Wooden Tusken Gaffi stick

[Robstyley]

I'm making a Gaffi stick out of solid hardwood. I decided to do it this way because I want it to have as few seperate parts/joins as possible and have an authentic feel and weight to it. I did a bit of research and looked at stills from ANH, other peoples sticks and Fijiian war clubs and worked out roughly what size I wanted it and did some drawings. I then went and bought three bits of Sapele to make two sticks and two pineapples. I marked out the shapes on the wood and then had a joiner I know cut the sticks out and turn the blocks for the pineapples into my required size and shape.

I then bevelled the sticks slightly with a jigsaw to start them off and marked out the lateral lines on the pineapple by stretching elastic bands round and following them with a pencil, I drew the bisecting lines by eye. Then I just used a dremel to make a shallow groove where the lines were and cut through the grooves with a handsaw.

The next stage was to sand the sticks with a small vibration/electric sander. This was hard work but in doing it that way they look a bit more natural and not perfectly cylindrical which I wanted. They are not finished, need to do a bit more shaping and then make them smoother with finer grit. The pineapple I have filed with a square file. That's not finished either, it looks too uniform, I want to do some shaping and tweaking with smaller files.

This is currently where I am.. I will get the shaping on these parts complete and then get some more wood for the pineapple spike part. I'm going to join it all together with 20mm dales/holes and glue. Massively enjoying doing this, it's very satisfying seeing them start to take shape. I don't even want to start thinking about the other end! I would like to make it out of metal and have a 10mm thread cut on it and then screw it into the wooden pole, not sure yet. Will post again with further progress, questions, discussion, advice welcome.
Andy

 

[sskunky]

Great, nice to see someone using wood. Looking forward to seeing more.


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[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Looks great so far. I have a real Totokia and whatever type of wood it was made of was a royal PITA to drill into. It's the hardest wood I've ever used. Giggity.

 

[OdiWan72]

Keep the pics coming!

Markus

 

[Trilogy]

That's starting to take shape nicely. I look forward to seeing more.

 

[RoCKo]

You're off to a great start, nice to see someone doing a Gaffi stick again!

When you're done, cast it and offer some cheap copies... LOL. just kiddin!

 

[Robstyley]

Thanks for the comments, it's much appreciated. Yeah I thought the totokias would be made from a very hard wood, makes sense if they're a club/bludgeoning weapon. I went for the most dense hardwood that's easily available round here. Plus it has a red pigment which is a good start for when I finish it and stain and wax it etc. It is quite hard to work but not too bad. I've got the spike wood and have had it turned into a rough cone shape. I will be doing the rest of the sanding and shaping this week. Will post photos when the wood's done. Haven't thought about casting parts, it's an idea! Not really my thing at the mo, wouldn't know where to start. Besides, these things should be made of wood!
Andy

- - - Update

 

[Robstyley]

Ok, I have more or less finished shaping and sanding the wooden parts of the Gaffi stick. I have sanded the sticks to a smooth finish and taken the sharpness out of the pineapples a little and sanded them smooth. I was thinking about trying to make the pineapple spikes more spiky and irregular like a real totkia but I did a small test area and it didn't really work so I'm going to keep them as they are. I quite like the look of it as it is anyway.

I had the spike parts turned slightly oversized into a general cone shape so that I could carve/shape them by eye. It allowed me to make the spike off-centre and give it a more interesting and appealing shape. I just drew a cirle to one side of the top and using the dremel sanded it and shaped it by eye. It ends up slightly lumpy but then I took the electric sander which has a foam plate and ran that over it to sand out the lumps. I was really pleased with these, I feel like it's all coming together now!

I am going to screw and glue the pineapple to the stick with a big countersunk screw and then glue the spike to the pineapple. My carpenter told me if I put a big blob of glue on the pineapple and then move the spike around on it it will expel the air and excess glue and give a nice strong hold. Once it's glued I'll stick a bit of filler in all the joins and any little holes and cracks and then sand it smooth so it all looks like one piece. I'm then going to dye it with a mahogany wood dye and wax it so it has a nice hard, shiny finish. I'm starting to think about the mace.. will post again with progress.
Andy

 

[sskunky]

None of the picture links are
Working. At least not on my iPhone.

 

[Robstyley]

I don't know what's happened there....! They're not showing in the post on my screen but they open when I click on them? Dunno, I'll try and re-upload them if it doesn't sort itself out.
Andy

 

[sskunky]

They don't show on TapTalk either.


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[Robstyley]

I re-uploaded them, I can see them in the post on my screen now. Should be ok?

 

[sskunky]

That's better!
Looking great!


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[sskunky]

I'm going to have to have a go at this when I've built my workshop! I think I could get lost in time making one of these. Who's been turning the pieces for you? What wood are you using?


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[Robstyley]

I'm going to have to have a go at this when I've built my workshop! I think I could get lost in time making one of these. Who's been turning the pieces for you? What wood are you using?

Yeah it's a very enjoyable project, my first proper project! I like working with wood. I'm building a small workshop in my shed at the moment, it's very modest but I'm gradually aquiring a few tools. It is definitely time consuming and hard work making one (or two) of these the way I have but it's worth it. The wood is Sapele, it's a very hard/durable hardwood with a reddish colour. You can buy it in any big timber merchants. Just find a local joiner or carpenter and they'll do the turning and cuts for you. You could cut out the sticks with a jigsaw but I didn't have one at the time so I got him to do it on the bandsaw. I think you can only really do the other bits on a lathe.
Andy

 

[cayman shen]

Loving this project!

 

[Robstyley]

I finished all the shaping and sanding of the wooden parts and have joined them together. I basically drilled a hole right through the pineapple and countersunk one side, then a pilot hole into the stick and used a 100mm screw and a little glue. It's really solid. For the spike I put a big blob of glue on the pineapple and then pressed the spike on it whilst moving it around before positioning it in the middle. I filled in the joins/cracks with filler and sanded them smooth once dry. Even though you can see the seperate parts in front of you you never really know exactly what it's going to look and feel like until it's all joined together. I'm pleased with the shape, it feels good in hand too, it's got a nice weight.

I've now put several layers of wood dye on them. I wanted to get a really dark red colour but it's a bit of an experiment because I've never done it before. I'm not sure if I'm going to go darker or leave them like this. You can still see the grain which I wanted and they look pretty good as is. I'm going to put a clear natural wax on them next which should seal them and give them a nice smooth, shiny, hard finish.

I am having some metal parts for the mace end made at the moment. A guy is cutting me eight steel fins, two peices of steel tube and two lengths of steel square rod all to my own design/drawings. Once that is done I'm going to go back and see him about welding it all together and then hopefully they are going to screw straight into the wooden clubs. Not sure how it's all going to work yet but I'll figure it out! That's where I am, getting there gradually.
Andy

 

[dino8836]

Well done. They look great. Will you troop (walk around in costume) with these, or are they just for show?

 

[Robstyley]

Well done. They look great. Will you troop (walk around in costume) with these, or are they just for show?

Thanks man. I'm not really a trooper at the moment! I don't have a Tusken costume anyway but I'm interested in making a helmet/head. I'm just making them because I like the prop, I want to have one and for the fun and challenge of making it.
Andy

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

The gaffe stick looks great.

I have some info I thought I would share based on may recent gaffe stick build. You can take it or leave it but I thought I'd just toss it out there.

I used a real Fiji war club for my build. http://www.therpf.com/f79/my-star-wars-prop-room-home-office-183168/index2.html#post2878412

The current versions have a odd shaped tip on the head and need to be sanded down for an accurate look. Of course after the modification, I needed to refinish to match the original color. What I noted was that the finish used on the actual war club is not a stain, it is more of a paint. You can't see the wood grain the same way you do when you use stain, I only needed a small amount of paint for my mod so I went to the local craft store and picked up a small container of acrylic paint. The best match was "raw umber" but I still had to add a touch of black for an accurate match to the original finish.

Now, it should be stated that the above information is built on an assumption (theta may be right or wrong): That Fiji war club coloring is still the same as those offered in the past.

Anyhow... Nice job.