I was in the market for a new wand so I turned to the millions of online stores which offered a small variety and I was very surprised at what I found. They just sucked. I saw wands with stars at the tip or encrusted with gems. Most wands were only eight inches and anything longer just looked like a defective spiraling and hooked stick. If you're like me I want something longer than eight inches. Maybe it's a guy thing. A wand is meant to carry authority and not as an extension of my penis. I also found wands based on the Harry Potter films and some which were merely imitations but inspiration struck. Why not make a wand of my own based on modern ideas shown to us through Harry Potter?
Studying the wands I saw I realized how simple it would be to construct, plus, it would make an interesting article so I took photos of my progress. I only needed three things. The first thing was the easiest. I purchased a wooden dowel (Figure 1). It's important to know the kind of wood your using. The dowel I bought is made of Birch. The second thing I purchased was a headless screw. That's the kind of screw with threads on both ends. The third and final thing I needed was a handle. Now this proved to be difficult. I needed something that "looked" like a handle or could be modified. I was never satisfied with the things I saw so without thinking straight I went to the most magical place of them all, K-Mart. I was looking at the shower rods which had such beautiful designs but nothing grabbed my attention. As luck would have it behind all of these rods lay a broken and beat up rod made of Oak. Things turned in my favor when the cashier told me that the rod was being sold for a penny. You can't beat that price. "Is there tax on that penny?" I asked the cashier. She called the floor manager to verify the price. At the end I was charged $1.49 which was still a good deal. Apparently K-Mart has a policy against selling merchandise for a penny.
I was eager to put this thing together. The first thing I did was cut the rod which had already been scored by it's design and shape. This shower rod was part of the Martha Stewart collection. Thank you Martha where ever you are. Once I cut the rod I took the piece which was meant to be my handle and I drilled a hole half and inch deep and 5/8" wide. Inside this hole I drilled a smaller hole (Figure 2) as deep as I could go 11/46th of an inch wide. I took the wooden dowel and drilled a hole at the end, again, 11/64th of an inch wide and as deep as I could go. I took the headless screw which had the same width of the small hole and I screwed it in (Figure 3). It was a tight fit and well secured. I took some glue and went around the edge of the outer hole in the handle. After this being done I screwed in the wooden dowel into the handle (Figure 4). I was confident in my work. The wooden dowel fit perfectly and with the headless screw in both ends it was sure to hold firmly in place. Once this was done I let my wand sit for 24 hours before handling it.
The construction time took me only an hour and the cost of materials was less than $4.00. Keep in mind that you may need to sand the end of the wooden dowel to make it fit into the handle if you don't have a drill bit the right size needed. Also make sure that you drill straight, otherwise your wand will lean to one side. There's nothing worse than a crooked wand. At this point you can stylize the wand with your own creativity. I can't tell you where to go from here. Use your imagination and come up with something entirely your own.
One more detail needs to be said. What if your wand is crooked at the end product? Fortunately, I had to deal with this problem so I know from personal experience how to fix it. Take your crooked wand into the kitchen and boil a pot of water. Using a large spoon pour the boiled water over the wand where the shaft meets the handle. At that joint place the wand along the corner of the counter top and apply enough pressure to bend the wand. Make sure you don't apply so much pressure that the wand breaks. What's happening here is that the wood becomes pliable with the boiled water. Also, the glue will melt enough for you to make the proper adustments. A good way to test its perfection is to roll it on a flat surface. If the shaft wabbles then keep making adjustments until you fix the problem. When you're pleased with the results, let the wand stand again for another 24 hours before handling it. Enjoy working with your new wand. Send me photos of your work. I'd love to see your craftsmanship and creativity.