Written by: Benjamin DeFrank
Once you have a material in mind you will need to consider the type of Tip you want for your cane and if it is even available with your chosen material.
When most people think of canes the image that normally comes to mind is that of a single tip cane as this is by far the most common cane around. Depending on your situation and current needs you might want to look at some of the alternate tip styles. In addition to this single tip style, you will also find canes in a quad tip as well as self-standing tip. Each of these canes have their own benefits that you should know so that you can find the right cane.
Single tip canes like in description says come with just one tip at the bottom. This design allows for a more compact model and works well on folding canes since the single tip provides the lowest profile possible on any cane. While the single tip is the most common style tip seen it is also the least sturdy and if you were the let go of your cane it would quickly fall to the ground. While single tip canes work well for many people, if you're someone who needs more support and is going to relying heavily on your cane you might benefit from a quad cane instead.
Quad canes are going to come with a platform base at the end of your cane that has a tip at each corner giving for a total of four tips on your cane. There are two main sizes for quad canes that you will come across, Small base, which will have a base size of approximately 6"x 8" or Large Base which have a base size of approximately 7" x 12". Just from these measurements alone you can tell that these quead canes are going to be sturdier and offer more stability than a single tip cane, plus, if you let go of your cane it will remain standing right where you left it. With this increased stability, however the quad canes have a much larger profile and might be too bulky for some people in which case you might want to consider a self-standing cane tip.
Self-Standing cane tips are one of the newest designs that are being seen on canes. Essentially, these self-standing canes are just single tip canes with a new tip attached. By adding a tri-point or Quad point tip to your cane will have increased the stability of the cane when walking as well as allow the cane to stand on its own if you let it go. While these canes won't provide as much stability as a traditional quad cane but will have a much smaller profile. These self-standing canes provide a good middle ground from single tip and quad canes and would be a great place to start if you aren't sure which tip you want to go with.