Today in the wood shop, the high school students started making canes to distribute to the elderly through our local free medical clinic. They are a bit carried away with wild designs, and I'm trying to reign them in just a bit to do practical work that will be more serviceable. Wish me luck! I had prepared stock for the 7th and 8th grades to do this project. Now that the high school has joined in, more stock will have to be prepared tomorrow.

The basic design is very simple. We use a Lee Valley round tenoner in an electric drill to cut tenons at each end of a stick. (we are using hickory) We drill a hole in a piece of wood to serve as a handle and put a rubber cane tip on the other end. It is an easy project that could be done start to finish in a day, but will probably take longer due to the amount of time students spend figuring out how to be different.

My own canes were featured in the June 2005 issue of Woodwork Magazine No. 93. The article was called "A Bird in the Hand, Making a Cane for Aunt Wuzzie." A photo from that article is shown above. The shafts were made of black walnut and the handles from walnut burl.