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This cane’s one of a kind
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| H&N photo by Steve Kadel Art Rice strips bark off a walking stick he’s making for an injured Marine in addition to a heavier wood cane he’s making for the soldier. |
Eagle on top for Purple Heart recipients
By Steve Kadel
H&N Staff Writer
A Klamath Falls man is helping honor the nation’s wounded war veterans.
Art Rice has begun a local chapter of the Eagle Cane Project, which awards attractive wooden canes with a bald eagle carved on top to troops who received a Purple Heart, a medal given to members of the military killed or wounded in action.
Rice is sending a cane this week to William Congaton of Winston, near Roseburg, who lost a leg in Iraq. The Marine is being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The chain of cane
Rice, 75, turns the shafts on a lathe in his garage shop, adding a different decorative design to each one. Then he gives them to Lou Weston and Dale Faries, who meet with other carvers once a week at the senior center to carve the eagles.
The materials and labor are donated.
The finished product is complete with a yellow eagle beak and white head feathers.
Wood-turning clubs in 25 states have produced more than 600 handcrafted canes for the project. Rice plans to send canes to several more military personnel.
He’s already finished canes made of basswood, rosewood, maple, hickory and black walnut. The canes are engraved with the recipient’s name, date of injury and location of the battle.
The act of making the canes has special meaning for Rice, who is a 39-year military veteran. He saw a story about the project in American Woodturner magazine and immediately wanted to get involved.
“When I read about it, I didn’t hesitate,” Rice said. “I became the eagle cane person here in the Basin.”
The canes carry such an honor because they have been earned by a soldier’s blood, Rice said, emphasizing they’re not available to anyone else.
“There’s no price” that can purchase one of the canes, he said.
Rice’s military experience includes active duty with the Air Force, active and inactive duty with the National Guard, and participation in the Air Force reserves and the Civil Service.
His work on the canes truly is a labor of love.
“If I get right with it, I can do it in one day,” Rice said. “It depends on the wood I’m using.”
He began working with wood as a teenager and has perfected his skills since then. His living room is filled with bowls, clocks, chalices and other items he made from wood.
Canes carry the most meaning, though.
“I’ll just make them until I can’t make them anymore,” Rice said. “The only thing that will stop me is age.”
Art Rice has begun a local chapter of the Eagle Cane Project, which awards attractive wooden canes with a bald eagle carved on top to troops who received a Purple Heart, a medal given to members of the military killed or wounded in action.
Rice is sending a cane this week to William Congaton of Winston, near Roseburg, who lost a leg in Iraq. The Marine is being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The chain of cane
Rice, 75, turns the shafts on a lathe in his garage shop, adding a different decorative design to each one. Then he gives them to Lou Weston and Dale Faries, who meet with other carvers once a week at the senior center to carve the eagles.
The materials and labor are donated.
The finished product is complete with a yellow eagle beak and white head feathers.
Wood-turning clubs in 25 states have produced more than 600 handcrafted canes for the project. Rice plans to send canes to several more military personnel.
He’s already finished canes made of basswood, rosewood, maple, hickory and black walnut. The canes are engraved with the recipient’s name, date of injury and location of the battle.
The act of making the canes has special meaning for Rice, who is a 39-year military veteran. He saw a story about the project in American Woodturner magazine and immediately wanted to get involved.
“When I read about it, I didn’t hesitate,” Rice said. “I became the eagle cane person here in the Basin.”
The canes carry such an honor because they have been earned by a soldier’s blood, Rice said, emphasizing they’re not available to anyone else.
“There’s no price” that can purchase one of the canes, he said.
Rice’s military experience includes active duty with the Air Force, active and inactive duty with the National Guard, and participation in the Air Force reserves and the Civil Service.
His work on the canes truly is a labor of love.
“If I get right with it, I can do it in one day,” Rice said. “It depends on the wood I’m using.”
He began working with wood as a teenager and has perfected his skills since then. His living room is filled with bowls, clocks, chalices and other items he made from wood.
Canes carry the most meaning, though.
“I’ll just make them until I can’t make them anymore,” Rice said. “The only thing that will stop me is age.”
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