This cane is crafted using possibly the most unique material I’ve ever used. The handle and shaft are wood from an ancient kauri tree that was buried in the ground for 40,000-50,000 years! That's right, this wood dates back to the earliest cave paintings at approximately 40,000 BC. The Bering land bridge between Alaska and Russia broke apart approximately 20,000 years ago and the Woolly mammoth went extinct 8,000 years ago. It's hard to fathom 40,000 years. Wood like this is called "sinker" wood. A tree lives a typical life span but when it dies and falls it is covered in peat moss or falls into a bog, both of which create an oxygen deprived environment that perfectly preserves the wood. Ancient Kauri is the oldest "workable" wood in the world, the only wood that is older is petrified wood which is no longer wood but stone.

The divider has a centerpiece of another ancient wood, its bog yew from Ireland. This precious little piece has been sitting in the peat moss of Ireland for thousands of years. Its flanks by layers of brass and mosaic pins. Cane weight is medium, appropriate for most anyone. It would make a good daily user cane. Total length measures 38” and can be shortened to fit.

Kauri is a very chatoyant wood, a dynamic visual effect that is only appreciated in person, but this is the reason that the wood looks darker or lighter in some pictures. In person all of these different shades are present simultaneously depending on how the wood is interacting with the light around it.

The last image is of the excavation of an absolutely massive ancient kauri tree section in the northern part of New Zealand. These giant trees were likely a couple thousand years old when they fell.

M A T E R I A L S

Handle – Ancient Kauri from Northern New Zealand
Divider –Ancient Bog Yew from Ireland and brass, copper, steel
Shaft – Ancient Kauri from Northern New Zealand
Rubber tip

Every Gillis Cane is a photographed original, you’ll always receive the exact cane in the images.