Doug's Sticks Parts Page

Here's a picture of a few steel car engine block freeze plugs from an auto parts store. They cost about 80 cents each. Also in the picture are a penny and a pencil to give an idea of relative size. The smallest tip (freeze plug) is mounted on a stick in the picture.

The sizes of the steel cups are:

See Overall View of the assortment of cups.

Another possibility is the carbide-tipped studs used in some special horse shoes. I bought a few to try from a local blacksmith and farrier supply shop. They cost me $1.15 each for the smooth ones and $1.25 for the 3/8 inch threaded ones. The company that makes them is called Mustad and they do have a design that would work better, because it has a longer "nose" or external part, with a bit more of a point. But they weren't in stock. A mail order source for them would be Centaur Forge in Wisconsin. They do have a web site. Here's my picture of the horse shoe studs. I'll probably look for a 3/8 inch "Tee Nut" to mount in the end of a stick and then screw in one of these I5 threaded studs. The smooth shanked studs are called P11, and the 10mm long shank diameter tapers from 6.8mm to 7.2mm.

Other possible ferrule sources are copper pipe caps and couplings, electrical conduit fittings, EMPTY brass rifle or pistol cartridges, lipstick tubes, and empty CO2 charger cylinders (for paintball and pellet guns).

 Threaded brass joints(" Brass Cane Joins ") for canes are available from Lee Valley Hardware. See them in the "Hardware" "Specialty Fasteners" category on their website at www.leevalley.com/hardware or for complete details without clicking thru menus, go to http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.asp?page=41005&category=3,41306,41332&abspage=1&ccurrency=2&SID

The site has nice, clear, close-up color pictures of the parts. They even have very nice installation instruction (if you click on "Instr" near the price. 

I've been wanting to build a compass into the top of a cane or walking stick for quite a while. Both for myself and to make a more useful stick that others might want to buy. But it's hard to find a good compass capsule small enough to be practical. I was in a local department store the other day and saw something that might work. And it was on sale! It's a "Lake 'n Trail" brand pin-on model, stock number BPC-201. It has a brass case and a floating dial in a liquid-filled capsule. What turned out to be very convenient is that the top of the case will unscrew and you can remove the compass capsule without any tools. The original price of the compass was $4.98 and it was on closeout for $1.99. The capsule is 27 mm or 1.05 inches in diameter and 3/8 inch thick. I took a picture of it all disassembled, with a penny and a quarter for size reference. Also in the picture are the rest of its parts, another identical but complete compass in its blister pack, and a third small compass which is similar but not nearly as good. It's a "Coleman for Kids" 814A480K wrist compass. It's 1-1/4 inches across, all plastic and doesn't seem to come apart at all, and cost me $4.99 at Target back in May, 2000. NOTE: I haven't used either one yet and probably will never use the Coleman.

Click for picture of compasses

I don't know if I'll ever find a compass that seems sturdy enough to withstand the shock and jouncing it will get when the stick hits the ground time after time. It would have to be at least the liquid filled kind and preferably also have a needle lifter like many of the better quality compasses have.

And now I need to find a way to drill an odd sized hole! It would have been very nice if the BPC-801 was an even inch in diameter.

I've seen a distributor's catalog with small compasses about 5/8 inch diameter for not much over a dollar each but there's a big shipping charge. Like Treeline, who also has a small, inexpensive compass in their woodworking catalog but has a stiff charge for shipping and handling. It may be possible to buy a good sized batch of these and pass them along to readers of this page with a smaller shipping charge, like a dollar for up to about six or so of them. But I'm not sure how to package them inexpensively enough without being too likely to break them in the mail. Let me know how many you'd want, but be sure to understand that it will take a while to build up an order and then more time to get the orders packed and mailed. All this stuff is just one of several hobbies and I don't spend much time on it.

Mail Order Source for all the parts you need. Including handle blanks, shafts, horn, antler, ferrules, tips and even a compass.

Go to The Stick Man

I haven't contacted him, just heard about the page from a reader of this page. Thanks, Steve!

---home --- e-mail me ------ Created August 10, 2001 - updated August 8, 2003