Canes

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Greetings all
Last comment on Kubotans. I just found out Kubotans are illegal in RI. You should probably check your state regulations or if brave do the "Don,t ask, don,t tell" trick.
One final thought. If you believe in the second amendment, like firearms, maybe do some shooting and carry. Join the NRA. even if you don,t agree with everything they do, they are a powerfull lobby that protects your F.A rights. There are 80 million gun owners in the USA and only 4 million NRA members. Whats wrong with this picture?
Chuck out
 
I have rattan canes and still recommend hickory or ash over them. Rattan lacks the density and mass of wood and while it allows for greater speed of strikes it is less rigid than wood and absorbs some of the energy of the blow.
 
Greetings Owlhoot
hickory and maple canes look real nice and are strong. they are also heavier than a Rattan cane. If you are going to use your cane as a crude clubbing device, get the heavier cane. A fire hardened Rattan cane will deliver a devestating blow and will not break. The light weight allows quick follow up blocks and strikes if needed. you can also use it one handed like a Escrima stick. If you swing my rattans like a BB bat against a oak tree, the Cane will not break and will absorb the vibrations up the shaft. My Canes carry a lifetime warrantee. See my web site for a complete line of Canes in Rattan and Crocus wood. Also self Defense cane and stick DVD,s on how to use them.
Thanks
Ancient Dragon
 
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Here is my newest play toy!
My 8_ball shift sticked cane. The 7/8 Hardwood dowel didn't look nice enough for a stain and spray finish so I sealed it and sprayed 4 coats of gray paint on it.

mistiff014.jpg
 
dust_101 said:
Folks, I am in need of some advice. Recently I've been employed by a place where weapons are 100% not allowed (I know, but times are tough) so I'm no longer carrying anything during the workday but for a small swisstech utilikey.

I'm looking more for somewhere to purchase one that may not break the bank, but in the same vein, if there are any other good suggestions for non-combat oriented canes that offer some style but more importantly, subtlety... i'm all ears.
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Go to Inesco.com, get the octagonal "elephant cane" for (currently) $11.30 plus shipping. Finish it yourself, if necessary boil open the crook.
BTW I am the chap on the other forum that said it is hickory. It is. I have three, all straight grained, stout and nearly unbreakable.
 
roundoff said:
I can't tell what kind of wood it is just by looking. It's a light-colored, unfinished wood, obviously hardwood. According to some dude on another forum, it's made of hickory.
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Yes, it is hickory. I am the guy that posted in that other forum.
I once posted a chart I found online of the qualities of a large number of hardwoods, domestic and other. It turned out that other than cocobolo, hickory is the run-away champion for sticks and canes even if they are not to be used as defense. It has better impact resistance (witness its use as hammer handles), resistance to splitting and breaking, is denser than any rationally priced wood available.
At some point, I plan to experiment with the commercial product called Dymondwood, that may give hickory a run for the money as it is many layers of birch compressed and impregnated with resin.
For everyday use, the Inesco elephant cane cannot be better ever. For sure it is better than the tricked out "martial arts" canes that scream weapon, either in your hand or in a courtroom. Better too than the hame handled monsters that are designed to disassemble small brick buildings. they may be better than my blackthorn with the lignum vitae handle I made. Great looks, but bulky in appearance and weighty.
 
Originally Posted by Greenmountainbooks
I once posted a chart I found online of the qualities of a large number of hardwoods, domestic and other. It turned out that other than cocobolo, hickory is the run-away champion for sticks and canes even if they are not to be used as defense. It has better impact resistance (witness its use as hammer handles), resistance to splitting and breaking, is denser than any rationally priced wood available.
At some point, I plan to experiment with the commercial product called Dymondwood, that may give hickory a run for the money as it is many layers of birch compressed and impregnated with resin.
Click to expand...

What's your take on American Hornbeam (aka Musclewood)? I have a 6' staff of it this and it grows locally to me. I am considering tracking down a smaller piece for a T or L handle cane (you can't really bend a crook far as I know, too tough).

Also inesco.com is some Spanish natural gas company or something. Doesn't look like the right place.

EDIT: Ah here we go: http://www.enasco.com/action/ProductDetail?sku=C07434N
 
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www.enasco.com
I've got two of the octogonal hickory "elephant" canes, as well. Just boil the crook a bit to get it to open up, sand it, then finish as you like. I've used a mix of linseed oil and turpentine--rubbed it in several times and polished same. Results are very nice. I finish it up w/ a 1 to 1&1/8" rubber tip (available at any hardware store). Nasco'll run specials now and then on their canes, or you can just pay the "full" price. In any case, you'll get a monster cane at a very affordable price--I keep 'em in the back seat of the car.
 
Deltaboy, nice improvisation. I think I would have gone black on the shaft, just to blend it all together, but that's just me.

I ordered a 60'' sheep crook from Nasco to cut down for my current project (I have to have mine in the 39-40" range) and I screwed it up, bad. :uhoh:
Tried to save it best I could but its time to re-order and start over from scratch. :banghead:
 
"What's your take on American Hornbeam (aka Musclewood)? I have a 6' staff of it this and it grows locally to me. I am considering tracking down a smaller piece for a T or L handle cane (you can't really bend a crook far as I know, too tough."


If you want an L shape, find a hornbeam sappling you like, and dig around the root to find one thats shaped like you need. Then dig it up by the root and age it down your basement. Thats what I did for the hornbeam canes I made that have an L shape to the handle. Once aged, I used a wood rasp and sandpaper to shape and smooth it. When finished, the root handle looks like brier. Leave the bark on, its part of the woods strength and the under bark is so thick you have to loose a lot of wood getting it off. I just finish with 0000 steel wool and use the minwax stain and seal of choice. Besides, leaving the bark on gives it a more rustic look.

I think our hornbeam is tougher than the English blackthorn.
 
Hammerson said:
Deltaboy, nice improvisation. I think I would have gone black on the shaft, just to blend it all together, but that's just me.

I ordered a 60'' sheep crook from Nasco to cut down for my current project (I have to have mine in the 39-40" range) and I screwed it up, bad. :uhoh:
Tried to save it best I could but its time to re-order and start over from scratch. :banghead:
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I picked up a can of flat black for another project last week. I think a repaint is in order.
 
Carl Levitian said:
"What's your take on American Hornbeam (aka Musclewood)? I have a 6' staff of it this and it grows locally to me. I am considering tracking down a smaller piece for a T or L handle cane (you can't really bend a crook far as I know, too tough."


If you want an L shape, find a hornbeam sappling you like, and dig around the root to find one thats shaped like you need. Then dig it up by the root and age it down your basement. Thats what I did for the hornbeam canes I made that have an L shape to the handle. Once aged, I used a wood rasp and sandpaper to shape and smooth it. When finished, the root handle looks like brier. Leave the bark on, its part of the woods strength and the under bark is so thick you have to loose a lot of wood getting it off. I just finish with 0000 steel wool and use the minwax stain and seal of choice. Besides, leaving the bark on gives it a more rustic look.

I think our hornbeam is tougher than the English blackthorn.
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Hop hornbeam is incredibly tough but it is nowhere near as heavy as blackthorn or even common hickory.
 
"Hop hornbeam is incredibly tough but it is nowhere near as heavy as blackthorn or even common hickory. "


Thats the whole point of it!

You get a very very tough stick that is lighter in weight and can be used faster with more velocity in a swing that you don't have to wind up for. Like rattan, only tougher.

With a lighter stick, feints and changes of direction of a blow can be done with greater speed, not to mention multible blow moves like hitting the back of a wrist and going right to a backhand across a face. .

Its the difference between a broadsword and a rapier.
 
Carl's point is why I think I would prefer a hornbeam to a hickory. It's matches how I prefer to fight.
My current stick is Chinese waxwood, which is light yet near indestructible, but it's a little too light and besides it's getting old and it only comes in straight poles, no knob or crook possible far as I know.

Also just a side note: "Hop" Hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) is not the same plant I was talking about. I was referring to Carpinus caroliniana. Both are quite tough, but I believe the latter is the tree that grows near me. No luck so far getting a sample, but I'll post pics if I find a good piece.
 
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Hey glistam, look down along stream bottom land and low places were theres a creek or marshy land. Threres a ton of the stuff growing in Montgomery county. Just let it age down your basement for a year when you find it.
 
Is this tree similar to the Horse apple or bodock tree ??
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AKA Osage Orange? I believe they are similar. A native American friend of my mother's once told me in his opinion they make the finest wood for bows. It's dense, highly resistant to decay, and has better bending strength and elasticity than ash and many other woods.
 
Found some musclewood

Success! I found a good piece of Hornbeam (thanks to Carl for the advice on where to look). Wow this stuff does not come quietly; fights the saw to the last splinter.

The piece in the pictures is 40" to allow enough working room (my ideal cane size is 34-35" for a person my height). You'll note it's not a root knob, and actually I could not find any where the trunk coming from the knob wasn't 3 or more inches in diameter. It's going into storage to dry, but any suggestions on what kind of head to put on or carve into?
 

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