The DK9-er (De-Caniner)

The DK9-er (aka De-caniner) was commisioned by a fellow who had issues with a neighbor’s Doberman Pinchers. A neighbor down the street owned two mature dogs and one day when walking pass their yard, they were both barking at him which was alarming enough but when he had passed their territory he turned to find that they both had jumped their 3 ft. wire fence and started running towards him. Fearing for his life, he ran as fast as he could down the block and could hear their nails hitting the concrete and their heavy panting behind him. After running for several blocks he turned to see that they had stopped and were “laughing” at him as he ran home. In the effort to be able to walk down his neighborhood without being harrassed by these dogs, he sent me a drawing of a cane and asked that the handle be large and pointed and that the shaft be reinforced with a metal rod of sorts. I don’t know how effective he thinks a stick may be in an incident of contact with a ferocious dog, but we tried to accomodate him with a weapon of choice.

My husband did the initial assembly of this and decided on using maple which is not the hardest wood I would use for my stronger canes, but we needed a wood soft enough to drill and insert an 8” bolt in the top and bottom of the shaft, covering the top bolt in the handle with a wooden plug. The handle is approximately 9” long and the shaft 36” long, total height 40” long. The Tiger Maple is stained, rubbed and sanded to create this Mokume’ effect which shows off the natural grain. The heavily figured grain is quite mezmerizing and I never tire of working with this material, as each angle has a different design.

I would not advise anyone to depend on the use of a cane against a vicious animal, as mace may be a wiser choice, but it does give the user a more reassured feeling that he has a weapon should they try to attack him, which may be what he needed to ward off their barking and snarls, as they can sense fear and he needed to show he was not afraid of them. Or find another route to walk home. Sometimes bribery works better. I have befriended my neighborhood canines with steak bones.

I love creating art and functional art is my goal. For more information please visit: http://www.gallerymh.com

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe