Wandmaking Thread

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But, why?

>>1040817
because im on 4chan at 2am
At only a couple bucks for stain and sealer and blades, with free wood in the forest, it's a lot cheaper than heroin.

>>1040795
I don't, but I'm sure somebody will like what you have made. Post some pictures on a Harry Potter forum, try Etsy too. You mkight be able to sell some for a bit of cash.

I would probably sand them down a little more to make them a tad smoother, make them a little less rustic. But, I can see why you would leave them like that, it does fit a wands 'style'.

I like the hollowed out parts of the wands. How did you do them?

>>1040833
Thanks. These are the older ones I have-I got sanding down to a T.
I only used a few different xacto blades and a boxcutter for hollowing. I just have the image in my mind, sometimes draw out a CAD esque view of the finalized product on paper, because it's easier for me to sketch it out than navigate Solidworks. After the process of choosing a wood, carving the bastard, putting in hollowed spirals, Latin engravings, and staining and sealing, it would be way too time consuming to sell it and profit.
I do get irked when I see $100+ wands I know took less than an hour to make and look like glorified table legs, but I guess that's marketing.

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>>1040833
Pic related, before staining/sealing.

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>>1040795
If you live near mountains, you can get awesome wood from trees that grow out of cracks in cliff faces.
Ideally you want to find trees that are just growing out of a bare crack, where there is NO dirt.
And a lot of times, there is already dead branches you can cut off, so you don't have to harm the live tree.

The reason you want this wood is because it can be astonishingly old.

Pic related: this was a small branch I grabbed off a pine tree growing out of a crack in a cliff, like this.
The pine tree was only about 6 feet tall, but this branch has about 140 rings in it, and is as hard and strong as all fucking hell.
I cut the branch diagonally to try to count the rings; I couldn't even count them at the base (where it was cut off flat).
The pine tree was at least 3 times thicker at the trunk, so it could easily have been ~500 years old.

>>1040795
Thought about making walking sticks?
Aside from that I think a matt finish on some of those with 000 steel wool and a light buffing might make them have a nicer look, your carvings pretty cool though

>>1040821
I like the cut of your jib.

>>1040795
I don't like Harry Potter, but I really like your work. Good job!
I'm curious how do you prepare your wood? Do you let it dry or work with green wood? How long do you let it dry?

>>1040853
Or generally look for trees that grow in harsh conditions. Since they don't have enough sun/water/food they will have thighter growth rings.

>>1040883
thanks broski

>>1040873
I used very soft wood for the super detailed works, so steel wool would have ruined it. Maybe for later works :D

>>1040795
>pic
>Sandpaper not allowed!

>>1040897
I used both green and dried. I learned to let it dry out of the sun the hard way after letting a nice piece of tulip poplar crack after leaving it in the sun.

I usually go for the broken/weakened branches after storms. Easy to cut and less guilt.

>>1040930
Never said never! Just not for the super soft wood-it was easier 'sanding' off the bits by dragging the blade at a 15 degree angle> Kinda hard to describe. Less splintering this way.

Will sand for stronger wood, sempai

>>1040937
You really do need to carve hardwoods for this stuff. Just keep your tools sharp. You'll love the results.

>makes "wands"
>doesn't even follow the proper ritualistic right to make a wand, as King Solomon once did
Here's a tip:
Make it as wide as your pinky finger, as long as your forearm to the end of the middle finger, then you have a ritualistic wand you can use for summonings.

>>1041178
I've used oak twice, I just was on a tulip poplar binge for spirals and dog carvings XD

advice on tools to buy? Anything other than a boxcutter and xacto blades?

>>1041221
I have one 'wand' that fits your description. It's a really tough hardwood that's yellow/neon yellow. I forgot which tree I got it from so I can't identify it, unless I backtracked my trails in the forest.

Trying to carve a skull/bishop thing on the handle. Hopefully I can summon dead popes and build a ghost gentile army.

>>1041298
You could get a dremel, that might open up new levels of intricacy for you.

>>1041298
Sycamore while still green and not dried is amazing. Once it is dry it is pretty tough on tools. It doesn't check or split either.

Get or make some actual woodcarving tools.

>>1040795
>Any anons here partake in wandsmithing?

Nope but my GF has the whole Harry Potter collection so I'm pretty used to seeing them.

Can I make a small observation, you've used a gloss varnish on your wands and for the most part the wands I've seen tend to go with a more natural finish like an oil or wax, it makes them feel more "real" if you know what I mean.

>>1040795
BTW there's a person in London who put their oyster card into a wand and opens the gate to the tube with it, pretty cool eh!

>>1041528
Any tips for satin finishes? Milk Paint seems like a good company for pure tung oil, idk if there are any better companies.

>>1041532
Cool!

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>>1040795
Post a pic of the one you deem your best work plz. The one you pride yourself most in and would never want to part with.

>>1041537
Not sure, I live in the UK so the products we have might be available where you are, sorry.

>>1041537
Just to add that yes a satin or a matt finish is what is on most of the wands we have.

>>1040817
These would make good gifts for children. Unique hand-crafted "magic" wands to play wizards and witches with.

>>1040795
For the wand on the far right would it be possible to jam some sort of gem/crystal in there? Because if it was possible that would look pretty damn cool.

>>1041764
No idea of there's a way to do this, but if you could cover the wood watertight with some removable sealing it'd probably be possible to grow a crystal into the clearing, one to large to get into there otherwise. It'd be pretty fragile but I assume it would look good. Large NaCl crystals look pretty decent.

>>1041572
>gifts for children
>implying these are toys
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>1041764
I have thought of using a transparent resin with a bit of colored resin and pouring that into purposely damaged wood, and carving the wand out of that to get a crystalish feel to it.

This has nothing to do with my major so we'll see if I can find the time for it.

>>1041764
>>1041775
>>1041816
Steam can make wood pliable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEATei2wewY

Something like that could easily get the wood to bend enough to shove a crystal in there.

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>>1041547

Already parted with that one. What started off as a simple gift for a REEEEddit gift exchange became quite the journey. I got my carving tools temporarily confiscated by the uni popo,
wand broke during the process, second one broke, third one broke, got carving tools back, cleared up misunderstanding with uni popo, and finished the fourth.
I added Latin inscriptions on it because, well, Latin. I learned how to dunk paper in lemon juice/water mixture and age them over fire, practiced calligraphy/developed a font and made like a wand certificate (tho it doesn't show up too well in the photo)

I consider it my best work because so much work and effort went into it, and because I learned a lot from that process. I gave it away, despite all that, because it sometimes feels nicer to let things go.

Plus, I think it came out real pretty.

>>1040848
This one was the first try at the doggo wand, which broke later. I sketched out vague blueprints for what I wanted it to look like (kind of like a poor man's CAD), which at least helped me not deviate too much from what I was going for during the later trials.

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>>1041822
*continued
pic of Mk.1 before getting destroyed
will post more if anons want

>>1041528
>Speaking of gf's, I started carving after hanging out w/ a 10/10 qt at a singing competition.
>Voice of an angel, super sweet
>Thinks I'm funny
>"I'm having so much fun, anon!"
>Not realize that she wanted me to ask for her number until I'm on the bus ride back home
>Remember she mentioned liking HP
>Figured I'd meet her the year after and the wand thing might be cool
>1 year passes
>wandmaster.exe
>Return to Roxbury NJ for the competition
>404girlnotfound
>She was a senior when I met her-she already graduated

>>1041817
That actually sounds pretty cool, anon! I got a quartz crystal from a farmer's market for like 1 buck and it's small enough to fit into some of the larger handles. I didn't expect to get this many comments-I'll try it out!

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>>1041816
kind of like this, but with wood instead of marble. and not a table

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>>1041547
better pic of acceptance letter to magicthegathering school and certificate.

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>>1041547

>>1041839
Thanks man, nice work.

>>1041831
You have the same sort of luck I have.

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I made a set of 21 for a party involving young kids, and turned them from various materials:

5 birds eye maple, 4 yew, 3 dogwood, 2 juniper, 2 pear wood, 2 ebony , 2 walnut, 1 pernambuco, 1 lignum vitea

They all turned out quite nice and I keep one made of dogwood in case of ... reasons.

I got the idea after making a 24 pairs of drumsticks for Chris Slade when he was in town recording and he went to a jazz club and heard the crisp percussion of a drummer I made a few sets of sticks for out of rosewood.

>>1042116
It's not luck, its cluelessness.

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>>1040821
>not combining wands with heroin

A wand......... sure it is!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Joy-f2UV2g

Wands... Psshu plebs. Use the power of the divine inside you!

>>1042159
It's more of a funny little anecdote about how I started carving rather than me seriously saying 'boo hoo, she graduated'.
C'est la vie!

>>1042146
These look really nice! I just have to find a lathe to use somewhere on campus, though I doubt they'll just me use it for wandmaking :/

>>1042212
yeeah, I try to make my wands as un-phallic as possible. If I give someone my wand, it's not my business how they use it, but I'd rather not have people shoving it in various orifices, so the wands are made to cause maximum discomfort and discourage usage other than display.

>>1042218
I sometimes put disclaimers in the wand packages I make, and write that if it doesn't perform, it's because magic isn't real.

>>1040848
Oh man, I can picture the hours of pure concentration that went into that. It's rare now

>>1040821
Makes me want to quit now...

>>1042260
Thanks anon. Making a round handle without a lathe was tedious at first but it's almost therapeutic at this point. The process of gently scraping the blade across the wood, turning it very slightly, and repeating again and again until all the bumps are gone and it's smooth to the touch.

The dog and the hollowed spiral is the worst part just because fucking it up means scrapping the whole thing and restarting, but the challenge that it poses is what makes the end result enjoyable, even without any prospect of financial gain.

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>>1042262
Pic related

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>>1040929
000 grade steel wool is very fine and does wonders for getting an even finish over a lacquer
Also look into timber hardeners if you want some extra stability in the wood, they soak it up and it makes it pretty tough.

>>1042318
thanks for the advice, anon!
also, kek @ pic

>>1040821
im on 4chan at 5:23Am looking at a fullscreen image of a fucking wand

>>1042256
Good lathes are reasonably priced, its all the tools you need that cost a lot of money.

First off, get a REALLY good scroll chuck, mine is a Strongarm. Get extra arms for smaller/larger pieces.

Good HSS chisels as well. Heat ruins the edge on mere tool steel ones.

Bed extensions are good too.

Luckily the wood you need is smaller and less expensive, even FREE if you have a chainsaw and a forest that has decent hardwoods

If you make matching sets, to the best of your ability, they'd be really rad chopsticks. Put them on etsy for no more than $15 and I'll hand my money over to you anon! I have no need for fake magic wands, but funky looking chopsticks are useful.

Looks like I've discovered the girlfriends next birthday present

>>1040795
>>1040848
>9/10, would whittle with

>>1040795
Have you ever used crepe myrtle? I've got three dozen 6 foot by 1 inch branches that have been air drying in my garage for two years, and I'm thinking this might be an interesting project for it.

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>>1040795
holy shit that's a good idea

here's another idea: unique glass containers filled with water+food coloring for potion look

the age of wizardry is now

>>1046610
tonic water + uv lamp.
looks real wizard mang.
had some in a horror basement we made for halloween some years ago.
tiny vails of glowing light blue iz cool

>>1040795
/diy/ really is the best board. thanks OP, great thread.

>>1040795
Hipster dildo thread, go

>>1046953
That's gotta hurt.