I’ve mentioned previously I make canes. Below is a photo of the four made over the last several months. From left is hickory with a hickory handle, ambrosia oak with an argentine lignum vitae handle, quilted pacific bigleaf maple with bigleaf handle, and cherry and black walnut with a cherry handle. The last is nearing completion with just a little work on the handle remaining.
Very nice work!
Can we see a pic of your shop?
No shop. I sit under the garage awning while using a spokeshave, rasp, files, hand saw, and sandpaper. The only power tool I normally use is a cordless drill for the handles and copper pins.
Very nice canes & excellent craftsmanship!! Well done…… :+1:
Wow, even more impressive! Absolutely beautiful work sir.
Love seeing such fine wood crafting. Kudos to your talents sir!
Very nice work.
That quilted grain pattern looks wonderful!
Excellent work!
The next three planned are flowering dogwood, lilac, and black walnut. Both the dogwood and lilac will be challenging due to high janka ratings.
What is a “janka rating” tekwyzrd??
from wikipedia: “The Janka hardness test measures the resistance of a sample of wood to denting and wear. It measures the force required to embed an 11.28 millimetres (0.444 in) diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood.”
In the US the rating is in pounds. Dogwood is 2150 and lilac is 2350. For comparison black walnut is 910.
Interesting info… thanks tekwyzrd. :+1:
I never would have thought those two woods were so hard. 
The argentine lignum vitae I like for handles is rated just over 3000.
:+1: . . . Yep, I know first hand it is hard, real hard!! We use it for knife handle scales from time to time on fixed blades.
The dogwood cane is in progress. I cut one of the trunks from the dogwood in my back yard about ten years ago to deal with a wound due to two trunks crossing and rubbing. I cut it, peeled the bark, and put it in the garage where it was forgotten until recently. I decided to put it to use as the cherry and walnut cane was nearing completion. After contemplating how to eliminate the curves and deciding it was impossible I decided to instead work with the curves. The result is a slight corkscrew effect which I’ve been wanting to create and through dumb luck achieved. There’s a slight spiral I’m still refining for taper and diameter. The trunk cutting is currently 6 ft long and I’m agonizing over cutting it or working it as a hikeing stick. There are severel cracks at knots I filled with sanding dust and cyanoacrylate that will become virtually invisible after the ebonizing process. Photos soon.
That dogwood is gonna be as hard as my head!
Don’t cut it, make a hiking staff with it…… :+1:
Seriously considering this option and methods to make it dual purpose. Such is the case with the canes. I build them as personal assistance devices and self defense tools. They’re not your typical cane. The maple is 7/8” thick as is the hickory and the oak was cut from a 5/4 trunk slice. The cherry and walnut was hand split and tapers down to about 1.25” x 1” with adjustments to a 1” tip.
Yeah, I’d be hard pressed to bring myself to cut it… :person_facepalming: … But the “multi purpose” option you mentioned sounds really interesting. A cane and/or a hiking staff… that would be the best of both worlds if you can come up with a strong method to join it when in ‘staff mode’. :+1:
Good luck deciding & keep us posted on what you decide. 
With those dimensions…… they certainly are sturdy!!