Quality Wood Close Up Wand

[Guest]

Does anyone know where to purchase a nice wooden close up wand that is small enough to be carried in the inside pocket of a coat? I'd like one for the ring on stick effect. Thanks! :)

[Pete Biro]

Since you live in L.A. as I do, do what I did. Go to Home Depot and buy a piece of wood dowel material and cut it to the length you want.

Then go out into the street and pick up a few .38 calibre shells laying about, polish them up. Stain the wood and stick the shells onto the ends of the wand. ;)

They are beautifull brass when shined up and the weight is just right for the wand spin. :D

[Brian Morton]

Pete, speaking as a resident of Baltimore, I would think if you live in that part of LA, you could just as easily find some .45 shells. Then you could use a thicker dowel.

:D

brian :cool:

[Guest]

If you've got the cash, Thomas Wayne makes beautiful wands that unscrew in the middle like a pool cue. He can make anything you can imagine.

[Rick Schulz]

Howard Hale of Wood Magic Studios manufactures wands from exotic woods with wood, brass or nickle-plated tips, and he has done custom work in the past. His products are beautiful and well-made. You can e-maqil him at woodmagicstudio@hotmail.com.

Also, I believe Viking Magic (www.vikingmagic.com) carries a wooden wand with brass tips and it unscrews in the center to make a "close-up" wand - much like the metal wands turned out by Pressly Guitar many years ago. I don't know about the quality of this item, though - I just saw it on-line at their web site.

[Guest]

Thanks a lot guys, I knew that I could count on you!

[Mike Powers]

Shamrock magic also has a line of wands made from exotic woods. They have both close up and stage sizes. Some of them are made in two section which screw together like a pool cue.

Mike

[Guest]

Shamrock Magic cannot be found...any info?

I'm looking to buy one of their wands

[Dave Shepherd]

Check with Denny & Lee . I got a full-sized Shamrock Wand from Denny; and I believe there's also a pocket-sized one available.

[Guest]

Shamrock Magic and Collectibles appears to have vanished completely from this earth. I paid for a custom wand back in early November and Michael Gates has neither delivered the wand nor responded to several e-mail inquiries. The Shamrock website has also been pulled from the internet. From other forums, I have learned that I am not alone. Anyone has any idea what happened? :confused:

[Chris Aguilar]

I've heard nice things about the wand sold here.

http://www.greatscott-itsmagic.com/routines.html

[Leonard Hevia]

Hi George-I purchased a wand from Shramrock about a year and a half ago and it took a while for the wand to arrive. I thought that for a while there they weren't going to send it. Their website appears to be currently gone. Try calling Denny Lee in Baltimore-he may have the answers you seek.

As for the wand-it lived up to their ad-nice-but it's a little heavy. The Vernon/Mora Wand Spin is a little tough to do with it. I like Michael Ammar's wand-no fancy wood here but the rubber grip and the weight is perfect.

[Guest]

Posted in the Magic Cafe forum: a buyer of a Shamrock wand received, on Wednesday, his wand that he ordered over two months ago. A note was included explaining that the delay was due to a death in the family and that Shamrock was essentially no longer in business.

[Guest]

In between his gorgeous hand-spun cups work, Jim Riser turns beautiful wooden props. His wands are perfect. I highly recommend them. http://www.jamesriser.com

[Guest]

Davenports

[Michael Kamen]

Originally posted by Leonard Hevia:
Hi George-I purchased a wand from Shramrock about a year and a half ago and it took a while for the wand to arrive. I thought that for a while there they weren't going to send it. . .
As for the wand-it lived up to their ad-nice-but it's a little heavy. The Vernon/Mora Wand Spin is a little tough to do with it. . .

[Michael Kamen]

Originally posted by Leonard Hevia:
Hi George-I purchased a wand from Shramrock about a year and a half ago and it took a while for the wand to arrive. I thought that for a while there they weren't going to send it. . .
As for the wand-it lived up to their ad-nice-but it's a little heavy. The Vernon/Mora Wand Spin is a little tough to do with it. . .

Sorry for the double post- need coffee badly. Just wanted to say that my experience with Shamrock about 6 months ago was same as George, with one exception. I found the wand (Mexican Cocabola with African Ivory tips) to be much lighter than I expected and would have preferred. Other than that it is a nice wand, not a great wand, and it arrived quite late only after substantial prodding (no, not with the wand).

[Pete Biro]

I found an ancient "Opium Pipe" in an antique shoppe that makes a fabulous wand... with a weird face - made of silver - at one end.

If you gotta lotta dinero, Carl Williams makes a wand with a silver end in the form of Dai Vernon's likeness.

[Pete Biro]

At the "low end" of the wand scale... Charlie Miller's favorite was the cardboard tube that comes from the dry cleaners on a hangar. Really! :genii:

[Leonard Hevia]

I'm glad you received your wand from Shamrock Mike. It took about two months of phone calls and e-mails to finally get mine. I bought the oak wand with brass tips, and I guess the brass makes it heavy. The Mexican Cocabola was on my get list at one point but I hesitated because of Shamrock's tardiness. I'm going to check the Jim Riser website. This man is an artist.

Yes Pete--we understand that any piece of stick will do--it's just not as fun to perform with. :)

[Michael Kamen]

Originally posted by Leonard Hevia:
. . .I'm going to check the Jim Riser website. This man is an artist. . .

No question -- I contacted Jim first but he was not making wands at the time. A craftsman like Jim has to work on few projects at a time due to the cost of setup and re-tooling, and personal interests as well no doubt. Definately check with him first though.

[Jim Riser]

Thanks for the kind words and interest in my wands. If I may, I'd like to say a couple things about exotic hardwood wands that everyone does not seem to understand. The wand parts are cut from exotic hardwood flat boards then turned into "dowels" by hand on the wood lathe. These dowels are not off the shelf items. To conserve the expensive wood, I cut and save such pieces of wood over say a period of one year. At the end of this time and after I feel the wood has had a chance to properly season, I start to assemble wands. I owe friend Hanno in Austria a wand and while making his will be making a few more over the next couple weeks. This process will begin next week. I do not expect them to last long. If interested in one, please email me next week (before March 1st). No metal tips on these wands.

Now some info on the wands. Many people seem to want a wand with metal tips. The thought is that the extra weight will make the wand spin move easier. These metal tips tend to ding up and dent the bottoms of expensive cups (they completely destroy thin cheaper cups). Therefore, I normally do not make wands with metal tips. Another important factor involved is that wood "breathes" (expands and contracts with humidity changes). Metal expands and contracts with temperature changes. It is difficult to attach them (metal and wood) so that they stay together under all conditions over a long period of time. For those wanting a weighted tip wand, I insert lead weights into the wooden tips during construction. This gives the weight wanted; but softer natural wood tips for working with cups. The extra weght really is not necessary for the wand spin. It is really only a crutch for those wanting an easier wand spin. But some people prefer a little extra heft to their wands. Again, thanks for the interest.
Jim

[Guest]

I just received a beautiful ebony wand with sterling silver ferrules (ends) and double gold stripes from Thomas Wayne. I'm very pleased with the craftmanship; it's a joy to use with the wand spin. Just thought I'd let everyone know since I opened this thread a while back.

It came with a nice leather holder padded with billiard cloth to protect the finish.

[Guest]

Two days ago I also received from Thomas Wayne the same wand he custom made for Bill Malone (Eric DeCamps later ordered the same wand for himself). It's a gorgeous wand and at $325 it is well worth it. The shaft is beautifully grained Cocobolo with Ebony ferrules separated at each end by an ebony spacer flanked by real gold rings and adorned with a wrapping Ivory inlay work of a theater mask design. The wand is sectional and so smooth at the joint..what close tolerance! The sections are stored in a soft leather case with each section carefully cradled in its own quality green felt compartment.

Also available are the Porper wands that are also great. I own about 5 of them. My favorite is a copper sectional wand with Ebony ferrules and a California Buckeye Burl shaft. Ebony/copper ring spacers separate the shaft sections to the copper metal center where it screws together. Joe can be reached at his work "Creative Inventions" in Chatsworth, CA, which is online.

[Steve Bryant]

$325 for a wand? Sounds like a lead-in for Karrell Fox's old gag, as he breaks the thing in two: "... just look at that grain!"

[Guest]

For a guy who only intends on showing some tricks to family, friends, and coworkers, two or three hundred dollars for a quality wand and six or seven hundred for a beautiful set of cups may seem like a lot of money. However, for a professional magician who will make that money back very quickly it's not really such a big deal.

No matter what profession one works at there are going to be expenses. The auto mechanic who I trust to work on my car is a guy I've known for years. He has thousands and thousands of dollars invested in his tools of the trade. Sure, there's also a guy down the street who can do an o.k. job fixing up cars with what he's got to work with; but I respect folks who take pride in searching out the best stuff around, whether it's doctors, teachers, or even magicians.

I've still got the $10 plastic set of cups and wand from when I was a kid and I can present a pretty nice routine with that stuff. However, there's something nice about performing with quality props; even if it's mostly just for myself. Good Luck! :)

[Leonard Hevia]

Good quality close up wands are readily available these days from a variety of craftsmen:

1. Hidden Wren U.K.
2. Mark Teufel
3. RNT2
4. Paul Howard U.K.
5. Levit Magic

I don't believe the Porper/Jenkins team has returned to wand manufacturing so far.

[erdnasephile]

Brett Sherwood now makes wonderful wands as well: http://sherwoodmagic.com/wands.php

I can personally vouch for Gareth at Hidden Wren--the wand he made for me has stood up magnificently during our four seasons here. (Sad to say, some two-piece high end wands cracked under the same weather conditions.)

[Leonard Hevia]

Good catch Erdnasephile. I had forgotten to mention Brett Sherwood's wands. They're also two piece wands with a slipcase for both sections. If you keep your indoor humidity to roughly 40%, that should be enough to keep delicate wood items from cracking. Digital humidity gauges are available in box stores. Radio Shacks carry them--if you can find one.

[Q. Kumber]

Wouldn't having a wand that unscrews in the middle, weaken its overall strength?

[lybrary]

A screw is much stronger than the wood itself. If anything, a screw would make the wand stronger.

[erdnasephile]

Wouldn't having a wand that unscrews in the middle, weaken its overall strength?

I think where the strength issue comes into play is the way the wand's wood thins out where the screw components must be inserted into each piece. The wood surrounding the parts is at risk, and that is where an expensive wand I used to have failed--the wood cracked in cold weather. So much so, that the metal pieces became loose.

OTOH if everything is designed properly and constructed precisely out of the correct wood and components, it can work very well.

[Richard Kaufman]

Steve Bryant, who made those odd wands with parts of bone and teeth in them that we discussed years ago? I still happily have mine on the shelf.

And if you're looking for a great magic wand, I haven't seen Olivander's Shop mentioned (and I mean the version at the Wizardling World of Harry Potter at the Universal Theme Parks in Orlando, Hollywood, and Osaka). They have an enormous selection of beautiful wands.

[magicfish]

I highly recommend the craftsmanship of Roy Kueppers.

[Leonard Hevia]

Good catch Magicfish! I had forgotten that Kueppers also made high quality wands. There must be more wand manufacturers I missed.

[Bill Mullins]

Although he currently seems to be sold out, Michael Baker makes some nice looking wands.