Canes

Ron, those are fabulous! I love the last one the best though! Sheese, you could sell those in a heartbeat! Esp. of other cane users aren't satisfied with the canes they buy. They are most definitely prettier than the ugly, plain ones you see out. If you have to use a cane, might as well be a beautiful, classy one! Maybe you could take a close up so we can see the carving better?

Glad to see ya' posting again. I always miss your posts when you take a break from us. Sounds like you have had a great "get away from reality" vacation - you lucky dog, you! But glad to see you back!

I'm still working on my walking sticks - between tumbling, grinding, drilling holes and now beading! Needless to say, I have more projects than I can handle! I've got two finished ones and 9 in various stages. And three or four sticks in the RV basement - a couple need to be sanded, the others are ready for the finish to be put on them. I should have gotten out and cut more sticks in the summer, bark is much easier to strip off and they are full of sap in the winter. I have done one out of maple that I really like and have another maple stick dried and ready to sand - boy, that's a job! I stained one of the cedar ones with a Golden Oak stain - that sure changed the appearance of it. I think I am going to experiment with a couple other colors/kinds of stain. We have alot of oak trees here, but I haven't even looked for any kind of branch to make a walking stick from. I need to do that! Also have a cypress branch. Cedar is definitely easier to work with because the bark just peels off - at least in the summertime, but even sticks cut now are easier to strip of bark than sanding and sanding and sanding on the maple and cypress.

I love having the grinder because I can grind stones of the same diameter to top off the sticks. Have thought about doing some with handles like yours, but haven't yet gotten around to it and probably won't with everything else I have going. At least I can never say I have nothing to do!

llana

Hi Ron.
I'm so glad to see you back here! Been missing you. Your canes are great. Love the middle one in the top pic, but the bottom one is awesome!

BE

Amazing canes...how did you arrive at the decision to accent them with unakite in particular?

Nice to see you back in action! Those canes are fantastic...what type of finish are you using? I make walking sticks out of diamond willow and have also been thinking about how to incorporate one of my tumbled stones into each one. My problem is trying to find a piece of wood that is straight enough to make a decent cane. Most diamond willow tends to have a curve...would you have any idea on how to straighten them out? Also, how do you keep the ends from cracking?

Any suggestions from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Now, about tumbling...or drilling holes, how long are the drill bits you are using with your Dremel, or does that depend on the width of the stone you are drilling?

Thanks for all the great info you continue to post to this site, especially your drilling setup. I am having trouble locating a drill press for my Dremel here on Vancouver Island; none of the stores are carrying it anymore, including Walmart and Home Depot, Canadian Tire, etc. so I will probably have to order one from the US.

WoW, I love it. That's a really great cane, you do
awesome work. Do you do anything special or cut them
at certain times of year to keep them from splitting?

Cher

Welcome back Ron,

Holy Cow ... you sure put it on those walking sticks!

I remember my Grandpa whittling his Diamond Willow walking canes ... and yes, if we got to being too loud or not listening ... we would get a nice little swat to the hind end! Needless to say ... when Grandpa said to be quiet ... you didn't make a sound

It looks like some excellent craftsmanship there ... keep up the great work!

John

Oh, Ron, that looks great! The finishing touch! Your canes are beautiful!

llana

Oh, Ron, that is beautiful! I love the leaf and vine design!

llana

I love the tripod cane, not many people would think of doing something like that, you would not believe how many people I taught to use that type of cane when I was a Physical Therapist Assistant for 15 years. I know that there would have been more people receptive to using a tripod or a quad cane if they looked like that. Those are very classy. The oak one I would say is the one I would choose to put a stone on.
You are doing a great job on those canes, keep up the good work.