Searching for Wand wood (Harry Potter inspired replica)

Plokman

Active Member
(I ramble a bit but hopefully not enough to the point of giving everyone a BSoD effect. Summary at the bottom.)

Hey All,
Pardon my lack of activity lately, I think I'm still a bit ride laged from the Florida trip I had. Hopefully I be up to speed before September, but anyway I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (If you ever get to go, get a nice Butterbeer good lord I can't discribe it.) and as I had not taken the Pottermore quiz on Wand, House and such I didn't pick up a interactive wand. I'm honestly kinda glad I didn't as my wand is Rowan and I looked at the prop design, Skull for a handle nope not a chance!

I'm no Death Eater for one my moral compass despises those like Voldermort, Umbridge, and the werewolf who has the audacity to be named after one of my favorite dragons (Just so you know I'm talking about Faffy from Dave the Barbarian with Faffy being a shortened version of Fenrir), so I thought "I'm working on my Lego customs for my shop, maybe I can use my skills to make Potter inspired wands for sell off Etsy or the like."

I've been working on the handle for my wand basing it off a fork I pilfered a Joe's Crabshack (They lable them expecting you to take them. It was just the little yellow crab claw fork) shape wise and a few added bits inspired by some wood handles on our cutlery here at home. Now this is gonna be tricky as I do not yet possess a Lathe and the handel blank is made from Birch crafting sticks glued to gether with well wood glue. I'm probably gonna coat it with a thin layer of Resin once fully done so I't can't be damaged or fall apart.

Now here is the part that is troubling me. I need Mountain Ash also known as Rowan Wood for the wand itself (11 inches) but every place I've looked I have misgivings about. This wand is to be for display, LARPing and other imaginative but not actual magic. So does anyone by chance know of a regular lumber yard that carries Rowan?

Quick note I do not judge anyone on their way of life some I just think "Why?!" but it's not my place to judge. That is all I'm saying on the matter.

So incase like last time I rambled and confused everyone with the "Icon" talk I will supply a summery.

TLDR version.

I'm looking for a supplier of Rowan/Mountain Ash wood not intended for any purpose than the standard wood working. I'm making a prop Harry Potter wand based off my Pottermore results, which were Rowan wand with Unicorn hair core and it is 11 inches long. I don't want any that is Homeopathic or of similar uses just wood cut from a Rowan Tree to be carved into a prop.

Hope this one makes more sense than my Icon one.

Take care all,
Plokman

P.S. I'd also like to find a similar supply of wood for the following holly, Vine, Yew, Willow, and Cypress. Thank you for your time I'm still working on my Icons just been trying to readjust to my old schedule.
 
Your best bet would be to grab a phone book and start calling businesses around you since shipping lumber would be not worth the cost.

You may also consider trying second hand building supply stores or Craigslist, you can occasionally find people trying to get rid of odd ends that would be great for wand making.
 
Allivans carries a Rowan wood wand, and also make custom order wands. Perhaps they would be willing to sell you a blank?


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Faffy would be short for Fafnir, the dragon from the Beowulf epic (as well as the cursed dwarf turned dragon slain by Sigurd in Norse mythology). Fenrir is the giant wolf from Norse mythology.
 
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I'd also recommend going to somewhere like Allivans, or any wand supplier. Woods like rowan, yew, holly etc.. are used in wand lore as they were important woods in druidic lore. The properties you'll see people describe are considered to be inherent in the wood based on that tradition, and not something someone has 'enchanted' into them when making. So what you'd get from a wand maker is really identical to what you'd get from a timber yard (even from a metaphysically inclined persons perspective, with the possible exception of a a bit more respect in the way the tree is felled or cut). You may be going to a lot more effort without any real need or benefit, unless you have a philosophical objection to giving your money to someone who might be metaphysically inclined (or someone who is willing to pretend to be, in order to bump up the price a little and increase their profit margins).

PS, you can buy branches of Rowan from etsy, including from decorating suppliers, so if you want something really raw that may work for you too
 
Your best bet would be to grab a phone book and start calling businesses around you since shipping lumber would be not worth the cost.

You may also consider trying second hand building supply stores or Craigslist, you can occasionally find people trying to get rid of odd ends that would be great for wand making.

I would indeed do that since that is sound advice but I know not one lumberyard near me would have Mountain Ash in stock, Ash quite possibly but Rowan not a chance it doesn't grow native in my part of the world. Heck I need to check something be right back.

*does the slowly duck down behind object to look like your going down stairs. A few loud crashes are heard as well as a cat and the bonk sound from the three stooges. I do the climb thing only looking like I'm slowly standing now*

Blasted bookshelf my heads gonna be flat for a week. Anyway according to my check Rowan does grow in the US, but not as far as I can tell in quantities to be cut down for lumber. The American Mountain Ash is also not the same tree but as their two names suggest are related. I'll do a double check to be sure but it is most likely a case of import or find it.

Cypress Though oh I wish I could of got some cuttings from those last month when I was in Kissimmee (Also that is pronounced Kis-sim-me right? My step Aunt kept calling it weirdly while we were there.) But the cloest Cypress was around Disney World and I think carving a few branches and a few bits of bark and wood would of got us banned or even sued. I ain't got a dime to spare for court matters that big.
:lol
Woodworker's Source has cypress turning squares.
https://www.woodworkerssource.com/
Oh nice find my friend I'll have a look.

Allivans carries a Rowan wood wand, and also make custom order wands. Perhaps they would be willing to sell you a blank?


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Hmm will that be the first result if I google that name? I'll try to find em with their name but I may need a link. Just Pm it to me or post it here I'll do the rest. Thank you very much for the tip.

Faffy would be short for Fafnir, the dragon from the Beowulf epic (as well as the cursed dwarf turned dragon slain by Sigurd in Norse mythology). Fenrir is the giant wolf from Norse mythology.

To quote the dragon himself "The big lug still thinks I can't talk. Go fish." :facepalm How did I forget that? Yeah Fenrir is the Wolf that chases the sun and at the cycle change eats it. Fafnir is indeed who I meant thanks for correcting me my friend. Ah I forget did Fafnir have lighting breath? If so the new God of War game may have you kill him then hack out one of his teeth. Ouch even though my bad teeth are gone that still hurts thinking about it.

I'd also recommend going to somewhere like Allivans, or any wand supplier. Woods like rowan, yew, holly etc.. are used in wand lore as they were important woods in druidic lore. The properties you'll see people describe are considered to be inherent in the wood based on that tradition, and not something someone has 'enchanted' into them when making. So what you'd get from a wand maker is really identical to what you'd get from a timber yard (even from a metaphysically inclined persons perspective, with the possible exception of a a bit more respect in the way the tree is felled or cut). You may be going to a lot more effort without any real need or benefit, unless you have a philosophical objection to giving your money to someone who might be metaphysically inclined (or someone who is willing to pretend to be, in order to bump up the price a little and increase their profit margins).
PS, you can buy branches of Rowan from etsy, including from decorating suppliers, so if you want something really raw that may work for you too


Your indeed right heck Rowan should not be quite as strong as it is in Harry Potter wandlore as it is thought to nullify witchcraft. Maybe not white magic like say Merlin's but you are 100% correct the myth is just a myth on the physical plane and even those who follow that belief aren't bad they just got a bad rap thanks to their symbol being perverted, Wow I just realized Mel Brookes really made a connection with Spaceballs since Druidia is home to Druids (May as well call them Yiddish or Jewish one) and well we all know a symbol that was perverted against them don't we?

the Manji, Star representing elements and Deathly Hallows all have something in common real for the first two and fictional in Harry Potter for the last one. They were all once innocent shapes meaning peace, Balance and strong items of power not necessarily evil in their use.

Anyway yeah no matter what they are just pieces of a tree with folk lore behind them. Not any more magical than the kind nature gives us daily like light reflecting off water on a rainy day, the giggle of a happy baby, the loyalty of a dog. All magic in their own way but not "Swish and Flick" incantation use like "Higutus Figitus Zumba Kazing!" just natural magical wonders.

Your quit right too I'm thinking way too hard on this. I'm a guy who will tell you till I'm blue in the face that a Steam Locomotive is alive, who believes in the possibility of robots with fully sentient thought having souls and here I'm worrying about a prop made based off a book series that is fun to visit in make believe places like Universal Studios' Wizarding World attractions. Forgive me I tend to be overly cautious but broaden your mind, Know your limits and never forget it's all make believe unless you practice it then well that ain't on me to judge.

I don't it's just a stick for a prop saying if I lived in that world this is the wand I would wield. I'll keep looking around Etsy for my prop materials, the others types of wood are for a idea to make Lego wands of the true wood type for Lego Harry Potter.

Also as soon as I figure it out I'll be posting photos of my WIP wand and Lego stuff. Lego will be in it's own thread and Icons in their's.

Well I hope I didn't ramble too much. Thank you all for the help. If any other ideas for sources hit ya let me know.
 
(I ramble a bit but hopefully not enough to the point of giving everyone a BSoD effect. Summary at the bottom.)

I'm looking for a supplier of Rowan/Mountain Ash wood ...

P.S. I'd also like to find a similar supply of wood for the following holly, Vine, Yew, Willow, and Cypress. Thank you for your time I'm still working on my Icons just been trying to readjust to my old schedule.

Depends where you live. Holly, Rowan, Willow and Yew all grow in my area and you could harvest your own. Cypress is European i think but you can find it in garden centres. However 'vine' is a little non-descript, there are plenty of creeping vine like plants - I live near a few vineyards in fact with plenty of grape vines for exmaple.
 
Yes. First link if you google Alivans. Google Alivans Wands if you’re unsure.

Hmm will that be the first result if I google that name? I'll try to find em with their name but I may need a link. Just Pm it to me or post it here I'll do the rest. Thank you very much for the tip.




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Depends where you live. Holly, Rowan, Willow and Yew all grow in my area and you could harvest your own. Cypress is European i think but you can find it in garden centres. However 'vine' is a little non-descript, there are plenty of creeping vine like plants - I live near a few vineyards in fact with plenty of grape vines for exmaple.

Well I'm no expert on trees though a photo would most likely help. But I think three of these are native only to Britain and Europe I know Rowan is though it can be grown here in the US uh I think again I'm no plant expert. Ah here's a better clarification on Vine as said on the Wiki Vine (genus Vitis) in the narrowest sense is grapevine (Vitis), but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners. So yeah your right Vine may be obtainable for me since I also live in a area with a lot of Vineyards.

That solves that but I gotta figure out the others though like I said above to @Grigori I am not gonna worry about sellers who list possible Magical use as mine is a prop and no matter how much it really was a bit of pedantic on my part. Much like Zinc can be used as a medicine it is a metal which can also be used in construction and I've heard arguments on it's usefulness as a medicine.

Yes. First link if you google Alivans. Google Alivans Wands if you’re unsure.






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:D As soon as I had replied I searched and found that out. Thank you for clarifying though my friend that was thoughtful. :thumbsup
 
Ok update for everyone my good friend RobertMuldoon is providing me his services to retrieve the Rowan Wood for my personal Wand Prop. I am glad to have a wood spotter and can't wait to get the wood. Mr. Muldoon (Um would you mind my use of your real name my friend?) has informed me though that the wood will be green and need some drying time before I can actually work it. I'm looking into proper treatment of wood during the drying process to ensure all the wood survives without cracking or warping (I need to learn the best methods of drying pigment too by which I mean learn how to dry what I'm trying to use as pigment so I can crush it up with mortar and pestle.)

In the mean time while I work on my Lego projects and some other things I'm going to try to sculpt the handle for my wand further. I am also going to make three special prop wands in honor of a dear departed friend, back in May our family senegal parrot Tinker passed away and I miss the little bird a lot. I was checking in the room his old cage is stored for a book today and found three of his tail feathers.

I took them and sanitized them as they had been in a corner we missed when we cleaned it for storage (Trust me that bird could hide a piece of metal and even if you went over the cage with a 400 lbs. magnet the cage would be the only thing stuck to it the metal piece not so much. And yes I do mean Ferrous metal not Aluminum or copper.) Once I got them clean and my hands too since senegal parrots are carriers of salmonella, I put them down to air dry and I felt a pang of melancholy remembering he had only just started to let me pet him (Long story short in his first family the boys and men teased him and possibly hurt him so he did not like men touching his cage let alone him.) and we were bonding I'd sing him a song every morning.

A idea came to me as I looked at those three black feathers I'm making prop wands and I'm sure in the HP universe there is a magical bird that looks a lot like a senegal parrot so why not make his tail feathers the last three pieces that remain into Wand Cores. I'm still figuring out how to embed cores but I found some methods I may try, but for these Feathers I'm going to do a small bit of nonmagical tampering. I am going to put each feather in a Vacuum sealed tight plastic holder so no matter how long the wand props themselves survive His feathers can become heirlooms and hey in my lifetime I'm sure they will make a safe way to take the genes from a old feather and use it not to clone but to give Tinker's bloodline to a new generation which I wish to make sure happens for all my pets from here on.

(Warning the following may contain my infamous "rambling on about a topic that goes nowhere to everyone save me. So I have hidden it with a spoiler tag. Save some of you headaches I hope. :rolleyes)

Why do I have the want to artificially engender a son/daughter/litter of my pets? Cause I want some part of them to continue on even after they have left, Plus my Dachshund pup due to a major Parvo infection when he was newborn had to be fixed as he would pass the virus down or at least that's what my stepmom said I'm no vet, geneticist, or dog breeder so I have no idea if Parvo can be passed on from father/mother through natural birth. I do know the genes can be bypassed when you do it the way I'm thinking though.

Anyway these wands are for Liz my stepmother and Tinker's mother figure, Ruby my Stepsister as his favorite word to say was "Ruby!" and for me. I looked into our birth month's celtic woods and first of all "Pottermore has to be more than meets the eye!" as me and Ruby share a birth month with hers even being on a multiple number of my Birthday's number so our Tinker Wands would both share the same wood, now show of hands who can guess what wood it is that her wand and my wand are to be made from just take a stab please.

If this was your answer
Rowan
congratulations you win a virtual cookie. How on Earth did those questions add up to the right month match for my Wand Wood?!

Now Liz's is to be Vine Wood. Still not 100% how easy it will be to get that, there are vineyards near enough to me I may just call one or two to see if they would be willing to help me. I really don't want to hurt their crops and I want to get a few decent length and thickness of branches so I'll just have to see. On details I would enjoy including in the wands some lines that look a tad bird like unlike my main wand which I will explain in a update soon at least for the handle so I'll need to look around for inspiration, Hmm maby use some influence of the Totem Pole style of certain Native American tribes (I think it's Inuit but I'm not 100% since I know more about the Iroquois and their culture thanks to a magic key and that crazy material known as plastic.) I'm not going for the painted look that is typical of true totem poles since wands are rarely painted if ever.

I usually see just varnished wood with some Inlay. Huh that's a idea maybe carve the details and then use some resin with translucent color, making it seem like a wizard truly made it by transfiguring Gem stones into a differt shape while keeping their material unchanged. Sapphire blue resin polished to the best shine I can make.

Well that is enough rambling from me on this and brainstorming as if I were Gilbert Godfrey being well himself (By which I mean his professional self not his actual self.) Feed back is still appreciated though, throw things at the wall see what sticks. A big warning the first person to throw poo, throw poo through the fan and otherwise just tries to do a bad monkey/ape imitation involving poo with be sacked by a professional and those who sacked the first group will be sacked by a more qualified professional. Ni.


Oh and if all goes well and I get a bluetooth connector for my PC I'll actually be able to post photos of my WIPs. I have no idea why my phone won't work as a USB connected device even with the driver installed but Bluetooth will fix that (I hope).

By the way I do have a small rant about something I only just realized regarding my step family. As it has nothing to do with anything on wands or prop making I shall put it in a spoiler. So read the following only if you really want to. It's nothing offensive, and may prove interesting to some that is why I leave it up to you to pick.

(I recently have seen some very odd connections to my blood relatives and my stepfamily, These things tell me two things one there is no doubt in my mind that my dad found his second Soulmate just as my mother was before she passed away and I think she's been guiding us to them, The fact that my Stepsister is named after the birthstone of my mother is just too much to ignore, I follow the belief that things happen, Most of the time they happen just because it happened that way (And could have made a parallel time line that happened differently and exists now as it's own thing). but on occasion the hand of the one above all or however you believe intervenes and makes something happen for a reason. My mom I think she is pulling some strings but things could of happened much differently either way I'm glad to have my new family addions and very grateful to actually have a sibling even if she is ny stepsister it's a sister and I always wanted a brother or a sister and from what she's told her mom, my dad and Sandy it's the same for her.
 
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for the green wood - i'd suggest turning in down but leaving it very roughly the shape you want then when its dry doing the final shaping - will dry much quicker that way - seal the end grain before putting away to dry - anything like melted wax or latex paint will do and should prevent any cracking - though thats pretty unlikely with something wand sized anyway

for dying it - i use water based dyes on my wood turning projects - they give you more time to blend etc but regardless - you'll probably want to put some danish oil on after the colour - couple of coats to give the colour more depth - then a sealer and then your final finish - can do it in different ways though and loads of videos online about finish wood
 
Thank you for the advice I will take it into full consideration, RobertMuldoon has said he will prep the end grain prior to sending me my Rowan so I will reseal based off what he does for that.

Now this is the kind of help I really need, hmm so would I be correct in guessing that the classic water based paints we would of used back in our grade school days would be a good dye? It's water based easy to find and as I know would be suitable to giving the wood a faint color a more subdued change.

Never heard of Danish Oil but I will be sure to have a look for it, I know boiled linseed oil gives a nice subtle stain to the wood (thank you Peter Brown) but it all depends on how I want the wand to look when finished. Thank you for the advice I can take as much as can be given since while my grandfather and my dad's side of the family were wood workers even owning a lumber yard years ago, me I'm just starting out and as my dad inherited his father's skill with electronic repair he didn't get much of the wood working my Uncle has some but he only mad small novelty pieces like these little alligator things with a dowel in it's mouth.

The trick he did with it was he added a very tight rubber band at the back of the hollow he'd made and the dowel had a hook at the end, Sort of a Chinese Finger Trap kind of gimmick where you pull the dowel out a bit but pop your fingers so it looks like you almost had it and then have others try, the key was to never let anyone know the hook was there. https://www.therpf.com/member.php?u=88826
 
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i think you'd be better off with proper wood dyes - i use the intrinsic range from hampshire sheen - easy to apply with a brush or cloth and pretty inexpensive specially if you know what colour your after and just buy the one you want - its a uk product but i think i heard they are branching out and they are being made under licence in the us now too
 
i think you'd be better off with proper wood dyes - i use the intrinsic range from hampshire sheen - easy to apply with a brush or cloth and pretty inexpensive specially if you know what colour your after and just buy the one you want - its a uk product but i think i heard they are branching out and they are being made under licence in the us now too
For a moment I thought I recognized that name but I was thinking of Yorkshire Grit which is mainly used to increase shine potential and also polish if my eyes saw correctly in Nick Zimetti's (I know I butchered his last name) videos.

I shall look for those my friend see if I can get any over here. If not well I'll keep looking. Thank you so much for the input I wish I could post a photo of my current progress on the handle design I've started on but I got to order a blasted Bluetooth USB receiver/transmitter as they don't have them in my walmart. Typical. Oh well they had the new Rivet gun I needed so I can work on fixing up my chest for my pigment powder. I just felt like having a sort of treasure chect looking box. I hoe it comes out ok.
 
It's quite funny, today I had my father (Who looks a lot like Hagrid only shorter, curly haired, and his hair in his beard is nowhere near as bush as the real deal but he could easily be seen as a stunt double) take the House quiz and low and behold he is a freakin Hufflepuff too. My family is starting to look like the Weasley family only with a banner of yellow and black and not Red and gold, I also had him take the wand quiz and he's got a Hornbeam wand with Dragon heartstrings.

This raises a very interesting dilemma for making prop wands for the family, Feathers are easy enough to get looking like they should, Hair is reasonable, but how the heck am I to make what essentially ammounts to sinew which uh, uh no way not using that even for a mythbuster it's disgusting, Disgraceful and despicable! Maybe I could use some sort of rubber or rawhide bleached white.

Um any advice guys? I've seen real heartstrings and yeah that's not good looking as human ones look like real thick white snot (Pardon the expression) and given a dragon's size then Rawhide mixed in with some Silicone rubber...I don't know!
 
Ok think I got a breakthrough in how to make semi realistic Heartstrings with out Sinew. I do have a more personal Question for everyone but I'll state that in the later half of my post, after all this is for feedback on a idea of making a fake piece of muscle fiber for prop purposes. Anyway my idea for making my Dragon heartstrings it came to me as I cooked dinner last night I have a box of old Ramen noodles (The packed Manchuran I think it's spelt like that kind) and I don't trust them to be edible as they have been in the kitchen for over a year and I'm cautious beyond belief on food safety.

So I have no plans to eat any of them infact had my pop pick me another box a week or two back, I've decided to use the flavor packets after sifting the little green herbs out as a resin dye as much like most powdered food stuff such as cocoa, it is designed to be mixed into liquid and disperse (Note I am frugal as all get out due to my fixed income. I'm not cheap as I will go with the highest quality substitute material to make my alternatives but cost effectiveness is high on my list.) so that all has a chance to be used and as the idea of cocoa powder came from Peter Brown I must say major props to him on my Resin Dye alternatives.

Now I hate wasting anything like I said I'm frugal and I often tell myself off if I discover I didn't fully finish a soft drink, waste is not a good thing even when your not on a fixed income. So I was wondering what to do with the noodles from the Ramen and after my father took his wand quiz and found out his core would be Dragon Heartstring I got to thinking on the various ways to make a facsimile of muscle fiber, then I had an epiphany (Whoopsey daisy better change the.... oh right it's a realization not a messy problem.) the noodles could be just what I need.

So my plan for making my replica heartstrings is to take a bit of noodle from the block (oh joy) and get it to a point where it is flexible with hot water then I take that and some glue mix in some color powder (Brown and a touch of gold I'd say for a dragon's heartstring try for a bit of iridescents) and then make a jig to wrap the coated noodle around coil it up and let it air dry back to a more solid state. After that I simply give it a coat of clear paint or a resin dip to keep it from rotting and place it around the core insert.

The look should come out quite nice I do think but as I've said before I prefer feedback from my peers. So what do you all think of this? Convoluted and slow with a major chance of it coming out bad or inventive and workable? My biggest problem is the heated water as till I move into my new place and my proper workshop I'm quite gun shy with using my stove again after it caught fire a while back when I was trying to distill rust dust out of a slurry, yeah the fact our Fire Extinguisher needs a pressure recharge and if it were to happen again it would be a grease fire which I can't put out with water my fire distrust is at a all time high (And as it was I had major paranoia of fire, Lost my old home to it and I've just cautious with it) but I suppose a boil of water with the Microwave poured into a kettle would suffice.


Thank you all and have a great day.
 
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Well one thing I know is stupidity knows no bounds (by which I mean my own). On the crafting front I ordered some Micromesh pads so I can ensure my creations all have a good polished look, as well as a Miter box to ensure my cuts are great for the handles.

I also solved a small problem of how to use the feathers of my pet parrot and keep it Lore friendly, I created a Fantastic Beast based off him https://www.deviantart.com/plokman626/art/Odide-The-African-Phoenix-763014476

Gonna order my wood soon. So I hope you all enjoy them once I am don or ready. Oh got my Bluetooth connector so Photos will be seen soon.
 
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Alright been promising this for a few day and I have a feeling one of you will Quote rge late but great Mako. Anyway now that I have my Bluetooth swtup I have been able to get a couple photos of my Wand Handel as it is currently. So feel free to laugh I know Popsicle sticks and wood glue aren't the best way to start but hey I like it so far. The rune that looks like a correlian starship is actually a idea I had at the start so just ignore those I need to make a better pattern for it.
 

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