walking cane (artifact #6)

My grandfather, Charles Arthur Doyle, made the walking cane in this photograph when I was a small boy.  It is doubtful that he used it, as he had to use crutches after taking a fall late in life.  He was quite active at the time of making the cane and the reason for making it is unknown.  I do know that it was a working hobby with him, making all these wooden items from straight hickory, using hand tools.  He used linseed oil to preserve the various items.

The screened-in back porch of my grandparents house, opposite the smoke house, was an added feature of the rural home.  This is where one would see wooden handles air drying, hanging from a string after being treated with linseed oil.

The term, tough as a hickory nut, was also a good description of the character of hickory wood handles.  Properly fitted into the head of a tool, Grandfather’s handles were at least as good, if not better, than the originals.  I observed him and his work very carefully.  I worked with him on the farm doing many things, taking note of his handicraft of harness and especially his woodwork.  He was also an excellent teamster, working with horses.  As I became an adult, I have fitted handles into tools that had been thrown away.  It was fun, giving new life to a tool, using the techniques that I learned from him.

I might mention that Grandmother had a small set of hand tools used around the house.  Many times I have seen them working on items on the back porch, using his and her tools.  This porch is also where cabbage, in a huge crock, was being made into sauerkraut and corn was made into hominy.  The back porch roof was used to sun dry fruit.  These are all joyful mental pictures in my memory.

Charles D Doyle  5/7/03