: These have brass ferrules to keep the tips from cracking and wearing. Rubber cane tips can be used over the ferrules for better traction. Recently, I have started to add woodspirits and animal forms to these. I use satin gloss exterior urethane to finish the walking sticks. This gives a durable finish that strengthens those parts of the wood that are spalted. My personal preference is for a non-gloss finish whenever possible. Because these will be subjected to rough use, I only finish them to 320 grit. (All the pieces below that are used indoors are finished to 400 grit.) For long walking sticks, I just round off the top of the piece, so that it can be comfortably gripped when it is needed for support while walking down a steep hill. For short walking sticks a brass or turned wooden knob can be added. Or if there is a convenient crotch with a branch, then use this for the thumb, and make a thumb stick. For canes, a brass handle can be used, or a wooden tee-handle can be made and attached by a dowel. If the person to use this needs to put significant weight on the cane, then look for a medical/rehabilitation supply store to purchase a more ergonomically designed handle. In this case, a rubber tip should definitely be included. Where ice and snow are a concern, you may want to add a retractable point. I have never done this, partly because I haven't seen one that would not significantly detract from the aesthetics of the cane.
Bowls
: I have hollowed these out manually using regular gouges, a spoon gouge, and a hook knife. My one attempt at making a bowl on a lathe resulted in the final shape being hand carved anyway. I will likely try this again. Part of the design is usually to have a "window" created by removing the bottom of one or more diamonds. I use two part clear acrylic epoxy to close these openings so that the bowl can still be functional. The insides are usually finished with the same epoxy, and the outside is usually oiled. Since the outside won't be in contact with food, any oil could be used, but I usually use tung oil just to be on the save side. (I haven't used walnut oil, but that is also food save. I don't know how people with allergies to nuts would react to it. That is a reason to avoid peanut oil. Also polymerized tung oil is NOT food save.)
Cribbage boards
: Interesting hole layouts must be used to fit a 120-hole board onto a piece of willow. I have never found a piece suitable for a 3-player board. Care must be taken to make sure all the holes are aligned vertically, or it can be very difficult to move closely spaced pegs. I prefer using metal pegs (from Lee Valley) since the plastic or wooden ones can bind in the holes. Because of the potential wear due to the pegs, I have used urethane on these.
Letter openers
: These are fairly quick to make and use up some of the smaller pieces. Again for reasons of wear, I prefer to use urethane.
Jewelry and ornaments
: Individual diamonds are "excised" from the stem; the front of the diamond is debarked and smoothed; and the wood is removed from the back until the wood is about 1/8" thick. I have done some pierced carving on these, particularly using Christmas themes for the ornaments. For pierced carving, the wood should be closer to 1/16" thick if possible. Because of the thinness of these pieces, I often use urethane to provide some additional strength.
Lamps
: I have done several table lamps. I have had to run the cord down the outside of the piece at least for part of the distance. Bases can be made from any of a number of woods. Cherry goes well with the heartwood of the diamond willow; birch goes well with the sapwood. Finally, we get to some pieces with an oil finish. This is actually the finish that I prefer to use. My favorite is Varathane Natural Oil finish which has a small amount of urethane in it that helps to seal the wood. (I think that is similar to Watco oil that has a resin in it.) When I do an oil finish, I sand to 320 grit; wipe with a damp cloth; sand to 400 grit; apply the oil; and sand while still wet with oil with 400 grit wet/dry paper. Two coats of oil is usually enough. I like oil finishes because they are very forgiving for having dust in the air, they do on quickly, and they only 20 minutes between coats. An alternative to oil that gives a higher lustre (similar to satin urethane but without the thickness) is paste varnish. However, it can be tricky to get the varnish down into the small recesses of some of the diamonds.
Quilt crane
: This was made as part of a collaborative exhibit of the local woodworkers' and quilters' guilds. A quilt crane is an arm that swings on a pivot. This is mounted on a wall so that a quilt can be hung up but still be seen. (The exhibition was juried, and as luck would have it neither of the pieces that I had made with the exhibit in mind were chosen-a third piece was!) This piece was finished with paste varnish. This was the first time that I had to use joinery to get end blocks mounted square with respect to the base and parallel with each other and with holes for the pivot pins that were aligned with each other. My joinery skills are at best limited, so my solution may not be optimal in any sense. I used hot melt glue to glue the base to a piece of fibre board (like MDF but not as good). (This is an excellent use of hot melt glue, since it sticks to wood without really bonding to it. The pieces of wood can be relatively easily pried apart.) This piece of fibre board had end pieces attached that were higher than the base was thick. This assembly was then turned over and passed over a table saw to cut the slots. The fibre board provided flat sides at right angles that could be easily referenced to the saw fence. A similar cradle was made to hold the end of the crane so that the pivot holes could be drilled on a drill press-again using the cradle to reference the holes so that they were mutually aligned.
Business card boxes
: I make simple bandsawn boxes that hold business cards. The "lid" is the top and inner compartment to hold the cards. This pivots on two brass pins. The "base" is the two sides and front. On most of these, the box opens on the short axis so the cards are standing on their sides. However, I have had some pieces where it was possible to have the box hinged on the long axis, so the cards were on their bottoms. This works much better for displaying the cards when the box is in the open position. I have left the outside of the boxes in the natural shape of the willow stem-except for flattening the bottom. In order to hold the piece so that it can be cut in my band saw, I use hot melt glue to hold it to a 1/4" piece of plywood, and support the piece as much as possible with small pieces of scrap wood so that the saw won't twist it. Careful thought has to be given to the order in which the cuts are to be made so that the joints will show the least when re-assembled. If more than one box is being cut at the same time, care should also be taken in labelling what piece belongs to what box. I had one prototype box that all the sides were sawn and sanded. This reveals some very interesting coloration and grain patterns. It would be a good way to make a piece with little or no diamonds into an visually interesting box.
Candlesticks and candelabra
: Lots of possibilities present themselves here. The candlestick can be made so that the stem is in the vertical position, or the stem can be turned horizontally and one or more diamonds used for candle holes. I use brass candle ferrules (see Lee Valley again) to finish the hole for "regular" (7/8") candles. I use urethane or varnish for a finish because the color from the candle dripping can stain the wood (particularly red candles!). Recently I have found glass drip catchers in a candle shop in Edmonton. These should eliminate the drips getting onto the wood to stain it. Depending on the orientation and shape of the piece these may not be usable. If you are into carving woodspirits, these can be added to the candlesticks. This would likely work best with vertically oriented stems.
Desk set and desk clocks
: Adding a pen holder and pen and/or a clock can make an attractive desk accessory. If space and your design intent allows, a slot for holding and displaying business cards can also be included. I use an oil finish on these.
Sign post
: I have made one of these. The willow had a nice curved branch at the right height so that no joinery was required. (Thanks to Cal Isaacson for kindly giving me a piece from his collection!) I used pressure treated wood as the in-ground base for the piece. I originally used a wooden dowel to connect the post with the base. However, I should have used a metal rod as the dowel quickly rotted.