# Walking/survival stick ...



## wquiles (Jun 1, 2014)

The basic "inspiration" came from work from my mentor Barry and a walking stick he made, and from another great machinist (Will) who made a two-piece, knurled Ti spear.


So I decided to combine both ideas, and to make my son an unique walking stick in multiple hollow pieces, which could be used to store items inside of the hollow sections (aka, survival stick).   So I started with Barry's suggestion and got some Schedule 80 3/4" Aluminum pipe (1.050" OD and .742" ID), and cut the long piece into multiple pieces:










Over many days, I cleaned up the OD, the ID, face them off, etc.:














I then threaded all of the ends:
















Then started working on the "connectors":
















and success - they thread together!








Then thread the other side:
















After some cleanup:












This is how the pieces started to look like when screwed together:








For the tip on one of them, I took a piece of 4041 steel and made this on one end:








and this on the other - this was done "by hand" since I don't yet have the lathe attachment for creating curved surfaces:






To make the sections lighter, I marked them:












To aid in assembly, the "connectors" there then knurled:
















Of course, I made "several" pieces:








This is how the connectors look like with two sections attached:








Remember that I marked the sections to make them lighter?  Here I take the extra thickness, while leaving a larger OD roughly in the middle for another knurled surface:




















This of course took a LONG time - lots of machining and knurling to do:








I made one "cap":












I then drill/bored it:
















And I then installed a compass in it:








At that point (last fall) I had one completed unit, so we took it camping.  Of course, all of the other kids were extremely impressed with my son's "high tech" walking stick 




A couple of weeks ago, I decided to finish the remainder pieces, although I experimented with the knurling a little:












This was swirl/twist knurling (thanks again Will!):




















I also discovered, that if while doing the twist knurling, if I press too far the knurler against the work piece, it stops cutting, and is creates a lighter, pattern, with twice the number of lines.  The two on the bottom are normal twist knurled, and the two at the top are done with this light twist pattern:






Close-up:






All 3x knurling styles together:








You can re-assemble the pieces to end of with different length's, but here is how they look like right now (for reference, that is a standard 6 foot high wood fence).  The one in the middle was the first one I finished last fall, which my son has taken camping twice now:














Will


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## darkzero (Jun 1, 2014)

Very nice Will!


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## wquiles (Jun 1, 2014)

Thanks man


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## TOOLMASTER (Jun 1, 2014)

are you going to anodize or spray something on them


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## chuckorlando (Jun 1, 2014)

Man them are awesome. Nice job


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## xalky (Jun 1, 2014)

Nice project and excellent write-up!  I love it when people take the time to document thier projects, it helps everybody in the long run.

Nice job on the knurling too! )


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## wquiles (Jun 1, 2014)

Thank you gus 




TOOLMASTER said:


> are you going to anodize or spray something on them


If all of the pieces were smaller (to that they fit in my curing oven, I could consider Molyresin, but I have no plans right now.  As you can imagine after two camping trips, there are a lot of nicks and scratches everywhere - it still works well and serves its purpose.


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## Cholmes (Jun 2, 2014)

My wife and I walk every day and I have been looking for a good walking stick that I liked. Now thanks to you I have found one. Would you mind if I copied your design to make one for my wife and myself? I promise it won't look as fine as yours though. Maybe a video on how you did the twist knurl?:man:


Chuck


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## wquiles (Jun 2, 2014)

Of course man, borrow/copy anything you like 

As to knurling, I am using a cut knurler from Dorian.  Details in this separate thread:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=16134


Some videos of the knurler in action from my youtube channel (cut knurler "really" needs the flood coolant, shown in the second video):
[video=youtube;qH5H7m8Zz-E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH5H7m8Zz-E[/video]

[video=youtube;Ze6hiR24h8M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze6hiR24h8M[/video]



Will


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## Daemoncoder (Jun 2, 2014)

Looks like your HP calculator has taken a beating in its life


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## 12bolts (Jun 2, 2014)

Thats nice work and a very good write up. What sort of wall thickness did you end up with after "lightening" them?
How are the 4140? tips standing up to use? A lot of factory sticks have a carbide tip in them. I dont know if you can buy replacment tips or maybe braze a piece carbide in yourself.

Cheers Phil


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jun 2, 2014)

Beautiful work as usual Will and great write up too. I love the spiral knurling!


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## Matthew Gregory (Jun 3, 2014)

Reminds me of the Crawford survival staff. Always wanted one of those...

Cool project. Thanks for the excellent work on describing the process, and the fantastic photo work!


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## wquiles (Jun 4, 2014)

Thank you guys for your kind words 




Daemoncoder said:


> Looks like your HP calculator has taken a beating in its life


Yes, that 12C was bitten 13-14 years ago by a large dog I used to have. Even after those bytes (I think he was teething at the time), the 12C still works "as new", so I keep it as a memento/reminder of him )
*




*


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## Andre (Jun 4, 2014)

I hope your DRO scales are coolant-proof!


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## itsme_Bernie (Jun 4, 2014)

First of all, great pics, and great coverage of your whole project!  Love it.  I might make one for my Dad...

...and man oh man, awesome job!  Beautiful finish!  Wow!

Bernie


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## chips&more (Jun 4, 2014)

So, is it a walking stick? A weapon? Or both? And nice work all around, pics, machining all of that, very nice.


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## wquiles (Jun 4, 2014)

12bolts said:


> Thats nice work and a very good write up. What sort of wall thickness did you end up with after "lightening" them?
> How are the 4140? tips standing up to use? A lot of factory sticks have a carbide tip in them. I dont know if you can buy replacment tips or maybe braze a piece carbide in yourself.
> 
> Cheers Phil




Phil,

Looking at my notes, the thinnest portions have a wall thickness of approximately 0.058"

I actually did not know about the Crawford survival staff (and the carbide tips, and accessories) until after I made this post.  Looking back, adopting a common thread size would/could have made things a little easier :thinking:

But in reality, after two camping trips the un-treated 4140 steel is holding up great, so for the other staff/stick I will probably to the same thing again since it adds some nice weight to the end )


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