Sherlock Holmes dress cane project

[luckyswede]

Hi,

I want to try and make a dress cane similar to the one Dr. Watson has.

I recently bought this antique silver cane handle on an auction and it would be fun to use it for this project.

The problem is that I have no real tools or experience and I have not really made anything like this since wood chop class in junior high. If you guys could give me some ideas how to tackle this I would be very grateful. The handle comes most likely from an estate near Portland, Oregon and has the initials C.E.M. It would be cool if it was possible to find out who it belonged to as a project within the project.

I am thinking of using rosewood instead of ebony as I rarely wear black shoes and black leather accessories. I guess you should match the color of the cane with your shoes and belt? Hope you find this interesting.

Kind regards

L.S.

 

[Contec]

How about cutting apart a pool stick ?

 

[AssortedNoise]

Isn't the cane a sword cane in the movie? I assume you dont want that ability.
I think the pool cue idea is a great place to start.

 

[luckyswede]

Isn't the cane a sword cane in the movie? I assume you dont want that ability.
I think the pool cue idea is a great place to start.

Yes he does have a sword cane in the movie. No I do not want that ability as it probably would be illegal to use it in public(at least in my country).

Pool cue idea is cool but I´ve been looking on prices of antique pool cues and they are rather expensive. I´m thinking of buying a block of wood and then try fashion a cane of it. Then have someone make some metal tip to put at the end of the cane. If that fails I think I will buy an old cane and modify it for my handle. Cheers.

 

[Pobbrett]

why not just use a cheap pool cue from a charity shop strip it down and then stain it and weather it

 

[robinhood jw]

I made a tapered walking stick as part of a steampunk costume a few years ago.

This isn't difficult, but it requires a belt sander. As a solution, it works pretty well; it's cheap, but loud.

I bought an oak dowel rod at a local home repair lumberyard type shop (Home Depot or Lowes, I don't remember).

I put a coarse sandpaper belt on my belt sander, and clamped it upside down into my bench clamp. I put on my safety glasses and ear plugs (remember the part about being loud?) and started the belt sander. I went slowly and a little at a time began to taper one end of the dowel. I stopped pretty frequently to check it with a caliper to make sure I was keeping it mostly round and not accidentally creating an oval. I'd mark it with a pencil where it needed more work, and then the pencil marks got ground off.

Once I had a taper I was happy with, I switched to a finer sandpaper belt and gave it a once-over. I switched to sanding it by hand for the finer grits, then wiped it down and stained it with a dark stain.

I was using part of an old door knob for the top of the cane, but this process should work for your cane top as well.

 

[Contec]

Considering your name...Are you from sweden?