Making A Cane

[lew]

At the suggestion of @Gerald, I am starting a thread on making a cane. Even though there are more operations involved than just lathe work I hope everyone with experience will share their knowledge, techniques and outcomes.

 

Before "The Patriot" site was born, many of us were (and maybe still are) members of a very popular woodworking site. On that site there was a lady who posted her custom canes. Her screen name was "mmh" and she created beautiful pieces. As this was my first foray into cane making, I scoured the Internet doing research for ideas. I found an "instructible" written by her and it was quite helpful for design and construction tips.

 

https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Make-A-Custom-Fancy-Walking-Cane/

 

The cane design I thought would be best for the recipient is called a "Derby Cane" because of the handle design. This design puts the users wrist directly over the cane shaft for greater stability and support. I could have purchased a kit but wanted to see if I could make one from start to finish. 

 

The materials used were: 

   Hard maple for the shaft  

   Tiger maple for the handle

   Cherry and walnut for the collar

   Ebony for pins 

   Red oak for the dowl connector

 

Before starting, I needed to know the finished length. That is typically the user is measured but in this case I'm in Pennsylvania and the user is in California. Next best thing was to to get his height in inches, divide by 2 and add .5". I added another 1" to be safe. Final length can be done on site. 

 

Once I had the overall length determined, I transferred the handle drawing to a square cut, sized piece of tiger maple. Then using the drill press created a 5/8" diameter hole where the joining dowel will be located. Having flat, square surfaces really helped drilling the hole plumb to the base of the handle.

 

mmh's design used a 1.5" thick piece for the handle and a 5/8" diameter hole. I thought this would be a better "fit" for the recipient. 

 

Next, I worked on the shaft of the cane. The shaft was tapered from 1.5" diameter to 7/8" diameter over the entire length. My lathe has a 40" length capability IF I remove the chuck/spindle adapter and use a cup live center and move the head/tail stocks to their far left/right positions. The steady rest was absolutely necessary. The horizontal steady worked great on the larger diameters areas but I needed to use my old circular rest near the smaller end.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the taper and sanding was finished, I used the lathe to drill the 5/8" diameter hole for the joining dowel, in the large end of the shaft. The Jacobs chuck and the Forstner bit combo was a challenge. I had to move the the head/tail stock out to the stops which gave me about 1/2" clearance! Again, the steady rest was necessary for accurate drilling.

 

 

I made a glued up sandwich of cherry, walnut and cherry to be 1" thick and about 1.75" square. Drilled a 5/8" centered hole. This became the collar. Test fitted everything.

 

 

 

Along the way, I had done some shaping on the upper part of the handle. Once I knew everything would fit together, I glued the handle, collar shaft and joining dowel together. Then drilled holes for the ebony pins made from old piano keys. The ebony pins passed through the entire assembly and pinned all the parts together.

 

 

 

Next, back to the lathe to shape and contour the handle into the shaft. I made a little jig, to attach to the headstock, to hold the handle in place. My original idea was to use my chuck/jaws but  the max opening of the jaws was not great enough.

 

 

 

 

Sanding and shaping finally brought the handle, collar and shaft together. It still needed a little work where near the blue tape to get a nice flow up under the handle. 

 

 

Engraved the recipients name on the backside of the handle

 

 

4 layers of wipe on poly

 

 

The tiger stripes show up pretty nice

 

 

Included 2 rubber cane feet once it gets cut to the proper length. Not going to say what it costs to send it UPS ground

 

 

Your turn now! Let's see what you have made! 

 

 

 

[Headhunter]

Well, Lew,

 

Ya done did good! The recipient is definitely going to love it!

 

A few things here that I would have liked to know back when I made my dad a cane. Not this fancy but functional. Apparently, someone thought it was nice enough for them as it was removed from his shopping cart one day when he wasn't looking. I'll try to find some pics but I probably forgot to take any when I did. As usual. 

[Gerald]

Too late to put it all together tonight but not as thorough as you presentation. Thanks

[kreisdorph]

Interesting process. Well done.

[Gerald]

When I had the first knee replacement I had planned to make myself a cane. Well I did not get to it till after mostly recovered. I wanted something different so did opposing twists with a space in between. My wood of choice was walnut , partly because I like it and part because that was the wood I had that was long enough and did not need a glue up.

 

First had to turn the blank round. I did this without getting the steady out.

 

 

Instead of making lines down the whole cane the way a twist is usually laid out I used a string.

 

 

For the first cuts on the line I uses a 4" Arbor Tech. Note that the shield on the Arbor Tech can be set to the desired depth.

 

 

This can be a little tedious if you have just started using an ArborTech . There are other ways to do this such using saws or rasps however I like the faster methods.

 

 

Refine the cuts with a rasp . Note this is a larger size and they do come in smaller ones.

 

 

Aside from sanding this may be the longest time wise part of the project.

 

 

By this time most of the unevenness is leveled . I did not take pictures of sanding but it is all hand sanding. To get into the grooves cut a strip of cloth backed sandpaper to make a strip 8 to 10 inches long and twist or fold . You can also use a dowel wrapped in sandpaper.

 

 

This is the sanded finished cane before finish is applied. I took a shortcut  and bought a brass handle. Note this does make for a heavy cane which my doctor commented on.

 

 

In finish application. Note I did the Celtic Knot burn in and color before applying finish.

 

 

Finish is poly

 

 

Edited September 12, 2024 by Gerald

[lew]

WOW!!! I love it. The brass handle really compliments the walnut and I love the Celtic knot at the center.

 

The way you did the spirals in amazing. Never thought of using a string to create the path. My hand certainly isn't steady enough to use an Arbor Tech like you did.

 

I considered one of those round rasps for helping to form the handle I made, but none were available locally. I was trying to get mine delivered before his rehab started. I used my Dremel and these to do the grunt work.

                

 

 

Thanks for putting this post together, @Gerald and for the idea of starting it!

 

 

 

 

[HandyDan]

The last cane I made I made it in two pieces. Here is a link to that thread.  There is quite a bit of information in it.  A two piece cane is easier to turn on a midi-lathe and cuts down on the whip of a longer piece of wood.

 

 

Since then I ran across a two dollar cue stick at the Restore.  It was a two piece stick and had a brass screw joint that screwed the two pieces together.  Brought it home and removed the joint for the next cane I create.  Used the butt part of the cue stick for a tool handle.  Here is the removed joint.

 

 

[lew]

28 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

The last cane I made I made it in two pieces. Here is a link to that thread.  There is quite a bit of information in it.  A two piece cane is easier to turn on a midi-lathe and cuts down on the whip of a longer piece of wood.

 

 

Since then I ran across a two dollar cue stick at the Restore.  It was a two piece stick and had a brass screw joint that screwed the two pieces together.  Brought it home and removed the joint for the next cane I create.  Used the butt part of the cue stick for a tool handle.  Here is the removed joint.

 

 

 

@HandyDan I completely forgot about this post and all of the great tips and tricks you included. I am adding this to the more recent thread so everyone checking in will see it!

 

[Gerald]

@HandyDan Great post . I had forgotten I was going to do a two piece . I even bought the screw connectors and brass sleeves for the joint. Well maybe next time