You can use a relatively short stick just to keep the hot lantern away from your hand, although a longer one is better balanced and actually less tiring to carry. You can also stand the butt end of a longer pole on the ground to rest your arms.
You could also use a wire bail handle to carry your glass or metal lantern.
Knock-down poles
Bamboo poles are lightweight, strong, inexpensive, and attractive. The only problem can be their length if you need to carry them in a vehicle or on public transit.
One solution is the knock-down pole.
Here's how to make one:
Take a bamboo pole of the length you need, or two shorter ones if the problem is getting them home in the first place, or if you just want a longer pole! You can make more than one joint of this kind to make a very long pole, but it will become unwieldy and put a lot of strain on the joints if it is too long. If you make it longer, make it thicker too, at least at the base. Choose pieces where the iinternal diameter of each side of the joint is about the same.
If you have a single long pole, cut it in half about halfway between two of the knots in the bamboo. You'll need a few inches of hollow bamboo on each side of the cut to make this work. Once you have two pieces of bamboo, here's how to join them together:
What you'll need:
- Two bamboo poles as described above.
- A piece of dowel about 6 inches (15 cm) long. Choose dowel that fits into the larger hollow centre of the two bamboo pieces.
- Wood glue.
- A rasp or knife to shape the dowel to fit the bamboo.
- Sandpaper to smooth all surfaces.
- Optional - duct tape - use a decorative colour if you like!
What to do:
- Fit the piece of dowel into one of the open ends of the bamboo. If it's a bit tight, shave or rasp it down where it does not fit. Bamboo openings are not perfectly round inside, so you'll need to use a little trial and error to get it right. If it's too small, fill the gaps with wooden popsicle sticks, coffee stirrers or toothpicks. Cardboard would do in a pinch.
- Fit the other end of the dowel into the other bamboo piece. Don't worry too much about making this end fill every space - you want it to be snug enough not to slip but loose enough it will slide apart.
- Once you've gotten everything to fit reasonably well on both ends, remove the dowel and anything you're using to fill gaps.
- Using wood glue, glue one end of the dowel into the bamboo opening, along with your gap fillers. DO NOT glue the other end of the dowel into the other bamboo piece - it is meant to slide in and out easily. This may seem obvious, but not to everybody, apparently.
- Let the glue set. Trim any excess glue or gap fillers from along the join - you want the two pieces of bamboo to fit together as closely as possible.
- Once the glue has set, fit the two pieces together and you're good to go. If it's still a little loose, use a piece of duct tape to wrap around the join for extra security.
- To make a neat and easy hanging loop on the end of the pole, see the Pole Loop instructions.