Rain; All Right!

Rain; All Right!

Fall is here in full force, 4” of rain during the past couple of days. This is the time of the year when most of the outdoor stuff and honey do’s are done and I can return to my wood shop for the winter. I have a large supply of fire wood for the stove and many projects planned.

I have been collecting many ideas for projects from friends, magazines various art shows and of course the special requests from family and friends. Some of the things I like to make are wooden bowls, walking canes, cutting boards, cabinets, and basically anything that gets my creative juices flowing.

lately I have been making walking canes for family and friends; these are very fancy pieces of work, I always said; “if you have to use a walking cane, you should be proud of it”.

I will use any type of wood that is strong enough and has some character. Diamond Willow is a good choice, strong and easy to work with. I cut a spiral along the length of the Cain to give it some character and after sanding,

finishing and trimming to a personal length I add a brass handle and a brass and rubber tip. I like to use a cooked stick for the cane, the middle can bend and twist but the ends have to be in alignment, so that when you push down on the handle the tip is directly below and not off to one side.

Cutting a spiral on a straight piece of wood is relatively easy. Cutting a spiral on a crooked piece is more difficult, the difficulty is in balancing the spirals so that they flow around and along the crooked body of the Cain.

Two pictures are of Diamond Willow and the third picture is a straight piece of Ash with both ends attached so you can see what a finished Cain looks like. A book titled "The Basics of Turning Spirals" by Bill Bowers very well explains how to make spirals. In a later Post I will show you how I layout a spiral along a crooked stick