How to turn a "magic wand"?

[Ken Jurman]

So my daughter (9 y.o.) is going through a Harry Potter phase and asked me to turn her a magic wand. I'm using some 16 inch long rosewood scraps, but I can't figure out how to turn it thin enough to be "magic-wand-like" without it chattering. Is it possible to turn long-ish thin-ish objects without a steady rest and not have to sand out serious chatter marks??

Input/suggestions/how-to advice would be appreciated.

-Ken

[Michael Short]

Here is a link to a string steady rest. I looks easy to build and use. Might be helpful with a one time small project.


http://www.woodturneddreams.com/stringsteadyrests.doc

[Curt Fuller]

I've turned quite a few wands and similar thin spindles and I've never used a steady. The way I was taught was to work from the tailstock end back towards the headstock. You have a tendancy to want to turn the entire wand to the desired thinness as you go. But if you mount the wood and just knock of the corners to get it round and then work on a small section at a time, starting at the tailstock end and working back, the thicker wood behind where you're working will dampen most of the chatter. Using a sharp skew, holding it left handed to cut downhill, and wrapping my fingers around the spindle also seems to help for me.

[alex carey]

haha, I'm making one for myself and a friend of mine...and im double her age. I think you should make a shorter wand. Harry potters wand was only 11". Unless you are making the wand to be like Hagrids which was 16", no one else has a wand that large, most of them are much shorter.

[Scott Conners]

You can use your fingers of your left hand on the work (I usually wrap from below the toolrest) to help dampen chatter. Takes some practice but it works.

[David Hostetler]

I've seen what Scott is talking about on a video from Jet. It looks like an easy way to stop the chatter, HOWEVER, I am not entirely convinced it is a safe procedure. Do this at your own risk...

Honestly, a Steady rest is just the right tool to do this...

[robert hainstock]

I've turned some chopsticks out of 1/4 in stock, and found my left hand to be the best steady rest.. Good luck.
Bob

[Jim Underwood]

Is using your fingers as a steady dangerous? I don't think so. At least not on small stuff like batons and wands. Lots of turners use their fingers as a steady rest. Saves time. I do it a lot. There are a couple things to watch out for though.You don't put lots of pressure on the thing, just enough to damp vibration. If you do put too much pressure on, you'll not do it long. It kinda "polishes" your fingers, and you let go when it starts burning. The other thing to watch out for is the "fuzzy" area just where the skew is cutting. Keep the fingers on one or both sides of that, or it will tend to "chew" on your fingers a tad.

The thing I found to make turning the wands (or batons in my case) easier, is to capture the spindle on the headstock and/or tailstock, so that it becomes rigid. You can't do this with centers. My solution was to use a small jawed chuck on the headstock, or turn a taper on my stock to fit the spindle taper, to keep the thing from flexing so much. If you turn the thing between centers, you're going to have a harder time of it, because the fibers are more free to flex.
Here are links to my question about turning small spindles, and what I did to solve the problem. Question, and several great answers (several of which I didn't see!): http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=109701
My solutions: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=111149

I think you might find it helpful to use a cone center on the tailstock end also. For bobbins which are very small spindles, some folks use a square drive, which helped with the flexing since the end was captured to a certain extent.

The principle of the thing is to capture the ends so the spindle becomes more rigid. This is what worked for me.

Or you could use a steady rest, of which there are several designs. There's the aforementioned string steady, the wheel steadys (several designs), and the ubiquitous wood steady, one of which uses a wedge to push a notched board into the spindle, and the other which uses a hinged board.

Good luck. They're a very good skill building exercise.

[Jeff Nicol]

Ken, Curt pretty much hit it on the head with his method. It is the same I use for turning goblets and long spindles. The key to this is removing enough wood to keep it rigid as you work toward the headstock. Leave enough wood at the tailstock so the center won't split it. As you turn it down finish sand the wand as you go so when you are done it is done. Just a light once over by hand in the direction of the grain. When cutting try to keep all your cutting pressure heading toward the headstock not into the spindle, this will decrease chatter also. You may have to turn it slower than you think as going fast tends to flex the spindle easier. Try and watch Richard Raffans video's he does a long thin spindle with captured rings on it and it will give you some insight. Another good video is Jimmy Clewes where he turns a long thin goblet, that one will show the the tecnique.

Good luck,

Jeff

[Scott Conners]

Another trick - turn a morse taper tenon on one end, and then put it directly into the taper of the spindle. This provides more rigidity and damping than a center that presses on the end of the wood.

[Jeff Luedloff]

went though the same phase with harry potter. did not use a steady rest. built in parts a glue together. 18.in long rosewood & splated maple.

[alex carey]

18"!!!, no wizard ever had a wand that long.

[Roger Wilson]

went though the same phase with harry potter. did not use a steady rest. built in parts a glue together. 18.in long rosewood & splated maple.

That is an eye catching wand. Nicely done. I turned a pair of chopsticks once, tapered from about 3/8 inches to 1/8. It was'nt nearly as long as a wand but I did'nt need a steady or finger support. Sandpaper will help as well getting it down to size.

[Jarrod McGehee]

just be careful. my friend tried to make one and he tore off his thumbnail when he was sanding because he was holding it wrong. and he hasn't used the lathe since hahaha

[Jerry Lawrence]

Funny this question came up today. Just yesterday I made a wand out of some leftover pink ivory (way too expensive to waste) and a piece of ebony. Actually, wasn't sure when I started if it was going to be a wand or a baton, so it's very thin. Made it in two pieces and glued the wand into the handle. My method, however, is not one I would recommend or encourage...lol. I turned this on an old south bend metal lathe, with a pass through chuck. I passed the pink ivory through the chuck until only about three inches was sticking out, and turned that as the tip, then pulled out another few inches and turned that, etc etc. I sanded as I went along, with the final sanding at the end with the whole wand exposed. The sandpaper aided greatly in stopping the whip effect. See...told ya it wasn't the recommended method, but it worked well enough for me..lol. PS...sorry for the small and unsightly pic, it is just a quick scan of the wand right from the scanner.