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I am working on the ULTIMATE rustic walking stick and Jacob's staff for the fanatical geologist. My 40 year old Jacob's staff from school days was in the attic, sitting unused for 10 years. I removed the Abney level so that I could devise... an attachment device for the new stick. Sadly, the ethanol has leaked or evaporated from the bubble level. This attaches via posts that measure 3.2 cm apart.

The usual suppliers, Forestry Suppliers, Ben Meadows, and Minerox can not replace the bubble. I think that the manufacturer, Mikasa, is out of business.

Any ideas? Where is a really good source of lots of leveling bubbles like this? I could just purchase a new Abney level, but this one has been over outcrops all over the USA and like my trusty rock hammer, I don't want to give it up.

The goal to add GPS fizzled, but I found a compass that isn't a toy but a durable scuba diver's compass that would work great for the top of the stick, if they will ship from Australia.

 

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Update, a repair guy at Forestry Suppliers may be able to find a replacement bubble! Fingers crossed.

 

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I could pull one of the end caps off this one, hopefully without breaking it, and if another tube is the same OD, I could insert it.

Several problems - now days I am told they don't make the bubbles out of glass and fill them with an organic liquid (like ethanol). They make them out of a plastic and use another liquid. Sizing is the other potential problem. Yes, I could make a frame, or modify one from the hardware store if necessary. Hopefully I will get lucky. The good news is that I have a long history of being lucky.

The Forestry Supplies repair guy said if I ship him the bubble, he has four kinds of replacements and if one would work he will send it for $10, if not he will return mine. So I'll try that first, but I will not send the Abney just to be safe.

 

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JJireh, in an emergency, you could drink the ethanol in the glass one!

Just kidding.

I'm always suspicious that changes to a perfectly good design are just to reduce manufacturing costs. In general, product quality seems to be deteriorating, not improving. My attitude may be attritubable to premature senility or just old fartedness.

 

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Cheap compass for under $2 with easy to install instructions:

http://www.klockit.com/products/dept-25__sku-32222.html

First-rate durable diving compass for over $30, made as a replacement insert for a compass on a wristband:

http://www.problue.com.tw/ag.htm

I may see if they will ship one of the diving compasses from Australia and also buy one of the cheap ones to compare durability and utility.

 

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Good luck JJireh. Remember the words of John Lennon: "Everything will be alright in the end. If it's not alright, it's not yet the end."

My younger (son) is 34 and my elder (daughter) is 38, both finished college and are happily married, and my daughter has rewarded me with two grandchildren with whom I spend nearly every Friday afternoon and evening, and sometimes Saturdays. Somehow, we began saving early and got them through college and married without borrowing. It will work out in the end.

 

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No problem at all Sean. When the hairy boys come around, point out what that shillelagh that you are working on is used for!

As crude as the two walking sticks that I made for the grandkids are, they are already going on walks with them!

Tomorrow my bubble level will ship to Forestry Suppliers, hoping that one of the four replacements they have will work. A little hitch, but it will work out.

 

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Status:

I have been to every hardware store in Tulsa and can't find an ideal piece of hardware to mount my Abney level, which looks a lot like this:

I plan to use a couple of brass shelf supports unless I stumble onto something better.

Struck out on a small and precise enough GPS, even though the technology exists.

Bought small brass screws to mark measure points on the stick.

Stopped by the local dive shop (yes one exists in Tulsa), and bought two of this small compass at about $25 each:

The kiln dried Bois d'Arc staves sold for bow making, at $200 plus shipping would deplete my warrior fund too much, so I don't yet have a suitable, dried stick. Perhaps the Kansas fence post outfit will resolve this issue.

I can't wait to finish this project, and I'd bet a six pack that some geologists will show up here eventually.

 

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I agree, I decided not to buy a lathe or the kiln-dried Bois d'Arc staves, as that adds up to enough to slow down Afghanistan shipments (long story). There are some hardwood dealers locally, where I can pick up something to work on, as I wait for all my green sticks to dry.

The measure marks are easy, #8 brass wood screws every foot for five feet, starting at the bottom. Then #6 brass wood screws every tenth of a foot, the lowermost foot.

The clamp for the Abney os more difficult. It was easy to mount it atop the aluminum tubing that I used 40 years ago. It was mounted so that the lens at precisely five feet above ground level. In order to mount a compass on top at perhaps 5' 4" or 5' 6", easy to view, the Abney must be side mounted and easy to attach and remove for protection in thick woods and brambles, and the steeper rocky outcrops, or just when it isn't needed and there is no point in risking damage.

After looking in all the usual hardware stores, I have up on a brass spacer all the way through the stick, into which I could slip a pin attached to a clamp. Yesterday I bought two small brass bookshelf holders that I can attach by drilling a shallow hole and epoxy them on. Getting them perfectly to fit and perfectly squared is the tricky part.

 

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My nearest Lowe's doesn't carry red cedar in 2" x 2" stock, but I think I can get 2" x 4" x 8' and get them to rip it for a nominal cost. One challenge will be to find a piece that is straight and with few knots. After working on taxes today, I hope to have time to look.

 

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On my lunch break, I stopped by a hardwood vender on a hard-to-find street. He is ordering me some 2" x ??? x 10' pecan stock at $5.50 per board foot, and he will cut square lengths of 6' and 4' for me.

Now, I won't have to come back posthumously as a zombie to compete the sticks that are now curing in the garage.

Still, I will use primarily hand tools to get this down to size, and I should have a fairly rustic looking product.

The cost per stick should be nominal, and the labor will be more than I want to think about right now. But I will enjoy it.

 

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Status:

I have been to every hardware store in Tulsa and can't find an ideal piece of hardware to mount my Abney level, which looks a lot like this:

image.jpg

I plan to use a couple of brass shelf supports unless I stumble onto something better.

One of those "DUH" moments struck. The Abney level could be perfectly squared and secured, simply by leaving a short square section of the stick (or just one flat side, or not), and using a square to draw perpendicular guides across the stick and then sawing two cuts with a miter saw, just deep enough to set in the Abney, but not too deep. Then a metal or wood strip that slides vertically can secure the Abney in it's slot. The stick will be sufficiently wide near the top anyway.

 

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CAS: if you can, post pictures of the process! I'm interested in how all of this is going to come together!

Only if you promise not to make fun of me. I'm a very sensitive person. :thumbsu:

 

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Just joking. At my age not much bothers me, unless you mess with my grandkids, then you are in deep doo doo.

 

[CAS14]

I am working on the ULTIMATE rustic walking stick and Jacob's staff for the fanatical geologist. My 40 year old Jacob's staff from school days was in the attic, sitting unused for 10 years. I removed the Abney level so that I could devise... an attachment device for the new stick. Sadly, the ethanol has leaked or evaporated from the bubble level. This attaches via posts that measure 3.2 cm apart.
The usual suppliers, Forestry Suppliers, Ben Meadows, and Minerox can not replace the bubble. I think that the manufacturer, Mikasa, is out of business.
Any ideas? Where is a really good source of lots of leveling bubbles like this? I could just purchase a new Abney level, but this one has been over outcrops all over the USA and like my trusty rock hammer, I don't want to give it up.

1970 Mikasa Abney level_50.jpg

1) We returned home late Sunday from my brother's place in Texas. I cut some cured but cracked cedar, some green cedar, some oak, and another wood not found around Tulsa. Now I have to decide between the pecan that I bought (it will be here this week), and the cracked but very hard and with shrinkage cracks. I am inclined to use the "natural" from my brother's place, after some remedial work on those cracks, some of which extend 3/8" and into the heartwood.

2) The replacement level from Forestry Suppliers was waiting on our doorstep. With a little reaming of the pre-drilled screw holes, it fit perfectly. The internal mirror is a bit cloudy but it works well enough. This Abney may not be as good as new, but it has travelled all over the USA, throughout the Rockies and the Appalachians, and many other areas. I can't give it up.

I think that if I heat the structural epoxy on a glass plate and warm the cracked cedar stick, that the epoxy will penetrate deeper into the cracks. I made thin sections (slides from thin slices of rock) as a graduate assistant, over forty years ago. We heated the epoxy back then. If nobody here says "no don't do it", then I will try that. The epoxy should be less viscous.

 

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Cedar is a tricky beast, because of its structure it can be sturdy as stone, but have a hidden weakness that can break a stick from top to bottom. This is also dependent on the types of cedars too. We have red cedars here and I personally avoid them unless the are to remain un-cut and not carved. i.e. a post I wouldn't put my best equipment on them, but you could experiment with them. The fact that they are alread cracked would make me even more wary.

Thanks for the heads up! I will avoid installing expensive hardware, at least until I have banged them around a bit. I believe that this is also red cedar, and so your experience is especially relevant. I think that I will go ahead with the epoxy experiment, unless the guys at Woodcraft advise that this particular structural epoxy shouldn't be heated. I should experiment with a small segment that is deeply cracked, apply the warm epoxy, let it cure, and then saw it to see how far it penetrated and how well it bonded the crack.

If only there is a way to use these very straight and attractive sticks, I would have an unlimited supply every time I visit my brother.

 

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Jumping ahead to hardware, I need a detachable bracket to secure a mount for the Abney level so that can be detached and protected in rough terrain, and easily attached, perfectly level if the stick is perpendicular to sea level. Plans A, B, C, and D failed because no such parts could be found or they were just too complicated. Plan E will work. A bed rail bracket will attach near the top of the stick, and the other part of the bracket will screw into square hardwood dowels with spacers. The hardwood is not yet purchased.

 

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Several leather instrument cases will simply secure to the stick with some sort of web belt device, including the Abney level and the Brunton compass. My KA-BAR sheath may be attached that way, depending on the group or if I am solo.

All equipment dilemmas are solved. Now I need to epoxy my favorite, cracked cedar stick.

 

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Here is the likely stick, right after cutting.
http://walkingstickforum.com/gallery/image/139-me-and-my-niece-at-my-brothers-place-near-fairfield-tx/

The stick is warming, and hot epoxy is about to be applied to the cracks on one side.
http://walkingstickforum.com/gallery/image/140-1st-candidate-stick/

A few weeks later, beginning to use the draw knife and then some sanding with 40 grit.

http://walkingstickforum.com/gallery/image/162-red-cedar-stick-a-work-in-progress/

Sanded down to 80 grit, then popped four recessed areas with 1 1/8" forstner bit. This is an experiment (shouldn't experiment on a piece with so much labor invested, but I maintain a positive attitude). A safer option would be to shave one or more sides flat, and then use the forstner bit, as with my profile image (a stick made for me by a retired Marine Gunny). However, I wanted this look:

http://walkingstickforum.com/gallery/image/178-more-progress/

 

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SitRep: pecan 2"x2" notched to fit Abney level very well, and a brass latch purchased to secute. Drilled with forstner and 9/16" with threaded 3/8"x16 female insert installed, and it secures nicely to the stick.

Working on the Glif iPhone attachment for stabile photos - shaping a bronze plumbing thing to protect exposed threads and to look better.

Dog tag and five of eight military pins embedded.

20mm shell arrives Tuesday for the bottom tip. I'll drill out the top and shape the stick to fit, then epoxy the 20mm on. Then, hack saw the lead round and drill and screw mount a hard rubber furniture leg protector so that it is exactly 5 feet below the sight on the Abney level when attached.

Rasp "Chepo-style" grooves at three one-foot spaced intervals, epoxy & wrap soft brass 16-ga. wire, and then mark 1/10 foot for a foot with brass screws. Then I can measure thin outcropping rock beds.

Make another hardwood attachment just for a compass.

Seal & finish with lots of coats of Danish Oil & then wax.

Add a paracord section to grip with a loop.

Name it MacGyver, as the girl at the hardware store suggested after asking me what I was doing with all the assorted hardware.

A few hours every other weekend isn't knocking this out very quickly, but it is beggining to take shape.

Right now, using a rasp to cut grooves at one-foot intervals similar to the "Chepo style" grooves I learned about on the Slingshot Forum. They worked great on my first slingshit: