Dragon Head Walking Cane

Here is my recent walking cane I've made. The handle is carved from Burmese blackwood with a Mahogany ring. The stave is Silver Maple from a sapling I cut down in the backyard, and was dried for two months in my garage. It was a lot of work, and definitely a learning experience, but was fun and I would definitely do it again.



Here's the start to it. That's my lovely wife in the background modeling for the picture.

...Ok, maybe she wasn't a willing model.

Here it is coming along. I did all the carving with a Dremel using various bits.

Here is the stave, made from Silver Maple. There were a few knots in it that checked a bit while drying, but I was able to stay it off by adding wood glue to the knots until it was fully dried.

Here is how the stave is connected to the handle. Normally, an insert pin would be added to keep the dowel in place as well, but the curvature of the stave made me a little nervous about lining everything up and I decided against it.

Here's the finished product. It was finished the same way I finish my pipes. I had thought about finishing the stave with linseed oil, but I liked the white color and didn't want it to yellow.  It was sanded down with 1000 grit paper and then buffed with a series of rouge, white diamond, and carnauba wax to a shine.

Here's my beautiful little model. :)

I had a lot of fun making this, and of course, if you're interested in one, my contact info is on the right of the page. Thanks for looking!

Mike