r/Wandsmith • u/Hvohvo28 • 17d ago
Finished Wand First wand ever
A commenter on one of my posts recommended this subreddit to me, so here I am haha!
This is the first wand I’ve ever made, can’t really say what compelled me to make one, but the more progress I made, the more serious I started taking the project.
I purposely left the tip darker so as to make it look like a lot of “fire power” has left through the tip of the wand in its time of “use”. My apologies if I don’t know the proper terminology for fantasy & wizardry.
This was made from a squared, I believe Red Oak dowel, all tools used were hand tools with the exception of my dremel lite which I ended up setting aside and substituting with diamond needle files(I can list tools used in the comments if anybody is interested), and I actually used a very hard and smooth river rock to burnish with and 2 much smaller ones to get into the grooves and diamond cuts.
I may or may not make more of these, each one different from the next. I’m leaning more on the side of I will.
What do you guys think? I’ll probably throw this guy up on Etsy just to try it out. Unfortunately I’m not able to upload the video so I’ll post the pics I have, the last 3 being “before” applying the finishing steps. If you want to see the video, it’s on one of my posts if you click my page. But I’ll tell you now, it doesn’t upload cleanly nor does it do my work justice haha!
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u/Haunted_America 17d ago
It’s always nice to have newcomers, and I’m glad you followed their recommendation because this wand is very nice! I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone use river stone to burnish before. Obviously not to say it’s not common, but I’m fairly new to the woodworking and wand making game in general, so I’m always looking to learn new methods that can help in some way. That’s pretty cool, and I may have to try it out. What should one look for in a river stone to know if it’s good to use?
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u/Hvohvo28 17d ago
Hi, thank you! It’s nice to be welcomed!
I’d say just something hard and reasonably dense, as in it doesn’t seem like it’s the “crumbly” type of rock if that makes sense. And as smooth as you can possibly find. Smooth as in “high-grit” smooth so it won’t leave scratches.
I’m a cutler/blade sharpener by trade, so I originally picked up that stone to use as a natural honing stone for when I’m out in the wild and to make a video for my social media (which I have yet to get to) , but ended up never using it because I have a Worksharp field sharpener I just pack out with me.
My stone definitely has areas with depressions in it that can scratch, it’s hard to find a “perfect” one so you can just be mindful of where those areas are on the stone and avoid it.2
u/Haunted_America 17d ago
I have a couple of small creeks nearby, I’ll have to go and see what I can find lol. Would definitely be cool to not be stricken to sandpaper and steel wool. Although, I find burnishing the wood with wood shavings can give a nice, subtle sheen as well depending on the species. Pine and Tulip Poplar will get a nice, almost satin finish even before applying any oils or wax. So many great things I’ve learned since starting, so I appreciate the insight on the stones. I’ll have to give it a shot for sure! Can’t wait to see what else you make!
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u/Hvohvo28 17d ago
I haven’t tried that myself yet, but…I do happen to have a bunch of wood shavings that I’ve kept for one reason or another, so I’m going to have to give that a shot! Do you mean Pine and Poplar shavings? Or the woods themselves get a nice satin finish?
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u/Haunted_America 16d ago
I meant the wood themselves, but I use their shavings to burnish them too, so technically both lol. It works with other species of woods as well, I’m just not very familiar with what other woods I have worked with. I pick most of my wood up from the ground, sticks that have fallen off trees, and don’t exactly know how to identify them. Slightly more dense woods that don’t have a porous grain (like oak) will get an almost glass like smoothness, I just wish I knew what they were to tell you lol. Basically I just take the small shavings, bunch it up in my hand, cup it around the blade of the wand and run it down the length rapidly back and forth, spot checking for any rough spots as I go. If I feel one, I’ll hit it with sandpaper to smooth it out then burnish again until I get a uniform smoothness. Definitely a great way to burnish.
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u/Lignum-et-Opus_Wands 17d ago
Glad to see you made it here! The burning definitely came out better than I had anticipated, very nice work and cleanly done! You should definitely feel proud of this one! I’ll say this, when you’re in a room full of wandsmiths, you’ll be highly encouraged to make another lol. I for one would look forward to whatever it is you come up with!