Harry Potter Quidditch Broom (Hardware Build)

[Trooper_trent]

Wolfie had such a great idea to use an axe handle as the base for HER broom and my 5 year old has been begging for one for such a long time, that I just couldn't resist a little friday afternoon project with him.

Materials:
36" Hickory axe handle - Home Depot - $13.00
Decorative curtain hooks for the foot pads - Home Depot - $14.00
Adjustable curtain rod brackets from the same section - Home Depot - $5.00
a 2" plumbing pipe connector -$3.00
One bundle of Bear Grass - Hobby Lobby - ($10.00 at %50 off)- $5.00
5" styrofoam ball - Hobby Lobby - $4.00 (to hold the form inside the bristles)
3" styrofoam cone - Hobby Lobby - $3.00 (same)
Total cost $47.00 (compared to $35.00 for the cheap plastic one you get at a costume shop)
Look on my son's face...priceless.

I still need to add some more stain, and do some detailing and touch up, but I'm pretty happy with it considering it was a 3 hour project and was so cheap, all things considered!

 

[Steamboat Spidey]

Re: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom, Home Depot Style!

Thats absolutely awesome man! Great job!

 

[Angelus Lupus]

Re: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom, Home Depot Style!

Brilliant! Perfect use of materials and one very happy looking kid. Kudos and happy flying!

Just remind him to watch out for those bludgers!

 

[nstevic01]

Re: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom, Home Depot Style!

Simply wow, I must go out and build this ASAP

 

[smoothrat]

Re: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom, Home Depot Style!

That's so cool!

 

[sakanade]

Re: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom, Home Depot Style!

Wow.

That looks awesome!

 

[PotionMistress]

Re: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom, Home Depot Style!

This is just FANTASTIC! You are one talented father!!! Lucky, lucky boy!:thumbsup

 

[Trooper_trent]

Re: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom, Home Depot Style!

Thanks guys! I'll post some more pics when it's 100% finished.

 

[Venjix]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

Amazing skill and talent! Makes me want to start on one of my own!

 

[Wolfie]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

awesome!! cool to see others doing the axe handle thing. Its got such a great shape already , its perfect for those of us with no wood working tools or space Love the smile on his face!

 

[Drak]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

Great job, man! The look on your son's face says it all.

 

[Kommissar]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

third picture, 'nuff said!
that is one happy 'sprog, well done on both counts
*great prop
*great fathering

 

[PHArchivist]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

Brilliant! Do you have progress shots?

 

[bdgr]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

That is awesome. The first pic looks like your son is so happy and excited his hair is sticking up :lol

 

[Trooper_trent]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

Brilliant! Do you have progress shots?

I only took a couple of shots before I put the foot pegs on. It was such a quick project that there really wasn't much to take shots of.
I can give you a quick play by play though:

I gave the axe handle a quick sand and rubbed some wood stain on it (going to redo that later)

I put the bundle of grass in the bathtub for a bit, to soften the grass and keep it from breaking when I shape it.

I took the 5" styro foam ball and the 3" styrofoam cone and bored the thick part of the cone down so the ball would fit in it just like an Ice cream cone, and I glued those together using hot glue.

I loosened up the 2" bracket as big as it would go and slid it over the end of the axe handle. I then started taking plugs of wet grass and sticking them into the bracket. I made sure to go further in than I needed to that I could tap the ends back out and even up the ends.

once I couldn't get any more grass in, i worked it around inside the bracket to make it evenly spaced around the handle. I then adjusted the grass and bracket until it was where I wanted it and then tightened it down as tight as it would go.

Then, standing it on it's end, bristles up, i spread the grass out evenly and pushed the foam ice cream cone down into the center of it, ball first, spreading the grass out into a fan.

I then sprayed the inside of the grass and the foam form with spray adhesive and slowly formed the grass around the foam.

Once I had it even, I tied it off at the end with a string to temporarily hold it while I wrapped it with some wire I had laying around. 16 gauge galvanized wire I believe.

I then chopped off the extra grass after the wrapping and used a kitchen knife to clean up the other end next to the bracket, just to even everything up.

To clean up the few extra straggle hairs that were sticking out, I lightly coated the entire bristle section with spray adhesive and then used the spray can lid to roll the bristles out and get them to lay down. This works a lot better than trying to stick them down with your fingers.

 

[Trooper_trent]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

For the foot peg, I got a set of these.
Levolor Universal Holdback - 65926.790 at The Home Depot

and a set of these.
Levolor 3/4 in. Decorative Cafe Bracket - 77800.012 at The Home Depot

I straightened the curved part of the bracket and wedged that inbetween the straps of the 2" bracket holding the bristles. I JB welded these to the bracket.

I then just bent and adjusted the length of the brackets and bolted on the curtain hooks with washer, nut, and bolt.

That's it!

 

[Trooper_trent]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

I gave it a proper sanding and staining today.

 

[TallDarkandDisfigured]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

That is some great hardware work there! Lucky kid!

 

[potter06]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

you deserve to be father of month for
that

 

[Trooper_trent]

Re: Hardware Build - Harry Potter Quidditch Broom for my Son

Anybody have a high-rez shot of the Nimbus logo? My son decided to call it the "Nimbus 2011" :lol. I was hoping to find a good straight on shot, print it out, and cut out the letters using an exacto knife to make a stencil.