[ralphtt]

Not there yet but at 76 may be a candidate for a cane sometime down the road. Have a question . . .

Some years ago I inherited an old cane that belonged to a brother of my grandmother. It has considerable sentimental value and even has his name engraved in block letters on one of the hexagonal sides of the cane. Problem is, the cane is too short for me.

I'm 6'4" tall and the cane is at least 4" too short. Is there any way to lengthen the cane and maintain it's serviceability? The cane is hickory and really in good shape. I have wondered if it would be possible to drill into the cane say about 4" and insert a 7" long steel shaft. Then I could use the protruding steel shaft to mount and epoxy another piece of wood.

Hope this is understandable. Long story short, I need some help from you pros out there as to how I can lengthen this old cane about 4".

All assistance really appreciated!

Regards,

 

[MJC4]

Welcome to the site, ralphtt. A lot will depend on the thickness of the cane at the joint. I assume you intend to add at the bottom? 5/16" or 3/8" all thread epoxied into the shank and the adder should do it. I would drill almost all the way through the adder and the same depth into the shank. "Dry" fit the two pieces before any epoxy. Another option, depending on the handle, would be to cut off the handle and add the piece between the handle and original shank. The "adder" could be camouflaged with a carving, wood burning or other decorative options like a medallion. The pics I have attached are a walking stick I'm working on. Last night I epoxied an 8 1/2" adder for a hand grip to a 36" red oak dowel. I used a 6" piece of 5/16" ready rod or all thread. A carved topper will be epoxied on as well then all the joints will be camouflaged by integrating them into the stick as part of the hand grip. If you can, post some pics of the cane you are thinking of modifying. Would be helpful to determine your best course to take.

Mark

 

[ralphtt]

Mark,

Thanks for the info. More I look at this cane, the bigger the project seems to be.

Turns out it is tapered. From the top of the crook to the floor, the cane measures 34-1/4". Width of the cane level with the bottom of the crook is 1" tapering to 3/4" where the cane meets the floor. So, there's a pretty good taper. Means that the only logical place to install the extension is at the bottom where the cane is 3/4" wide. Not much wood to work with here so drilling into the cane at least 4" would be prudent. Then you gotta' decide whether to extend the hexagonal shape through the new extension. Hope you can follow all this . . .

Sure could use the benefit of your experience . . . I need to decide just how long the extension would have to be. That may be key to whether the project is worthwhile. ^_^

 

[RandyL476]

Welcome to the forum wish I could be some help.

 

[Rodnogdog]

Hello, welcome to the site. To determine the length you need, stand up straight with you arms hanging naturally by your side and measure from the floor to the bump on on your wrist. This will be a close approximation of what will feel right in use.

If I were going to lengthen it, I would round the bottom section for several inches to a diameter of 3/4" and slide a piece of copper tubing over the rounded section (snug fit), then extend the bottom with a piece of the same kind of wood the cane is made of. Again, snug fit. Polish the copper, finish the wood at the bottom to match and cap with a rubber crutch tip. Where the upper and lower sections of wood meet the copper tube, carve a step in the wood so that the outside of the wood is flush with the outside of the tubing.

At 6'4", you will probably need a length around 38-39".

 

[ralphtt]

Thanks, guys . . . appreciate the tips. Didn't mean for the cane questions to 'take off' like they did. Not really appropriate for this "Introductions" part of the forum so I'll start another thread in a better spot.

The information you have provided is much appreciated and I'm glad I found the 'walkingstickforum'!

 

[CV3]

First welcome to the forum. The may be a number of solutions to you issue. It would help if you could post a picture or two of the cane. Also the diameter of the cane at the handle as well as at the bottom of the cane. The type of grip or handle and how it is attache to the cane. Below are the direction described in the previous post for measuring for the general length of a cane.

 

[Sean]

Welcome.

 

[gdenby]

Howdy,

I looked around yesterday to see if there were any ferrules for the tip that would extend it long enough. The closest I could find were for modern aluminum hiking sticks. The more common ones, both rubber and brass, were never more than 2" And all of them were to fit round shafts.

I'd be a little hesitant to drill down into the length of the shaft, In part because of the age of the wood, and the fact that the tip area seems somewhat bleached and worn.

One thing that did occur to me was that you might be able to find a hexagonal metal tube of the right cross section size in a hardware or bath fitting store. That could be cut perhaps 5.5" long, and have 2 sets of holes drilled so that the length could be pinned to the wood. Then fill the rest of the tube with some sort of resin or rotten wood filler, and paint the metal to match.