# Different Cane Materials (PVC, etc)



## Blackstaff (May 5, 2018)

Hello again everyone,

Let me start off by saying how much I appreciate the helpful responses to my few previous posts. I feel like all of my questions (including this one) probably sound a bit silly to those of you experts that have been crafting or working with canes and sticks for years now. I've had to use a cane for half my life due to a lifelong disability, but I haven't gotten into doing anything homemade until recently. Hopefully my questions do not sound as silly to you as they do to me.

I'm interested in trying to build something with PVC or pipe because some of the materials are relatively easy to put together for someone like me who does not have the advantage of true workshop space. I have to complete any projects in my apartment, so any hands-on stuff I would like to do has to be kind of limited in scope. PVC or pipe can be put together in various configurations with relative ease once it is cut to length. Unfortunately, I don't have access to some of the tools that are required to make a more complex model.

I know I could just purchase something but I'd like to make something myself as a small project, even if it seems a bit silly. I have seen some videos of both PVC and pipe canes online, but very few, and in some cases they don't explain things well enough for me to understand the process they went through. For PVC, I was thinking of just putting something together with an appropriate elbow and a few inches of handle out one side. Nothing major. I'd prefer more of a crook handle but I'm not sure how I would accomplish that on PVC or pipe/tubing, etc. I have a tool to cut the PVC and some of the pipe I am looking at is already cut to length, which is convenient. The few pipe canes I've seen do not seem to weigh much more than the hard plastic one I use now, which surprised me.

Please feel free to interject with any of your thoughts about whether this will work for someone with limited workshop space/ability, how one might accomplish a crook handle here if possible, or any other tips. I've seen a couple of interesting videos, but they were short and the users didn't bother to merge the various PVC parts together in a permanent way, making them unsuitable for someone like me that would need to rely on the cane's solidarity. On the pipes, they screwed threaded parts together.

These probably aren't popular enough ideas, but I'm just itching to try something on my own rather than looking around the market.

(That said, if any makers here also have shops set up for selling, I'd love to take a look).

This seems like a forum for serious makers to exchange ideas so I apologize if I seem silly--I just haven't found a dedicated "stick forum" that seems as popular or useful as this one, so I keep coming back here.

That homemade cane from my uncle will be coming after the 1st of the year, he's getting swamped at work so is unable to come in early to use the equipment for now.

Thanks everyone.


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## Rodney (Jun 12, 2015)

I haven't done much with PVC other than plumbing and conduit work. I do know it can be heated and bent. For curves you can look at electrical conduit sweeps as well. Be careful heating it. IIRC the fumes are bad for you.

I'm not sure if that helps or not.

Another option might be metal tubing. McMaster-Carr deals primarily with business and industry but will sell to the little guy too and is an excellent source for hardware. They carry several different metals in different sizes.

I do have an Etsy shop. Other members here do as well.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ASturdyStick?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Wood doesn't take many tools to work with. I did my first few woodworking projects with a hacksaw and drill. The space and tools required for wood or PVC is about the same. You could do most of the work on any material sitting at your table. (notice the bias toward wood  )

I would also be happy to work something out for an unfinished stick or raw materials to assemble your own. There are also other sellers selling cane parts online.

If you live in a large enough city you might also check into shared workshops or maker spaces. That would give you access to a complete wood working shop though I don't know what the charges would be.


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## Blackstaff (May 5, 2018)

Rodney said:


> I haven't done much with PVC other than plumbing and conduit work. I do know it can be heated and bent. For curves you can look at electrical conduit sweeps as well. Be careful heating it. IIRC the fumes are bad for you.
> 
> I'm not sure if that helps or not.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for your detailed reply. I'll check out your shop and think on all of this info. It might be nice to have someone that can help me work out something with the raw materials. We have a few shops around here that carry some good stuff, though not necessarily a lot of different woods. There are a few other places online I like to look as well.

Again thanks so much for the detailed response. I may try to send you a private message soon to talk about a project if you are open to it.


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## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

My only PVC work was making hoop frames for my giant pumpkins and the methods were roughly the same as those for plumbing, so I'm probably not much help. I have seen videos though of people making things from PVC. Seems as though one guy used boiling water to heat it for bending and I think another used a hot air gun.


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## Rodney (Jun 12, 2015)

Those are the methods I would try first. I used a propane torch on conduit when I was working. It's what I had on the truck. I would save direct flame as a last resort. The other methods are much less likely to scorch it.

Blackstaff PMs are welcome. Also be sure to read through the older posts here. A lot of good information is available on the forum.


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## Blackstaff (May 5, 2018)

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, it's been very helpful.


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