airborne (Sep 12, 2013)

I am interested in making walking canes and I'm glad I found this forum. I've seen some truly awesome work here. As a newcomer I have limited experience in wood working and tools. Some personal background: age 64, retired, married, Vietnam veteran, would love to build a decent cane. Not having a lathe can I use a round spokeshave to transform a 1" x 1" x 35" square oak blank into a cane shaft? I have many questions and I appreciate and thank all who will take the time to share their knowledge.


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## smalltowngirl13 (Aug 12, 2013)

Welcome aboard!

Thank you for your service and good luck on your new hobby ...


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## JJireh (Feb 7, 2013)

Welcome, you 'can' use a round spokeshave, but that could be tedious, depending on it's size. Just a long knife (KBAR CAS style) or draw knife can do a possibly quicker job. just remember to keep it shallow if you use one of these instead and watch your grain, as you could chunk up a piece if you hit it just right.


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## airborne (Sep 12, 2013)

Thank you for the replies. I plan on taking it slow in the beginning believing that the speed will come with practice.


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## AAAndrew (Jul 19, 2013)

If your blank is square, you can also take down each edge evenly (draw two lines on each face trisecting each face into three equal parts, cut or plan down your edge until it meets the nearest lines on each adjoining face) and and make an octagonal cane. When you finish, if that doesn't look like you want, then take those edges down and pretty soon you'll have a round one. This can be done with a simple block plane, a drawknife or a whittling knife.

As JJireh said, watch the grain. Make sure you're cutting "uphill" with the grain as much as possible. If you use a drawknife, then make sure you put the bevel side down against the wood to avoid, as much as possible, the knife digging in.

Here's how to get to the octagon stage with a table saw. But as a hand-tool woodworker, I would use a plane or a spokeshave. Your choice.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easiest-way-to-make-octagons-for-wood-turning-NO-/


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## CAS14 (Dec 28, 2012)

airborne said:


> I am interested in making walking canes and I'm glad I found this forum. I've seen some truly awesome work here. As a newcomer I have limited experience in wood working and tools. Some personal background: age 64, retired, married, Vietnam veteran, would love to build a decent cane. Not having a lathe can I use a round spokeshave to transform a 1" x 1" x 35" square oak blank into a cane shaft? I have many questions and I appreciate and thank all who will take the time to share their knowledge.


Welcome aboard airborne. I too served in Vietnam. I was with 1st ANGLICO, Sub Unit 1, Det. 5, detached to the Korean Marine Corps Blue Dragon Brigade. In October 1967 I was in the mountains in far western Binh Son province, and in December the entire brigade moved farther north in I-Corps to a new TAOR around Hoi An. We had just settled in when the 1968 Tet offensive began.

As you know, we won the war that year, militarily. But our leadership had already decided to lose. Welcome home Bro.


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## airborne (Sep 12, 2013)

CAS,
I was a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division, 319th Artillery. We got there in November "67", so I too was there for Tet. I still struggle with the politics of that war and the reception we received on return. We were up north in the A Shah valley. I'm glad you made it back, so many did not. Hope to hear from you in the future in this forum. And we are brothers!!!


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## CAS14 (Dec 28, 2012)

Somewhere I have a CD that has a song that mentions the A Shaw valley. It's impossible to listen to that CD without crying, so I haven't in a long while. There are some humorous tunes as well, one about Saigon warriors.

Update - just found "Angel in the Ashaw" by Ron Jones. Bootleg copy, maybe too scratched I don't know. A fellow Tulsan was the squad leader for the first to cross the bridge over the Perfume River into the Citadel at Hue. Barney gave me some CDs a few years back.


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## Rad (Feb 19, 2013)

Welcome aboard!


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## Sean (Dec 29, 2012)

Welcome aboard. You certainly won't need to get fancy to make a nice cane. My first was Red Cedar and tools used were

a saw, a knife to dowel a round tip up top for the handle, some sandpaper and a varnish.

Thank you for your service.


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## airborne (Sep 12, 2013)

Thanks for the replies. I live in the sticks and do not get reception on my phone to reply.


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