Wapsi Square Forum

Alkarii wrote:Dude! That's frikkin' genius! Kind of like those Guinness commercials.

"Brilliant!"

So, for the past couple of days, I've been on YouTube, listening to stuff about various urban legends and folklore.

For some reason, the only one that seems to actually creep me out in any capacity is the wendigo, though it does seem kind of a fascinating creature, as far as monsters go.

I wonder, what would one look like in the wapsiverse? Also, since, according to what I've read, it's diet seems to consist of only one thing, which is human flesh, I wonder if many of the cast members would be safe? I could be mistaken about its diet, as I don't remember everything from the wiki article.

Wait, the comic takes place in Minnesota, right? I think that's part of its rumored territory.

Alkarii wrote:So, for the past couple of days, I've been on YouTube, listening to stuff about various urban legends and folklore.

For some reason, the only one that seems to actually creep me out in any capacity is the wendigo, though it does seem kind of a fascinating creature, as far as monsters go.

I wonder, what would one look like in the wapsiverse? Also, since, according to what I've read, it's diet seems to consist of only one thing, which is human flesh, I wonder if many of the cast members would be safe? I could be mistaken about its diet, as I don't remember everything from the wiki article.

Wait, the comic takes place in Minnesota, right? I think that's part of its rumored territory.

I've already been playing with that concept in my head for quite some time, but I've been reluctant to commit - partly because I have only a little bit of knowledge regarding Native American Myth, and partly because Pascalle Lepas is writing a comic called Wilde Life that deals with Native American myth a lot... And I want to see her interpretation of the Wendigo before I put out mine. I want to avoid any potential crossed wires and confusion.

Hansontoons wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:I've always wanted to make a sword cane with lignum vitae.

I have pondered such a venture, but I believe modern authorities frown on such implements...

Depends on the state, I believe. Here in California, cane swords are entirely prohibited - possession is either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on how the DA feels that day.

The same is true for many other "stealth knives", such as belt-buckle knives, lipstick knives, and "undetectable" knives (those made from materials that don't trigger a metal detector).

Enforcement is, of course, spotty. Ceramic-blade knives can be found in many cooking stores, at Harbor Freight, etc. (I don't know if they contain enough metal to set off a detector). I saw a guy with a whole booth of belt-buckle "survival" knives at the art-and-craft street fair downtown, last weekend. (I looked for him a bit later and couldn't find him again... I now wonder if he got hassled and had to close up shop).

It seems to be the combination of "stabby weapon" and "concealed" that triggers the prohibition. In most areas of California you're permitted to carry a fixed-blade weapon in public... pretty much as long a knife or sword as you like... as long as you carry it openly on your person (a sheath is OK). Schools and other government buildings are an exception to the "can carry openly" rule, though.

Since lignum vitae means "wood of life", I wonder whether a cane sword made of it would be unable to kill anyone?

Hansontoons wrote:I do have a design for a two-piece travel stick, unscrew it and pack in suitcase is the idea. The solid 4ft doesn't pack well and I've been reluctant to try to bring one aboard a commercial aircraft. The two-piece might work with 24" length sections, depends on how tall the user is or how long of a stick is preferred. I am planning to make a two-piecer soon to see how it behaves in the middle attachment area, my concern is that it will be too flexible and be a weak point despite the way I have designed it.

The guy I got the wood from suggested something similar... a brass "peg and socket" ferrule arrangement of some sort. Next time I speak with him I'll ask if he knows of a source for heavy-duty mating ferrules of this sort.

Some sort of pipe-thread-like mating arrangement might work.

GlytchMeister wrote:

Alkarii wrote:So, for the past couple of days, I've been on YouTube, listening to stuff about various urban legends and folklore.

For some reason, the only one that seems to actually creep me out in any capacity is the wendigo, though it does seem kind of a fascinating creature, as far as monsters go.

I wonder, what would one look like in the wapsiverse? Also, since, according to what I've read, it's diet seems to consist of only one thing, which is human flesh, I wonder if many of the cast members would be safe? I could be mistaken about its diet, as I don't remember everything from the wiki article.

Wait, the comic takes place in Minnesota, right? I think that's part of its rumored territory.

I've already been playing with that concept in my head for quite some time, but I've been reluctant to commit - partly because I have only a little bit of knowledge regarding Native American Myth, and partly because Pascalle Lepas is writing a comic called Wilde Life that deals with Native American myth a lot... And I want to see her interpretation of the Wendigo before I put out mine. I want to avoid any potential crossed wires and confusion.

Although she's brought in Russian myth ("Barbara Yeager"? Come on), i doubt she'd use the wendigo, since Wilde Life is set in Oklahoma, which is a bit far away from its range.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:

Alkarii wrote:So, for the past couple of days, I've been on YouTube, listening to stuff about various urban legends and folklore.

For some reason, the only one that seems to actually creep me out in any capacity is the wendigo, though it does seem kind of a fascinating creature, as far as monsters go.

I wonder, what would one look like in the wapsiverse? Also, since, according to what I've read, it's diet seems to consist of only one thing, which is human flesh, I wonder if many of the cast members would be safe? I could be mistaken about its diet, as I don't remember everything from the wiki article.

Wait, the comic takes place in Minnesota, right? I think that's part of its rumored territory.

I've already been playing with that concept in my head for quite some time, but I've been reluctant to commit - partly because I have only a little bit of knowledge regarding Native American Myth, and partly because Pascalle Lepas is writing a comic called Wilde Life that deals with Native American myth a lot... And I want to see her interpretation of the Wendigo before I put out mine. I want to avoid any potential crossed wires and confusion.

Although she's brought in Russian myth ("Barbara Yeager"? Come on), i doubt she'd use the wendigo, since Wilde Life is set in Oklahoma, which is a bit far away from its range.

The only Wendigo for me, will forever be the one that battled the Hulk, in its first apparition in the Marvel universe... I only ever owned two, maybe three Marvel comics when I was young (I remember one being Captain America with the Falcon, though I forget what the storyline was). I may or may not have owned a Thor issue (I was quite taken in with Thor, for a while, though I couldn't really tell you why...)

Hansontoons wrote:The solid 4ft doesn't pack well and I've been reluctant to try to bring one aboard a commercial aircraft.

I usually carry a good-sized stick around with me, and nobody ever gave me any problems over it when I've flown (though it did have to pass through the x-ray machine). The only awkwardness might come from where you keep it in-flight, as it might get in the way.

The "lathe" has two through-hole bearings that each hold a shaft. One shaft has a neck that the drill attaches to. Both shafts are tapped with 1/4-20 female thread that holds the mating screw installed top and bottom of stick. The drill turns the stick, I use a belt sander with coarse grit belt to shape the stick. The stick starts with octagonal shape courtesy of table saw and router. Sand sand sand and eventually you have a round stick tapered from top to bottom. Liberally apply finer grades of sandpaper until satisfied, then use Tung oil for a pleasing finish. Easy!

Another common way I've seen of improvising a lathe is putting the drive-wheel-end of a vehicle up on blocks, taking a wheel off, and then attaching a belt to the axle. That gives a bit more power than a hand-held drill, though has a few additional complexities of its own. It works to power other things aside from lathes, too; I've even seen somebody throw together an improvised washing machine that way.

Catawampus wrote:Another common way I've seen of improvising a lathe is putting the drive-wheel-end of a vehicle up on blocks, taking a wheel off, and then attaching a belt to the axle. That gives a bit more power than a hand-held drill, though has a few additional complexities of its own. It works to power other things aside from lathes, too; I've even seen somebody throw together an improvised washing machine that way.

Driving belt-powered accessories used to be (and still is, in some areas) a routine use of a tractor (be it diesel, now, or steam-driven, way back when)...

If i get energetic, i'll search through Cartoon Cavalcade for the one along those lines.

And i'm pretty sure that farm tractors still offer power takeoff, if only as an option.

I think most, if not all, modern farm tractors have a splined power takeoff shaft to run equipment.

About the breakdown walking stick, by the way: Would you mount the ferrule assembly in the pieces and then turn down the shaft? Seems to me the pieces would match better that way than by cutting the turned stick in half and then mounting the ferrule, but I've never done any work like that.

Typeminer wrote:About the breakdown walking stick, by the way: Would you mount the ferrule assembly in the pieces and then turn down the shaft? Seems to me the pieces would match better that way than by cutting the turned stick in half and then mounting the ferrule, but I've never done any work like that.

Hmmm. The problem with turning anything with metal attached to it, is that spinning bits of metal don't get along well with gouges, chisels, and sanding materials. Either you end up gouging or abrading the metal, or you end up with bits of your cutting tools flying away in unexpected directions at dangerous speeds.

it's safer to turn the wood by itself, and just be careful about the diameter you are turning it to. You can use calipers to measure the diameter of the wood and compare it with the diameter of the ferrule. I suspect that the thing to do would be to stop when the wood was just a hair larger in diameter than the metal, so you could carefully hand-sand it down to the final diameter for a clean junction after you attach the ferrule.

But, a lot would depend on the ferrule design.

I see. That sounds like a metal end cap the full diameter of the stick. I was imagining a threaded sleeve rather smaller than the diameter of the stick, and a matching threaded stud in the other half.

Dave wrote:

Typeminer wrote:About the breakdown walking stick, by the way: Would you mount the ferrule assembly in the pieces and then turn down the shaft? Seems to me the pieces would match better that way than by cutting the turned stick in half and then mounting the ferrule, but I've never done any work like that.

Hmmm. The problem with turning anything with metal attached to it, is that spinning bits of metal don't get along well with gouges, chisels, and sanding materials. Either you end up gouging or abrading the metal, or you end up with bits of your cutting tools flying away in unexpected directions at dangerous speeds.

it's safer to turn the wood by itself, and just be careful about the diameter you are turning it to. You can use calipers to measure the diameter of the wood and compare it with the diameter of the ferrule. I suspect that the thing to do would be to stop when the wood was just a hair larger in diameter than the metal, so you could carefully hand-sand it down to the final diameter for a clean junction after you attach the ferrule.

But, a lot would depend on the ferrule design.

So here's my design. Turn two separate pieces. Top piece has threaded screw (see photo) top and bottom. Top screw for knob and strap. Bottom screw for connecting top and bottom pieces. Bottom piece has threaded nut (ferrule, see brass bit in photo) on top and threaded screw on bottom. Threaded screw on bottom is for rubber foot.

I have an aluminum middle sleeve that will be the connector between top and bottom pieces. This middle sleeve will overlap the .688" diameter on both top and bottom pieces. The middle sleeve is tapped for the 1/4-20 threaded screw on top piece.

SO. The plan is that the middle sleeve is screwed on to the upper piece. Then the bottom piece with threaded nut screws on to the screw sticking out the bottom of the middle sleeve. Twist it up nice and tight. And hope that the moment arm/bending at this point is not too bad and the travel stick is happy for light hiking.

This travel stick assembly is based on TLaR design principles.
And if you are wondering wtf is TLaR design....


"That looks about right."

Typeminer wrote:I see. That sounds like a metal end cap the full diameter of the stick. I was imagining a threaded sleeve rather smaller than the diameter of the stick, and a matching threaded stud in the other half.

This is another design option. Mine is based on what a friend could make on his small machine lathe. I didn't want to task him with a threaded connection between two pieces. Plus I wasn't sure how to attach the two metal bits to the wood pieces. If I had means to play with turning metal, I might have experimented with a coarse thread between metal bits and wood. The design I went with, I have experience with the connectors and screws.

Those threaded inserts can be tricky. I've found it difficult to use them in hardwood, at least in the "self threading" mode. It may be necessary to drill a slightly undersized hole in each half-staff, and then use a tap set to create a good set of threads in the hardwood into which you can screw the insert... and maybe epoxy it into place.

Make sure you get really good ones (brass). The cheap furniture assembly type are often made of pot metal and tend to crack easily under stress.

Even the good ones may be questionable in this application. There is going to be a huge amount of stress on that joint, especially if you put your weight on the staff and push a bit sideways. The joint is definitely going to be the weakest part of the staff.

Dave wrote:Those threaded inserts can be tricky. I've found it difficult to use them in hardwood, at least in the "self threading" mode. It may be necessary to drill a slightly undersized hole in each half-staff, and then use a tap set to create a good set of threads in the hardwood into which you can screw the insert... and maybe epoxy it into place.

Make sure you get really good ones (brass). The cheap furniture assembly type are often made of pot metal and tend to crack easily under stress.

Even the good ones may be questionable in this application. There is going to be a huge amount of stress on that joint, especially if you put your weight on the staff and push a bit sideways. The joint is definitely going to be the weakest part of the staff.

Roger that. I do use the good brass inserts. And I have a method I use that involves a drill press to hold things straight while threading the insert into the wood.

I'm going to make one out of some oak first, see if I can break it or not. If it holds up, I'll make "the good one" out of walnut. I have a nice stash of black walnut from Iowa.

I understand that brass is prettier, but isn't it a lot weaker than good steel? If we're concerned about strength, steel may be required if we want to be sure it won't break.

The strengths of brass and steel overlap... steel is generally stronger, but there are some brass alloys that are stronger than some steel alloys.

Brass tends to be used for things like these inserts because it is quite a bit easier to machine than steel. Also, it doesn't rust, and thus won't stain wood or loosen if inserted into wood which may become wet.

Some grades of stainless steel could be good for this sort of ferrule, if you have the equipment to machine it properly (I.e. cutting the necessary interior and exterior threads).

A steel bolt connector (essentially a threaded nut with about 1.5 inches of bore) can be turned round on the outside, fine threaded on the outside and screwed into the position you want- any threaded apparition you screw into wood and epoxy, be sure that you cut laterally into the threads of the insert as well as the hole to prevent backing out.

Dave wrote:The strengths of brass and steel overlap... steel is generally stronger, but there are some brass alloys that are stronger than some steel alloys.

Brass tends to be used for things like these inserts because it is quite a bit easier to machine than steel. Also, it doesn't rust, and thus won't stain wood or loosen if inserted into wood which may become wet.

Some grades of stainless steel could be good for this sort of ferrule, if you have the equipment to machine it properly (I.e. cutting the necessary interior and exterior threads).

Also, i believe that brass is less likely to bind in a screw-type joint that has to unscrewed and then re-attached.