Matt Ranum
01-07-2010, 9:29 PM
A while back I was asking for some input on making walking canes for my Dad who was recently stricken with Cancer. This is what I ended up with for a first one. The only stock I had was 4/4 so I had to do some glue ups and thought for the shaft maybe a small strip of Walnut between the Maple would look decent. I had some scraps that had pretty decent grain in them and hated to burn them(another reason Santa gave me pen turning stuff) so thought I would try and use them for this. Since the shaft was so long and I didn't have a steady rest I used shall we say some unconventional methods. I ended up turning a series of grooves along the shaft to use as depth gauges then took it to my galoot/neanderthal section of my shop and with my #3 Bailey took it down to my depth markers, then remounted it on the lathe and finished it off with a skew. The handle was all done the neanderthal way.
I wanted the grain to show through nicely, and wanted to try something other than poly so I picked up some Watco, which if I understand correctly is a BLO & varnish combo. I was floored how much it showed the grain off, I will definitely be using this stuff more often.
Dad was pretty proud when he was showing it off to the nurses in the Cancer center today when I took him in for a treatment. That right there is what its all about.:)
Anyway here are some before and after shots.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060001.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060002.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060002.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060009.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060010.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060006-1.jpg
I wanted the grain to show through nicely, and wanted to try something other than poly so I picked up some Watco, which if I understand correctly is a BLO & varnish combo. I was floored how much it showed the grain off, I will definitely be using this stuff more often.
Dad was pretty proud when he was showing it off to the nurses in the Cancer center today when I took him in for a treatment. That right there is what its all about.:)
Anyway here are some before and after shots.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060001.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060002.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060002.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060009.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060010.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/mr_matt3764/2010_01060006-1.jpg