First attempt at a Cane

[mnerland]

So I had some pallet wood (black walnut...believe it or not) and thought I'd try my hand at a cane. Only having a midi lathe, I made it in 4 sections plus the grip. The sections have a 4 inch 1/2" dowel holding them together, including into the grip. Seems fairly solid since we always here the glue joint is stronger than the wood itself. Grain matched as well as I could, rounded over the grip edges on my router table and did some hand filing in the grip/cane transition. 6 coats of wipe on polyurethane and paste wax after. Back side of the cane still has the nail holes from the pallet (see pic) which I filled with CA and sawdust. 8 inch sections turned to 1" diameter and the lower section tapered slightly to 7/8" to accept the cane tip. Just might try another one. Thanks for looking.
Mike

 

[jttheclockman]

That statement about glue joint is stronger than wood is not true especially end grain. End grain to end grain is the weakest joint you can have and thus always need help such as you did with a dowel.

 

[mnerland]

That statement about glue joint is stronger than wood is not true especially end grain. End grain to end grain is the weakest joint you can have and thus always need help such as you did with a dowel.

Thank you....I thought that was implied as being obvious in woodworking joinery, but apparently not. My bad for misleading you!

 

[jttheclockman]

Thank you....I thought that was implied as being obvious in woodworking joinery, but apparently not. My bad for misleading you!

If you are gluing face to face gluing it is possible depending on the wood species and glue used. End grain is not so forgiving. This is why when box making many times splines weather hidden or accent are used. End grain is tough. You are not misleading me but maybe others. Nice cane.

 

[monophoto]

Last year, I got on a kick about making canes. I also have a midi-lathe and opted for making them in sections that I (mostly) glued together using dowels. But to avoid an ugly grain match at the joints, I opted to embed a small (1/4") decorative ring to disguise the joints. The rings were formed from 1/4" thick face grain timber with a hole that fit over a tenon cut on one end of one of the pieces making up each joint. Because the tenon was only a 1/8" smaller than the diameter of the shaft, inserting the rings don't compromise the strength of the joint. But because they were face grain (and in some cases, a contrasting timber), they draw attention away from the joint itself.

On some of my canes, I used a length of allthread rod instead of a glued-in dowel for the middle joint. The rod was epoxied into the the shaft on one side of the joint, and a threaded insert was epoxied into the shaft on the opposite side. As a result, that joint can be unscrewed to make the cane collapsable.

I tapered the four sections of the shaft, starting at 1 1/8" where the shaft attaches to the handle, and tapering down to 7/8" at the bottom. This is a tradeoff - thin and tapered makes the overall weight lower, but also could affect the strength. I don't think I would want to go any thinner.

The challenge was sanding the shaft and getting a smooth transition across each joint. I found that I could just mount two sections between centers on my lathe, so I assembled the shaft sections in pairs to sand before gluing the joints. That way I could assemble and power sand all of the combinations to smooth the transition, glue everything, and finally hand sand the finished shaft off the lathe.

It was a fun project. I don't use a cane yet, but I have a selection if the need should every arise.

 

[Dalecamino]

You did a nice job on this cane.

 

[SteveG]

I just noticed this thread for the first time, long after your initial post. Your cane looks great, and has me thinking that I will make another one to replace my 'first', which got destroyed by a heavy object landing on it. (Sad.) I have one concern about the grip. In one of the pics, it looks like there is cross grain in the area where the grip meets the shaft. That is precisely where the load will apply when in use. Cross-grain is not nearly as strong as straight-grain for that type of load, and could result in the wood giving way. That could cause the user to fall. Another view, showing the other side, looks like what may be some of the grain direction in line with the flow from shaft-to-handle. Not sure of that from the pics. My solution to the issue was to join the shaft to the horizontal grip portion with a nice tight and deep finger joint. (The 'fingers' went fully through both pieces, producing an interlocking mesh of log grain going in both directions.) I tested that joint severely before putting it into use. Another possible solution would be to use a piece of wood that already had a natural curve matching the desired shape of the grip.

Perhaps my observations will be useful to consider and incorporate in future attempts...just trying to be helpful.

 

[monophoto]

I just noticed this thread for the first time, long after your initial post. Your cane looks great, and has me thinking that I will make another one to replace my 'first', which got destroyed by a heavy object landing on it. (Sad.) I have one concern about the grip. In one of the pics, it looks like there is cross grain in the area where the grip meets the shaft. That is precisely where the load will apply when in use. Cross-grain is not nearly as strong as straight-grain for that type of load, and could result in the wood giving way. That could cause the user to fall. Another view, showing the other side, looks like what may be some of the grain direction in line with the flow from shaft-to-handle. Not sure of that from the pics. My solution to the issue was to join the shaft to the horizontal grip portion with a nice tight and deep finger joint. (The 'fingers' went fully through both pieces, producing an interlocking mesh of log grain going in both directions.) I tested that joint severely before putting it into use. Another possible solution would be to use a piece of wood that already had a natural curve matching the desired shape of the grip.

Steve -

I think your concern is quite valid, and is something that I've worried about on the canes that I have made that have this kind of handle. While canes are intended to help the user retain balance and are not supposed to carry the weight of the user, I am concerned that if the user stumbles, the cane may be called upon to carry weight momentarily, and that would be exactly the wrong time for it to fail.

My solution has included several elements. First, the grain in the handle must be parallel to the grip (ie, parallel to the ground). Second, I've joined the shaft to that handle by means of a very hefty (5/8-7/8" diameter) tenon that extends at least halfway through the body of the handle. Typically, this tenon is an extension of the shaft (although I have made a few where this tenon is a 'loose tenon', ie a dowel that is glued into both the shaft and the handle - my handles are often turned on multiple axes, and this option may simplify that process.) So while the handle may appear to have cross grain down to the point where it meets the shaft, in fact that short grain is only a decorative outer sleeve, and the shaft/tenon actually extends all the way up into the handle.

Finally, I add a 1/4" pin to lock the handle to the tenon. On the first cane I made, the pin was perpendicular to both the shaft and the handle (and parallel to the ground). It was made from a contrasting wood, and extended all the way through the handle, so the ends of the pin formed decorative dots on either side. On later models, rather than using wood, I made the pin from fiberglass rod that was oriented it to be parallel to the length of the handle while passing through the tenon. In this design, the pin was several inches long, and was embedded completely within the handle - I disguised the hole where the pin was inserted into the handle using a plug turned from the same wood as the handle. In all cases, the pin was glued into both the handle and the tenon using epoxy.

 

[SteveG]

It sounds as though you have taken important design elements into consideration. My attention was caught the title of the thread. My thinking was that this was your first and only cane. Instead, it is clear now, that you have made multiples, and incorporated good design principles along the way. Great!