I made this wooden cane as another prop for the play my eldest is working on. The character that needs the cane is an old woman whose husband was a wood cutter. What better than a cut branch then? I wandered through the back woods and found a suitable dead limb on a cedar tree, with a side branch at a good angle for the handle. I cut it off, removed all the twigs, then used my oscillating drum sander to remove the outer layer. I left it a little long so they could cut it down to fit the actor. After I had the rough shape, I hand sanded first with 100 grit to get everything smooth and shaped the way I wanted, then worked down in grit to 120, 220, then 400. To finish, I put on two coats of 50/50 tung oil and mineral spirits, then seven coats of pure tung oil. A final polish with 0000 steel wool put on a slight sheen. The cracks were left as is, as it gives some character to the piece and the story is a slightly scary one. Despite the cracks, the wood is solid.