Repairing a walking stick

[Paul Chapman]

I always feel a little apprehensive when someone asks me to repair something that is of great sentimental value and irreplaceable. Such was the case with my Mother-in-Law's walking stick. It had belonged to her mother and originated in Ceylon many years ago.

Unfortunately, the head was broken

It was made from ebony and ivory and the head, in the form of a dog, had come adrift. Others had tried to repair it before me

It was a bit of a mess and was split as well. Here's the stem which was also split

I decided the only solution was a new head - but I've never done anything like that before :shock:

Up at Ally Pally a couple of weeks ago I bought a piece of ebony

I planed this, drilled a hole to take the stem, then drilled it again for a dowel

In order to fit the stem to the head, I fitted it to a block of wood.

This enabled me to plane it flush without breakout

It also enabled me to clamp on my Record 148 dowelling jig to drill the hole for the dowel

Next the part I was really nervous about - shaping the head. I started with rasps

Then moved on to a scraper

All the remainder of the shaping was carried out with this scraper. It eventually became difficult to hold the job in the vice, so I drilled out a piece of narrow wood and held it with a dowel

Anyway, I finished it tonight. I'm reasonably pleased with it. In fact I think he looks so cute I've named him Bob

Hope the Mother-in-Law likes Bob.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Paul - I've made a number of sticks in the past and they're good fun to do. The method you chose to fit the head to the cane is good, I used instead of a dowel a length of 8mm steel studding which was epoxied in place and the joint is absolutely bullet proof...I'll bring one up next time I see you.

Bob's a good 'un :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: 'shop - Rob

 

[PowerTool]

Nice post,Paul - great pictures,excellent finished article. And top tip about holding the stem in a block of wood!(Wish I'd thought of it before I tried making one last year.. )

Andrew

 

[Chris Knight]

Paul,
Well done - a nice thoughtful approach to the problem. I reckon your MIL should give you a couple of nice carving tools to make the next job a bit easier!

 

[Karl]

Nice work paul - looks a good 'un.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Paul.J]

That's a nice looking job Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone

Yes, bring one up next time, Rob, I'd like to see it - having now repaired one and given it a lot of thought, I've become quite interested in walking sticks. Might need one myself before long :shock: :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[tnimble]

Nice!

 

[DavidE]

Hi Paul,

Good repair and very interesting to see how you did it.

David

 

[newt]

A really good repair Paul, looks the dogs b!!!!!!, think of the brownie points you have earned.