Author Topic: walking cane, spuda style  (Read 10205 times)

Offline spudafett

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walking cane, spuda style
« on: October 01, 2009, 10:19:41 PM »
ok... so i've been carying around this ugly old man's cane for weeks now getting made fun of by my buddies at school and I'm tired of it.  It's a cheapo walgreens fiberglass with rubber handle shepherds hook cane...

so I got on e-bay and started browsing for a fancier cane that I might like...

now some of you might know that I'm as big a fossil fanatic as I am star wars, probably more actually, blashphemy I know...

anyways, so I ran accross this:



there are actually several listed around e-bay right now.  One for around $60.00 another around 200.00 and one even at 1000.000!   
apparently they are pretty rare nowadays but were popular long ago when sailors would make them at sea and come ashore to trade them off for booze and women... ok I realy don't think that's true but it's what one listing said! ha...

basically they are the cleaned vertebrae of a shark or ray which have been drilled through the center and a steel rod is placed down them for stability and strength.  Then a handle is placed on top and a tip on the bottom. 

I just purchased a lot of loose shark vertebrae so I am going to attempt constructing my own from scratch!

I'm thinking I'll put a length of steel "all thread" through them and place a nut and washer at both ends to hold the vertebrae together and compact against each other.  Then I'll purchase a cheap rubber tip to put on the bottom to cover the bolt at the base.

the handle is what has me vexed.  I want to use this:



it's a pollished "jasper" sphere with crinoid fossil inclusions.  If you don't know what a crinoid is, don't worry about it its not important... look it up if it intrests you so.... lol

anyway... I also want to use a peice of stingray leather to hold the ball onto the top of the cane as the handle...
stingray hide:


stingray is exceptionally vexing.  There is little to no information on the net on how to work with it.  It is a niche leather and is only worked by very few people worldwide with the majority of stingray hides coming from stingray farms in thiland.  (I got my first stingray peice from an aunt who visited there, It's my wallet!  I've had it for 5-6 years now and it shows absolutely NO sign of wear!) 

If I can get a peice of stingray skin that is already tanned and preserved that is the way I want to do it... although it's more expensive I won't have to worry about preserving it...

the problem comes when you try sewing it onto something.  The stingray hide is covered with tiny "pearls" of calcium carbonate scales.  It is incredibly tough and is one reason the hide is so strong and lasts so long...

My thinking is that I will just use a two part epoxy glue and glue the hide strait onto the cane, wrapping it around the top inch and a half or so and then wrap a small part around the base of the polished fossil sphere...  in essense holding everything together and hopefully giving me a sturdy handle on the cane...

it may come to the point though that I need to ancor the sphere in another way to the steel rod.  I was thinking about using my dremel to bore a hole the same diameter as the rod into the sphere and epoxy it on that way, wrapping the hide around it as a back up....

any ideas guys?  I'm wanting to have this idea fleshed out and pinned down before I go and purchase all the bits and peices...

I may wind up scrapping the entire fossil ball idea (the polished spheres are expensive) and put a wooden nob on it that is covered then by parts of that stingray skin hide...  If I do it that way the polished diamond on the center of the hide will face directly upwards and the hide will be cut to fall down around the nob and overlap onto the cane slightly....  I might wind up just doing it this way as I think it will wind up being sturdier and easier (and cheaper) to make...

Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2009, 10:23:16 PM »
I forgot to post a picture of the vertebrae lot I purchased:



I love the organic look to it...  they will have to be cleaned with hydrogen peroxide before and after I drill the holes through the center....

interesting point to anyone reading this, don't ever BLEACH bone... it destroys it's structure.  Using hydrogen peroxide cleans it throughout and doesn't degrade the calcium make up of the bone.  it also bleaches it very pearly white...

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2009, 07:39:11 AM »
Wow!!  When I get old and crippled, I'm hiring you to make my cane!

Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2009, 08:05:30 AM »
are you insinuating that I am old and crippled...?   :'(

lol I feel it... that's for sure. 

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2009, 08:14:25 AM »
hehe - I never insinuate!  I simply craft words so that the reader may draw their own conclusions!!  ;D

I had a run-in with gout earlier this year that had me on an aluminum stick for a couple of weeks, so believe me, I'd like to put off that "crippled" part as long as possible!!  Of course, I also intend/expect to live past my 120th birthday.  Given the number of ancestors and relatives who have seen well past their 90th and 100th birthdays, well, it isn't *too* far-fetched.

Y'know, I've heard that studies show folks who "live for work" tend to die rather quickly after their retirement.  A lot of it seems to revolve around the fact they have nothing else to occupy their time that used to be consumed by work.  The retirees who tend to live longer and healthier are the folks who either have a pre-existing interest they are able to devote time to or folks who have a plan/activity they pick up after retiring.  If hobby activities are a key to longer, healthier aging... I should see my 300th birthday easily.

 ;D

Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2009, 08:24:57 AM »
doc, that is why I plan on not only never ending any of my hobbies but getting a job which I enjoy not only as a way to make money but also as a hobby itself... hence the geology degree...

as for that, I've just done some job searching and found a few "soil scientist" positions that are right up my alley of experience that should start me out at about 25000-75000 a year...  but that is wishfull thinking if I don't finish this semester!

back to the cane issue...

I'm tossing around the idea of the ball again...

anyone know how well a dremel can drill into a solid rock with just a grinding attatchment???  I know a regular drill bit will never do the job...

Dawn suggested getting a rubber stopper for both ends, then glueing the ball to one of the rubber stoppers, the wrapping the stingray skin around the bottom half of the ball AND the first inch or so of the cane itself...

I think Its going to wind up to be where I have to get the parts in hand, get it started and let something just come to me while I work with it...

Offline Tamer

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2009, 05:52:56 AM »
Interesting project Devin. I love the motiff. Hope you get it together.

As for the reitrement thing, I don't think I will be one of those ones who die a few years after. There is so much stuff I would love to do, let alone spend an entire hunting season in the woods. I can't imagine having the time to spend here either or enhancing my SW collection! I wonder if they can bury me with it?

Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2009, 10:51:24 AM »
lol bury yourself with your treashures like a pharoh or indian cheif eh?  heck go all out and get a burial mound shaped like a wrecked atat! ;)

Offline Tamer

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2009, 01:04:05 PM »
lol bury yourself with your treashures like a pharoh or indian cheif eh?  heck go all out and get a burial mound shaped like a wrecked atat! ;)

Talk about a hell of an idea.

Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2009, 08:31:39 PM »
got my pollished sphere of crinoid fossils today!!!




it's slightly smaller than I immagined it to be... the e-bay auction was a little bit vaugue in that regard... But It'll work well. 

Now I just can't wait for my stingray pelts and the shark vertebrae!

Offline StenHunter

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2009, 11:23:18 PM »
This looks awesome! I can't wait to see the finished results.

Why go through life base fig, when you can customize?

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Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2009, 03:09:59 PM »
well my vertebrae parts and the stingray skin came in today.  Went to lowes and bought some steel allthread, dowel rod... went to wal-mart and got some hydrogen peroxide and a rubber cane tip and some 5min epoxy glue...

I've got the vertebrae soaking in the peroxide to clean them up, then I'm going to drill them out in the center and put them on the all thread. 

I got the dowel rod incase I needed to fill in some spots between vertebrae. 

about half of the vertebrae are no bigger than pencils in width and are no good for this project... so I think I'm going to have to put in some wooden spacers between the vertebrae or make the bottom part of the cane with just wood or something... IDK what I'm going to do yet.

I thikn I might make a short handle section on top with the dowel rod and then cover it in stingray skin to make a nice grip...  IDK what I'm going to do yet...

Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2009, 08:16:25 PM »
well... I tried to dremel out a hole in that sphere to anchor it to the cane via the all thread and the drill bit just couldn't do it.  When it did finally start cutting it chipped the rock around the hole and I was too scared to go farther...

Soooo....

new plan is to get a wooden knob and put that on top and then cover the knob with stingray skin to make a grip. 

Offline spudafett

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #13 on: October 11, 2009, 12:54:50 PM »
I'm about ready to give up on this project.  It was a great idea... and now I've wasted almost 50 bucks on it.

The ball won't work because it'll crack and break...

the vertebrae stink to high heaven... like salty briney dead fish...  even after being washed with two huge bottles of peroxide AND being scrubbed with palm-olive soap...  IDK what else to try.

I drilled out some of the vertebrae, as many as i could before my back got to hurting too bad....  Then I tried to cut some dowel rod (wooden) pieces to put between each vertebrae as spacers and each time I got half way through the spacers they exploded into 3-4 pieces... 

I'm fed up with it today.  Going to call it quits on that project... maybe I'll just do something different with all the parts I got for it...

I know I'll use the stingray skin for something else....

any ideas what I can do with the shark vertebrae?

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: walking cane, spuda style
« Reply #14 on: October 11, 2009, 01:43:46 PM »
Krayt Dragon display?   8)