The summer's almost over and none of the neighborhood kids could come up with summer woodworking projects. Then the Harry Potter movie came out. "Can we make me a magic wand?"
Magic Wands are perfect projects. A handle about 4 to 5 inches long, maybe 3/4 to one inch in diameter, the wand end - 7 to 10 inches long, tapering from maybe 5/8 inches to almost 1/4 inch. All those scraps and cut offs suddenly become magic wand material and half the tools in the shop get used.
Rip to get a square piece then turn them loose with a block plane, SurForm or spoke shave to knock off the corners then off to the mini-lathe to get the handle round. You do the turning and they do the sanding to make it nice and smooth. They block plane or spoke shave or SurForm or sand the wand taper. You set up the handle on the drill press and they drill the dowel hole. Another drill press set up for drilling the dowel hole on the wand part and they do the drilling. They do the dowel glueing. They pick the finish and Viola! - their very own magic wand!
So far a rosewood handled bubinga wand a maple handled ebony wand a padouk handled pruple heart wand
On the list mahogany handled maple wand teak handled sage orange wand
Fun projects for kids and adult sorcerer's assistant. And a worthy use of those precious scraps you just couldn't part with. The memories created will linger long after a belief in magic is lost.
Will post some pics to a.b.p.w. when I can get the ones already done back for a photo session. Am hoping to include kids' descriptions of their magic wands as well.
charlie b