Bamboo Hardwoods, just north of Costco (4th ave. s.). I think the street is called Industrial Dr. or somesuch. All sorts of cool bamboo poles and lots more.

Thanks, I will check them out

Eric, I went down there and they did not have any. Anyone else have any suggestions?

I figured you could buy a length of their solid core maboo and cut it to the length you need. What else is required to create a bamboo walking stick?

When my daughter broke her foot, I made her a cane out of some spare black bamboo I had. I just cut it to length, and then cut a 5" piece that was somewhat bigger in diameter that I drilled out so I could mount it crosswise across the top. The doctor liked it so much, she offered to buy it!

Actually, I'm looking for a hook-type cane - not just a straight walking stick. I figure they need to curve the cane before it is completely dried out so it probably would not be a good idea to try and make one myself with a dried bamboo. And I want something really solid, so a two piece item like Kudzu descibes probably will not work. I've done all sorts of searches but can't even find one online (except from the UK. If you go to the link you can see the type I'm looking for - it is the last one at the bottom.) Who would have thought it would be so difficult to find a simple bamboo cane?

Still looking...

Here is a link that might be useful: bamboo cane

I would think that the reason you aren't finding them is because it would be very tough to make the bent handle.. although possibly a handle could be carved out of the root.. I don't think that even with steaming that bamboo could be bent the 90 degrees (or more) required.. Possibly the handle could be made from growing bamboo through a form though... The picture of a "bamboo" cane that was provided on the link seems to have another wood for the handle though it may be laminated bamboo..

I have seen beautiful walking sticks made from Chinese Walking Stick bamboo. Dale and Phil from Jade Mountain bamboo always have one or two on display at various bamboo events. Maybe they sell them, or know where you can order one. Here's a link to their website:

Here is a link that might be useful: Jade Mountain Bamboo

im not sure if steaming would work , maybe a combo of soaking and steaming might do, and putting it in a pipe bender device, while going really slow with it , but if you could get the boo while it was growing you could bend the cane before it hardens all the way.

I've tried bending culms with a torch, which is the way they do it in Asia, but it's really tough to do. In addition to scorching, you finally get to a point where the bamboo reaches its limit and the inner side of the curve gets a bad kink in it because the fibres collapse. It gets harder to do bends as the culms get bigger. I think tight bends are possible, but it helps to have a couple hundred years experience doing it!

As far as the cane I made, it is sturdier than you might think, because I didn't give all the construction details. What I did to make sure it held up was to make a tight-fitting wooden plug that I glued inside the crosspiece so that I had a "solid" piece to drill into. I also made a wood plug for the top end of the cane. Then I drilled out the crosspiece to precisely the right diameter to match the top end of the cane; put them together with glue, and put in a very small diameter screw to pin the two together. Working with bamboo is fun, but takes some special techniques.

Stan The Bambooman has a bunch of them. I have pasted his info below.

Beauty & The Bamboo
306-NW. 84th St.
Seattle, WA 98117-3117
U.S.A.

206-781-9790
206-297-2810
Stan Andreasen
Bambu501@aol.com

Retail, wholesale, 100 plus varieties of bamboo. $500 or more for mail orders, within U.S. only! Open 9-7, 7 days by appointment. Will deliver locally. Bamboo products, 30 & 24", 40 mil plastic rhizome barrier. Free bamboo removal. Credit cards

I've seen them with the rhimozome as the handle. It was probally a clumper that was used.

Most of the cane walking sticks that have hooks to that degree are made from rattan, which is much easier to shape. Rattan tends to be the heavier material, but it is more flexible. Bamboo has a higher tensile strength, and is more rigid. Both types of materials were available back home in south east asia. But if the article calls for a tight curvature like those hooked canes, I won't be using bamboo, which is impossible to bend to that shape. It will have to be rattan, which is highly workable.

I would think given the hollow nature of bamboo, you could effectevely use bamboo for the straight piece and then create a handle from either wood, or some more malleable stuff (rattan?) and create a pin style joint between the handle and the main cane, using some kind of semiflexible gap filling adhesive to deal with differing expansion rates over time... or you could go a step further and mount a sword into the handle, and leave it partially disconnected ;) ... ok so maybe not that last ;)

Azhrei

I think the handle is usually the rhizome to which the clum was attached. These culms are probably harvested with a good piece of the rhizome attached.

Bamboo can be bent into just this shape by heating the culm and bending it, but like Kudzu says the diameter is ring finger or smaller and the folks bending it have generations of experience. It holds the shape with bamboo strength. We sell bamboo that is totally bent into a paper clip like shape but open on one end and people use it for garden plants - climbers etc..