Hello @adaptify
Do we understand correctly that you want to:
(1) Make canes available in different sizes and section types.
(2) Track the inventory separately for canes and tips
(3) Produce one single sku in the cart that would depend on the options the customer has selected?
By the way, is the tip also available in different modifications?
If this is the case, you will probably need an extension that allows you to combine configurable products into a bundle product. However, there aren't that many extensions that do that (here is one, for example).
And, in general, you could play with different types of products in Magento (simple, configurable, grouped, bundle, etc.) as well as custom options to come up with a combination that does what you need.
Aitoc is a group of distinguished web developers that have been building for Magento since 2009.
See our extensions for Magento 2.