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Cane Stand

It's still a work in progress.  This is with one coat of oil.  I just put the second coat on tonight.  I'll decide tomorrow if I think it's enough.

My wife and I both like antiques.  She prefers rustic and primitive and I'm a big fan of any of the periods that begins with "Art".  Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

This was inspired by the Arts & Crafts furniture from the turn of the last century.

It's mostly white oak though I think one board might have been red oak.

Most of the oak was salvaged from two different antique table tops that were too far gone to try to restore. One table was an original Arts & Crafts trestle table that I salvaged out of an abandoned building.  I still wish I could have saved it. The other was dumped behind a local cemetary.  That table was still solid wood but much more cheaply constructed. The legs are from a storm damaged tree that came down last winter.

It's all mortise and tenon joinery with a floating bottom board and the back panel is some tongue and groove that I made.  The hardest part was actually turning the antique boards so the worst sides with the rust stains, screw holes and worm holes faced out.  I usually try to hide the flaws but my wife likes them.

Overall I like it and I think it will be a nice way to display my sticks in the living room.

Rodney

 

 

(Update)
With all the spam we’ve been dealing with.
Please note that all new people in the process of joining up will now be receiving a confirmation email in order to proceed further. Check junk mail folders.

Hello,
Welcome to the Walking Stick Forum. This is a group of walking stick and cane enthusiasts. We welcome all newcomers.

Please be advised that there seem to be quite a number of people joining lately and all they say is something like... "Hi, I am Tom and I am new to the forum." When we see this type of intro with no elaboration on topic and no reply within weeks or months it is considered spam.

When you join please tell us a bit about yourself, your interests, perhaps what you have made/built. This will go a long way in preventing it from being flagged as spam. If you choose to not participate and just want to log in and look that is fine and not a problem.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Sean

It seems almost a contradiction.
I finished this one about a week ago.


The handle is western red maple burl on the front and back with a core of straight grained western red maple under the leather. I did it that way because it's my understanding burl wood can be weak. It also has a small piece of cocobolo for a spacer. The cocobolo is from a piece I've had since the 90s.
I planed the shank to a tapered 8 sided shape at the top. It tapers down to round at the bottom. Even with a freshly sharpened plane I was fighting tearout on it. It came out pretty well but there are a few small spot I didn't quite get smooth. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. The only other thing that went wrong was I didn't get a good straight stitch line on the leather. Even with that it's my best leather wrap yet.
Rodney

When people ask me what tools to buy when they start carving I often say a sharp carving knife and a large box ot Band Aids!
But the full answer I offer is based on my mistakes. Many years ago I rushed into my new love of carving by buying a large set of very good tools. And while I do fined the better the tool is made the better the work you can do with it. I found out fast the good tools do not mean good skills. I have settled in to a carving stile and size of work which I now do mostly with palm tools. Like my mallet tools It took me some time to be confidant and combatant in their use and care. Today I tell people who ask me how to get started to pick what they want to carve, Relief, caricatures, wild life, walking sticks, But just start with one... Then look at what basic tools will get you started. You can carve many things with 5 or 6 tools and a good knife. Look at you tubes ask on this site , Go to some carving shows or visit carving clubs if you have one within driving distance. As you develop your skills to will learn what you need to do your projects. Buy a tool because you need it not because you guess you should have one of those. This helps you to learn what you can or cannot do with what you have. Sadly over the years I have spent a lot of money buying tools I did not need. I just did not take the time to develop my skills with what I had. I am embarrassed by how many years and dollars it took me to learn that basic truth. I do have a large selection of tools. And I do use them all at some time or the other. But I do 90+% of my work with 3 different carving knives and 10 drake palm tool. I said all of that to say start very basic. Learn to use your tools they will teach you what you need.

We have just made video number 8 .We thought it might be useful for stickmakers world wide to see the diferent types of sticks we make in the UK and an explanation of what they are used for, Hope this is of some help,Dave

 

 

This is an objective of mine, in part, because the Cherokee bow makers used it, along with Bois D'Arc, and in part because the uplands habitat is similar to that of Bois D'Arc. Both seem to thrive in well drained limey soils, and those are abundant in the Ozark Plateau area, and adjacent areas where limestone rock units are at the surface.

A field trip in search of Black Locust or Bois D'Arc could yield either or both.

http://plants.usda.g...ile?symbol=rops

http://www.biosurvey.../shrub/rops.htm

I believe this is a subject worth discussing from time to time.  One of the things new carvers and some of us older ones may not pay enough attention to is dust control. Many woods can be harmful to toxic. As can be bone and antler dust. Safety measures as simple as a dust mask can save you a tip to the doctor or stay in the hospital. 
You can make a very simple, cheap and effective air filter with a 20” box fan, a 20” home air filter and a couple of bungee cords. Just strap filter to the back of the fan set it in front of you. I found a washable filter was best saved money on buying filters.  Google box fan woodworking filters there are many plans and ideas. I sat in front of one for years when sanding or working with my dermal tool or Foredom tool, as well as wearing a mask.
Back when I started carving I was working with a piece of 8”x 8”old growth oak timber that had come out of an old barn. It was a beautiful piece of wood. I was nonchalant about wearing a mask and just did not take the time to put one on. I had work with oak be for and had not had any issues with it. Three days later I was very sick and headed to the hospital. Turn out that the wood had a lot of old chemicals in it from all thoughts years in a barn. It did not bother the skin but the fine dust got in the lungs and real made me sick. So I became a very chausses carver where dust control is concern. Reaction to different woods is different for many people. You can check on a number of wood data sites for information on toxicity of the woods you may be working with. But as a rule all wood dust is not made for our lungs.  And it’s just not that hard to protect our selves.

MAYONNAISE JAR & TWO CUPS OF COFFEE

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then
asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open
areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once
more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced the 2 cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed!

“Now”, said the professor as the laughter subsided,
“I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things like YOUR FAMILY, YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR HEALTH, YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR FAVORITE PASSIONS, _and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full._

The pebbles are the OTHER THINGS THAT MATTER, like your job, your house and your car…
The sand is everything else - the small stuff”.

“If you put the sand into the jar first”, he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay
attention to the things that are critical to your happiness”.

“Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play
another 18 holes of golf. There will always be time to clean the house, fix the disposal or deal with things from your job.
TAKE CARE OF THE GOLF BALLS FIRST---THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER.
Set your priorities.
THE REST IS JUST SAND.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the cups of coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, “I'm glad you asked.”

THE CUPS OF COFFEE JUST SHOWS YOU THAT NO MATTER HOW FULL YOUR LIFE MAY SEEM, THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM FOR A CUP OF COFFEE WITH A OLD FRIEND.

Share this with someone you care about.

I JUST DID!

I finely got the Birds Eye maple handle fitted to the fitted to the padauk shank.  I had planned to add an ebony collar but I only had a small piece of ebony and it split when I was drilling it.  I have not put a finish on yet.  I just wiped it down with a damp cloth so the bird’s eye would stand out and the contrast in color in the crook and shank stood out. I still have some shaping to do on the handle.  It is a bit thick in some areas.I will use tung oil as a finish. 

This is a jig I saw in a video on carving hiking /walking sticks. That one was part of a work bench. This is portable. It can be mounted to a bench. I have used on my B&D workmate.  It holds the work steady and it is easy to turn the stick to the right, left or around as needed. It is 9" wide and 30" long. It will hole a stick up to 3" inches in diameter. There are a lot of jigs out there. This one is cheap and easy to make. And has worked well for me.

This is another cane I worked on this weekend it is a piece of twisted privet hedge. The wood in privet hedge is white so I spelled off the outer layer of bark and left the inner layer(cambium layer)to give it some color, I used boiled linseed oil then applied a tung oil finish high gloss. It has a map!e ball for a handle.

A good evening at the stick club last night, one of our older members brought in a stick he had made for a retired yorkshire Miner, thought it would be a nice share for this group.

 

 

The brass encapsulated item is  Davy Safety Lamp, the encapsulation is done using clear cold cast resin as is the NUM (National Union of Miners) badge in the coronet.

I decided to make 3 more pumpkin canes this year to sell. I've refined the wiring a bit. The first one I made is a pain and not suited to sell.
This one is carved from oak with a maple handle and a dyed black maple shank.
I used India ink for the black color. It's a great shade of black but doesn't penetrate deeply.


The first one was done mostly with a utility knife.
I'm pretty proud of this one. It was done mostly with actual carving tools and the wiring is a bit neater. This one is all maple.

I'll add a picture tonight with it lit up.
Thanks for looking.
Rodney

A few pic,s of shanks cut by a few  stickmakers 

 

hazel coppice 

 

crab apple shanks 

 

 

fresh cut blackthorn 

terrible stuff to cut rips your clothes to shreds and you skin 

 

 

Two sticks done by UK carver Malc spour. They put a smile on my face. Great work!!

See the attached picture of 23 nice vine curled sticks I found today.  I also found 50 nice sassafras straight sticks.

In 1974, I took a position with Kaiser Steel, to help identify metallurgical coal resources on their 530,000 acres of minerals near Raton, NM.  I had read an old USGS report about igneous sills that had invaded the York Canyon coal seam in their "Upper York Canyon" area.  A core hole proved this old report to be correct.  I recovered some great igneous core from the stratigraphic horizon that should have been coal.

 

I've kept this for all these years, it's just sentimental.  So I plan to make an interchangeable topper from this, unless I screw it up.

 

 

 

I plan to square off both ends so that I can drill perfectly vertically to install a threaded insert or coupling.  Then I plan to grind and sand off the top end so that it is rounded.  Carborundum (wet/dry) sandpaper will do the job from past experience.

I've made this appeal here previously and again feel the need to re-emphasize this issue. At age 82 I can honestly say almost nothing brings me more joy than giving away stuff - stuff I no longer want or more importantly things made in my little workshop.

 

As an aside and an example, I was recently interviewed by a 9th grade English teacher - I told those kids I hope they soon discover the joy of giving themselves away and I meant it. I mentioned I was delighted at age 70 to finally find what I was born to do - volunteer at a hospital (7 years, 1500+ hours) - and I meant that.

 

But now, it's hand made canes - and other stuff - which I'm going to attempt to show and explain.

 

During April I made two canes - #100 - my current  house cane and #101 - pool cue...the EASIEST cane ever!

 

Then, since I offered, one of our grandsons reduced my cane inventory, taking six, as shown.

 

I'm a patriotic kinda guy - I fly the American flag every day the weather allows, year round. Last June I made the first (of eight) Betsy Ross Revolutionary Flags - and given all but ours away. Here's three completed in April.

 

And this week I made a bench so our grandson doesn't have to drill any holes in the siding and can display their flag on the front porch.

 

So let me assure you guys that although I've not been mass-producing hand-made canes, I've kept busy.

 

And giving stuff away.

 

Try it!

-neb

Attached a medallion I got when I joined the American National Cane Club to one of my walking sticks I had to bend it around the stick to make it fit right and pre drilled the holes for the brass nails this was the best way I could see how to do it, by the way this is my first time putting one on a stick. I got one more don't know whitch stick I'm going to put it on.