Joined
·
1,843 Posts
I mentioned in the "Good Morning" thread that I roughed out a couple Cardigan handles. Well, not quite.
They're still good handles, they just aren't good Cardigan handles. I made a really basic mistake. Instead of going for one or two really good handles from the block I was cutting them from I got greedy and tried to get more.
The two blanks in question are on the left. They're some pretty nice curly maple. That's why I was trying to maximize the yield. The problem is there's not enough wood at the butt end of the handles to get that long end that is a definitive feature of a good Cardigan handle. I'll still get a couple nice handles from them but looking back I think one truly good handle would have been better.
There's another mistake in this picture. The Market stick handle on the top right is perfectly fine at this point. The handle on the bottom right isn't. Instead of staying with the perfectly good market stick handle that it was shaping up to be I decided to get creative. It looks ok but there's one basic problem. It's not that comfortable to hold. Staying with the traditional market stick shape would have been far better. I may end up scrapping it. Uncomfortable canes don't get used.
Here's another couple mistakes.
The pistol grip handle at the top is from a piece of Pacific Madrone I had that had an interesting branch growing out at a funny angle. The branch is now the shank on this handle. The problem with this one is a little less apparent. The piece was originally big enough to get a Cardigan handle from until I mis-cut one angle on the bandsaw. The pistol grip is what I could salvage from that error. It will still be a decent handle, just not as good as it could have been.
The derby/fritz style handle at the bottom has a chip out on the edge where it joins the shank due to an unsupported cut at the table saw. I cut the angle after the handle was already mostly shaped. It would have been far better to cut that angle while the handle still had some good square surfaces to use to guide the cut. Not a huge issue. There's enough material that it will go away when I fit the handle to the shank.
The third handle is roughed out from an oak branch that had a nice curve at what is now the top of the handle. No real mistakes on this one. I just need to mate it with an appropriate shank. I'll finish the shaping then.
Here's another shot of the derby handle, this time on the shank.
The small gap between the handle and shank is another direct result of making the angled cut after the handle was shaped. I'll end up drilling the hole bigger and filling the gap between the wood and all-thread with epoxy to straighten it out. It won't affect the strength of the cane but is extra work that could have been avoided with better planning.
This cane will be a gift to a friend of a friend when it's complete. The handle and bottom of the shank are cherry, there's a section of curly maple in the middle with a couple spacers of raintree wood to separate them.
This last shot is a couple of Cardigan style canes I'm finishing. You can see the long butt on these ones that the handles in the first picture lack.
They're hanging upside down while I oil them. I'm just a couple coats away from them being done now.
Thanks for looking,
Rodney
They're still good handles, they just aren't good Cardigan handles. I made a really basic mistake. Instead of going for one or two really good handles from the block I was cutting them from I got greedy and tried to get more.
The two blanks in question are on the left. They're some pretty nice curly maple. That's why I was trying to maximize the yield. The problem is there's not enough wood at the butt end of the handles to get that long end that is a definitive feature of a good Cardigan handle. I'll still get a couple nice handles from them but looking back I think one truly good handle would have been better.
There's another mistake in this picture. The Market stick handle on the top right is perfectly fine at this point. The handle on the bottom right isn't. Instead of staying with the perfectly good market stick handle that it was shaping up to be I decided to get creative. It looks ok but there's one basic problem. It's not that comfortable to hold. Staying with the traditional market stick shape would have been far better. I may end up scrapping it. Uncomfortable canes don't get used.
Here's another couple mistakes.
The pistol grip handle at the top is from a piece of Pacific Madrone I had that had an interesting branch growing out at a funny angle. The branch is now the shank on this handle. The problem with this one is a little less apparent. The piece was originally big enough to get a Cardigan handle from until I mis-cut one angle on the bandsaw. The pistol grip is what I could salvage from that error. It will still be a decent handle, just not as good as it could have been.
The derby/fritz style handle at the bottom has a chip out on the edge where it joins the shank due to an unsupported cut at the table saw. I cut the angle after the handle was already mostly shaped. It would have been far better to cut that angle while the handle still had some good square surfaces to use to guide the cut. Not a huge issue. There's enough material that it will go away when I fit the handle to the shank.
The third handle is roughed out from an oak branch that had a nice curve at what is now the top of the handle. No real mistakes on this one. I just need to mate it with an appropriate shank. I'll finish the shaping then.
Here's another shot of the derby handle, this time on the shank.
The small gap between the handle and shank is another direct result of making the angled cut after the handle was shaped. I'll end up drilling the hole bigger and filling the gap between the wood and all-thread with epoxy to straighten it out. It won't affect the strength of the cane but is extra work that could have been avoided with better planning.
This cane will be a gift to a friend of a friend when it's complete. The handle and bottom of the shank are cherry, there's a section of curly maple in the middle with a couple spacers of raintree wood to separate them.
This last shot is a couple of Cardigan style canes I'm finishing. You can see the long butt on these ones that the handles in the first picture lack.
They're hanging upside down while I oil them. I'm just a couple coats away from them being done now.
Thanks for looking,
Rodney
