What is a Premium Grade cane? Linseed Oil or Snake Oil?
You might wonder what a premium grade cane is and why there is a premium in price for a premium grade cane versus an almost similar cane we offer at a lower price point and what is the advantage of treating a rattan cane with linseed oil. We will try to answer your questions.
First off, we use the best lengths of rattan for our premium grade canes. While we carefully select our rattan lengths for ALL the canes we sell, the best lengths in terms of rattan quality and characteristics are used to make our premium grade canes. Then we immerse and soak these rattan lengths in linseed oil for a period of 4 to 6 weeks. Rattan is a fibrous plant material and almost similar to the root of a plant which has inner capillaries to absorb water or other liquids. This is evident from looking at a typical cross section of rattan (at the ends) and you will see these fibrous nature and inner capilllaries of rattan. By immersing and saturating the rattan in linseed oil, they are filled with the viscous linseed oil which can remain inside for a very long time unlike water or steam where the moisture evaporates much quicker over time making the rattan cane dry and brittle and more prone to breakage. Linseed oil evaporates much slower compared to water which will keep the cane nicely supple and flexible and impart weight and make it less prone to breaking as dryness is the nemesis of rattan and the prime reason why a cane might crack or break over time.
While our finishing process with polyurethane seals the moisture from water/steam or linseed oil, linseed oil will last a much longer time, perhaps years depending on your environs and how you store your canes and this results in a much superior rattan cane that can be serviced for several years if not decades. All rattan canes are prone to breaking at some is the harsh reality but a linseed oil treated cane can last several years if not decades with proper care and storage. The small premium in price you pay upfront for a linseed oil treated cane is a sound investment especially if you want your rattan cane to last longer.
About us
At English Vice, we pride ourselves on bringing high quality rattan canes for our connoiseur customers. We primarily focus on one product line and aim to bring a quality product to the discerning customer. Please watch our Ebay listings for new and exciting future product developments.
About our Canes
Unless otherwise specified, all our canes are hand crafted out of natural Indonesian kooboo rattan (with skin) which is golden yellow to yellowish brown in color. Our top grade canes have choice cut lengths of kooboo rattan with minimal blemishes (which is inherent to kooboo rattan as it is a natural product).
We do offer 'seconds grade' canes from time to time with blemishes which are more pronounced and yet very functional and usable. These canes are offered at a lower price point than our top grade canes which offer a significant bargain for a customer who is willing to overlook some naturally occuring blemishes in the rattan.
All our premium grade canes are soaked and treated with raw linseed oil for weeks to saturate the rattan's internal capillaries to add weight and flexibiliity and lock in the absorbed linseed oil. The knots are hand sanded to remove any protruding kinks and the business end is hand sanded and rounded off. They are then varnished with two coats of wood stain to preserve the natural color of the rattan and yet offer a nice protective coat. Finally they are finished with two coats of low gloss polyurethane finish for a smooth and protective coat and still preserve the natural color of kooboo rattan.
Custom/Bespoke orders and requests
If you have a custom/bespoke request for a cane with specific length or diameter or handle type or even extra steps in our finishing process (extra coats of varnish or poly or if you don't want it coated with poly), please enquire by sending us a message and we'll try our best to accommodate your request if it is within our production parameters. Extra charges might apply based on your request and please do note that requests for canes over 37 inches or 93 cms length will also incur additional shipping charges. We ship our canes by USPS Priority Mail tubes which offer the best trackable and fastest shipping method throughout the US and they have a 37 inch (93 cms) maximum length restriction.
Legal disclaimer
Please note that all our products are strictly sold as novelty collector items and/or theatrical props. Any misuse or improper use of the product other than the intended and explicitly stated purpose of this product is entirely at the discretion and choice of the buyer and seller assumes no responsibility for any injury or harm that may result from improper usage other than the explicitly stated and intended purpose of the product.
Shipping and Payment Policy
We ship by USPS Priority Mail as our standard option which has delivery estimates of 2 to 3 business days. Overnight Shipping by USPS Express Mail is also available if you prefer to have it fast. Shipping costs are automatically calculated at checkout based on your location and the quantity you select and the method of shipping you select (Priority or Express). This offers the buyer the advantage of combined shipping discounts and reduced shipping costs in case of multiple items. Shipping Costs are calculated by combined weight and destination so if you are buying multiple items, use the 'Add to Cart' option and checkout all your items at once to take advantage of the combined shipping discounts. The combined shipping discount will be reflected during the final checkout and will be displayed by Ebay shipping calculator.
We now do direct shipping (vs EBay Global Shipping) of our canes to International customers in Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and select list of EU countries. If you see your country on the drop down list, then we ship to you. We use USPS First Class Int'l as our shipping method to ship most of our canes and this is the most economical option for International shipping and it is trackable to Canada and select list of countries. Please do note USPS First Class Int'l option has length and width restrictions so we will not be able to ship canes over 34" (85 cms) or any crook handled canes using this method. Please select USPS Priority Mail Int'l if you want canes over 34" or crook handled canes. This shipping option is also available for non crook handled canes if the buyer so desires. We use corrugated round mailing tubes to ship our canes internationally by USPS FC Int'l.
Shipping charges DO NOT include customs/import fees, brokerage, VAT etc in the destination country and they are the responsibility of the buyer.
We will mark our package contents as 'Historical/Theatrical School Props' in the customs form with nominal value of the goods.
We accept Paypal payments. Paypal E-Check payments will ship only after the check clears payment and this can take up to 3 weeks so please avoid using them.
All payments are due instantly once you click 'Buy It Now'.
We ship our products to Paypal confirmed addresses ONLY. If your address has changed in the recent past, please make the address change in your Paypal account first and confirm it before placing an order to reflect your current mailing address. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy and we will not ship to alternate addresses so please take note of this policy which is there to protect both the buyer and seller.
We ship our products within 1 to 2 business days of receiving payment. Orders placed during the weekends (after Saturday 10 AM PST/1 PM EST) will ship the following Monday. Since we use USPS as our exclusive shipping method, we ship on Saturdays as well and cutoff time for orders is 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST for Saturday same day shipping and any orders we get after 10 AM PST on Saturday is not guaranteed to go out the same day but will ship out on Monday.
We ship our goods in plain and discreet packages (USPS Priority Mailing tubes/ Round Mailing Tubes) to respect the privacy of our customers.
Returns Policy
Due to the nature of the product and for health and safety reasons, there are NO RETURNS ACCEPTED for this item except in the rare cases of a defective item and we avoid those mishaps at all costs. We ensure we ship a quality defect free item to our customers.
Our canes are exclusively shipped using USPS Priority/Priority Express Medium mailing tubes OR Round corrugated picture mailing tubes which offers maximum protection to the canes and both are solidly constructed corrugated mailing tubes. This ensures a safe and damage free delivery of our canes in most cases.
If your package contents came damaged in shipment by USPS, please contact us and we will assist you with opening a USPS claim.