[Rodney]

....an understanding wife and a new project.



This is a picture of our dining room table at the moment. It's below freezing and I have an unheated shop. If I was to glue this handle up outside I'd be lucky to even get the epoxy out of the tube, let alone mixed and cured properly.

I'm hoping it will be a presentable cardigan handle for a new cane I'm making for myself. It's curly maple with raintree wood and holly spacers.



The shank is a turned piece of Pacific Yew. I found the board I made this from laying next to the road where it apparently fell of someone's truck about 15 years ago. It's not a commercially harvested species so I'm lucky to have it. I've been eyeing the board for a while wondering if I could get a shank out of it.

Should be a nice formal city stick when I'm done.

My shop is a real mess right now.

Rodney

 

[cobalt]

I don't understand why our wives put up with us. lol

Think we have all been there and done that. After all I have also found there is no chance of even using epoxy yet ,my workshop is just the same .

Havnt done any work in there since a couple of weeks before Christmas and its getting annoying got a radiator in there now trouble is you have to turn it on at lest a couple of hours for it to make any difference. so it has to go on by 9am to start work around lunch time, otherwise you miss the boat

A cardigan stick is comfortable has a classic look and gives a air of style for the user have fun

 

[Sean]

Cool, and that has two meanings! Also chilly up here in BC, Canada where we are in the midst of an Arctic outflow and its very chilly. I have an unheared shop as well and its no place for glue, staining, finishing.
Cool project you are on to there.

 

[CV3]

Look forward to following your progress. Nice looking project.

 

[Rodney]

Well, I've been working on the handle. There's enough differences between what I have so far and a cardigan handle that I can't call this handle a cardigan anymore. I can make a decent handle out of it yet but it's not what I was aiming for. I'm thinking about setting it aside and starting over.

Rodney

 

[Rodney]

I decided to keep messing with it.

Here's where I'm at now.



It's nowhere near being a cardigan handle, maybe next time I'll get it right. It's just a simple "L" shaped handle now but it works. I still have to glue it up and do some final fitting and shaping on it. I have a 3/8" steel rod running most of the way up the handle to take care of any potential short grain weakness there.

Rodney

 

[Gloops]

Going to make a nice stick, keep posting. - I use an old 1 /2 Kwatt propane heater in the garage/Wshop soon gets up to temp and have to tuen down to 1 Kw, good for making toast too.

 

[Rodney]

Glue up and final shaping and sanding is done. The stick is hanging with a couple coats of Tung oil on it at the moment.

Rodney

 

[Batakali]

Lookin' good Rodney!

 

[Rodney]

Thanks! I like how it's turning out.

Putting the finish on is pretty much what I expected. I just came in from checking it and the oil I put on yesterday is still tacky. Looks like the oil raised the grain on the handle a little too. I'll have to sand it a tiny bit once the oil is dry.

While I can get away with gluing things up inside, finishing isn't going to happen in the house. My wife has a really sensitive nose. There's also no good place to hang a stick while it dries. Progress is going to be slow.

Rodney

 

[Rodney]

This one is finally finished. I glued the ferrule on last night while I was gluing up the new shank on the market stick.

A couple really bad photos of the finished stick.





I'm keeping this one. It's been a while since I made a stick for myself and I didn't have any dressier sticks.

Thanks for looking.

Rodney