Among the most curious is the voyeur's cane with a mirror above the ferrule enabling the user to look up women's skirts. Other canes contained music-boxes, harmonicas, flutes, piccolos, pipes (including opium pipes), vesta boxes, cigarette holders, candles, battery torches (dating from as early as 1882), contraceptives, poison, and a whole tribe of canes known as working companions (scalpels for doctors, small spades for botanists, safety lamps for miners). "The kit", as it was 'known, was a pocket violin this was developed into a violin fitted into a cane with a two-inch (5cm) diameter.
Most extravagant was the machine-gun in a rectangular cane. The poacher's gun was a simple weapon in the shape of a walking stick more sophisticated was a six-barrelled revolver, exposed by pressure on a trigger-spring that expelled part of the cane, and which had a dagger in the centre of the barrels. Two steel blades sliding into the shaft from each end probably represent duelling weapons. Other sticks pull apart, revealing a dagger with a handle for the left hand, and a stick with a blade for the right hand. Other sword and knife designs had a spring mechanism and would release on the press of a button or lever. Sword sticks date back to the sixteenth century, and often the sword just slides out with the stick acting as a sheath. About 200 ancillary accessories are known to have been incorporated into walking sticks, the best known being the sword. Sometimes these unscrewed to reveal space for a snuff box or other article. We cut by permit from the Siuslaw National Forest in areas that saplings would be cleared anyway, giving them purpose. It is the softest of the hardwoods and makes great walking sticks. Walking-sticks and canes derive from the cudgels and staves carried for defence, evolving into dress accessories topped with silver or ivory, with a ferrule at the point to cut down wear. The wood I carve your walking stick with is exclusively Red Alder, a very abundant hardwood from the Central Oregon coast. Also keenly sought are multi-purpose canes, with a concealed spirit flask, tobacco pipe or even a tiny fire-arm for personal safety.Ī walking stick was an integral part of every well dressed man's wardrobe in the nineteenth century, and his collection of walking-sticks were probably kept just inside the hall in a stand, sharing space with umbrellas. However silver handled canes have survived in large numbers, and exhibit a wide variety of decorative treatment, from the comparatively plain, armorial or regimental style to the more flamboyant excesses of Art Nouveau.Ĭarved handles can be found depicting grotesque animal or human forms, and are highly prized nowadays. The height of good taste was a gold handle with minmal decoration, as silver handles were despised by the wealthier classes. Sometimes they were made out of porcelain, Bakelite, gold, silver, or glass enameled or cloisonnéd or sprinkled with precious gemstones. However their use went out of fashion after this, leaving the market to collectors.įor a collector, the main interest lies in the handle, which could be made of wood, bamboo, ebony, ivory, tusk, animal horn, or bone.
From around 1550 to 1930, canes were a dressing accessory without which a lady or gentleman, properly dressed, would never leave the house.
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