Cane Handles

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winpooh498

winpooh498

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Apr 23, 2007
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Location
Junction City, Oregon, USA.
We are looking at making some canes for Shane. We purchased CSUSA's brass cane handle, but the plating wore off really fast and turned his had green/black. So we are hunting around for a higher quality handle, preferably not plated. Does anyone know of a vendor that sells them? We heard that Rockler sells solid cast brass handles, but would like to hear if anyone has experience with them.
 
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Threre may still be buffalo horn handles out there..can you turn a wood one? I hate the feel of metal handles..but wood feels great on the hand of one who must use all the time
 
Hi Dawn,

Treeline is probably going to end up being the same as CSUSA, since they are owned by the same family and are located less than a hundred yards apart. I have some of the brass handles from Rockler, and although I have not made any canes with them yet, I am quite impressed with their quality. Also, I was bored and doing a search at Rockler the other day and they had some buffalo horn handles that looked nice.

Turning a cane is my next project. I have a nice blank of macassar ebony laying next to my lathe. I am just not sure what I want to do about a cane tip. I'll probably have to just go with a brass ferrule, but I would like something with a rubber tip (without using one of those great big rubber tips that fits over the end of the cane). That's what's holding me up right now, as I'm not sure what I want to do about the tip. What do you guys do?

Scott.
 
Thanks Scott,
I did know about the connections between Treeline & CSUSA. The treeline handles look like a better handle in the pictures (for what ever that is worth).
We have only made one cane so far Cocobolo with the Eagle head handle from CSUSA. There has got to be more places that sell nice handles, I am just not finding any.
As for the tip, I agree about the rubber things. But I don't know what the other options could/would be.
 
Scott said:
Hi Dawn,

Treeline is probably going to end up being the same as CSUSA, since they are owned by the same family and are located less than a hundred yards apart. I have some of the brass handles from Rockler, and although I have not made any canes with them yet, I am quite impressed with their quality. Also, I was bored and doing a search at Rockler the other day and they had some buffalo horn handles that looked nice.

Turning a cane is my next project. I have a nice blank of macassar ebony laying next to my lathe. I am just not sure what I want to do about a cane tip. I'll probably have to just go with a brass ferrule, but I would like something with a rubber tip (without using one of those great big rubber tips that fits over the end of the cane). That's what's holding me up right now, as I'm not sure what I want to do about the tip. What do you guys do?

Scott.
Click to expand...

I know some have done it. But, my experience is that turning a one piece cane is an exercise in futility. Even with a center steady rest, they flex and vibrate terribly. Canes and walking sticks made with the brass couplers can be very nice and are more amenable to turning. If I want a one piece cane, I have a large antique post vice outside the shop. I use that as a subsitute for a shaving horse and drawknife the piece to the way I want it. No lathe involved.
 
Rifleman1776 said:
No lathe involved.
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I would think you can still turn details on the ends if you like. Beads and coves and such. The ends should be stable enough to work with.

Using a craptastic HF lathe (the green one with the sander on one end) I was able to turn a long 1.5" piece for a table leg. It was 40" long and the middle wobbled like mad. Not having a steady I held the gouge in one hand and stabilized the spinning wood with the other.

Sanding removed all the catches and oopsies. :redface:
 
I have turned two canes before. One for my Dad out of Afzelia xylay, and one out of figured bubinga for my Dad's girlfriend. For handles I bought one off of Ebay for my Dad's cane, and I tried carving one for his girlfriend's cane. I discovered I am not a carver!

I turn the canes as one shaft. I do use a spindle steady, and I have to keep the speeds down quite slow, but it really isn't too bad.

I have been looking for handles, but there is not much available.

Scott.
 
Hi Lou!

That AboutCanes.com place only sells canes, not just the handles. I had checked with them years ago and they said no. Just in case they had changed their minds I contacted them again, and it was still no. Too bad - they really do have some nice ones!

Scott.
 
Scott said:
Hi Lou!

That AboutCanes.com place only sells canes, not just the handles. I had checked with them years ago and they said no. Just in case they had changed their minds I contacted them again, and it was still no. Too bad - they really do have some nice ones!

Scott.
Click to expand...

Hi Scott -

I figured I could just cannibalize one of their canes for the handle and tip! :cool:
 
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