fred67

HP: Whittle your Wands.

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Having recently finished putting together Diagon Alley, I'm reminded of the disappointing use of 4L bars to represent wands. They don't even use 3L, which would be a great start if they didn't want to come up with a new part. Anyway, I took a couple of extra bars (unfortunately, I didn't have any in brown - I'll have to order some) and whittled them down with a utility knife. I held it in place with a pair of pliers and just carefully whittled it down. Here's the result:

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I decided that whittling wasn't enough - these are still too big, so I clipped the end:

5378668050_ab26156e8d.jpg

If you want to try this, whittle it first before clipping, it's easier to hold onto. Just leave enough to grip after it's been cut.

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Yup... it's hard to get a good angle with the blade when you're holding it with pliers, so it was easier to start with a 4L. On top of that, they're more common and therefore cheaper on BL.... also no brown.

Edited by fred67

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Great work! These wands look more accurate than just a standard 4L bar. :thumbup:

Very well done. :classic:

~buddy~

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:wink:

Yup... it's hard to get a good angle with the blade when you're holding it with pliers, so it was easier to start with a 4L. On top of that, they're more common and therefore cheaper on BL.... also no brown.

I meant that I just use the bar and don't wittle it. I do think the idea of whittling them ,however is more accurate :wink:

Pompommini out :classic:

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Though I'm not one for butchering Lego pieces, your handy work is quite realistic to the wands used in the movie....now if only Brickarms or a like would produce these - man, they would sell like hotcakes ! :grin:

Brick On 'fred67' ! :grin:

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Though I'm not one for butchering Lego pieces,

D'oh! :look: I prefer, rather, "enhancing."

If you read between the lines you see that I said I had no brown when, quite clearly, Harry and Hermione are holding brown bars... because I don't want to enhance the pieces that came with the set, I'm just weird that way... but I will order (likely used) ones and butche.. uh, enhance away.

your handy work is quite realistic to the wands used in the movie....now if only Brickarms or a like would produce these - man, they would sell like hotcakes ! :grin:

Thanks; I've been thinking that for quite some time... and got tired of waiting. I suppose I should participate more on their forums, but this is such an easy thing to do, and each one ends up being unique... I wouldn't pay $1.00 or even $0.50 for one, which probably makes it not worth their while.

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Nicely done fred, those 'enhanced' wands are extremely accurate with the real wizard's wands used in HP, good work. :thumbup: While the pointy finish of this custom wand is more accurate, it's quite understandable TLG's choice of using the standard bar considering the priority they put on kids' safety.

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These are awesome. In brown, they could also double as stakes for a vampire hunter.

I would try this myself but knives and I don't like each other. I would probably end up in the emergency room with a finger in a plastic baggy full of ice.

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the big Wands of the whole Harry Potter Series bothered me for years, and yours are really freaking awesome, i have to try this on my own! although i am not realy a handyman and i think i am going to cut off my fingers, its still worth it :D

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They look very realistic. I'm surprised that nobody has tried this before. It seems quite easy but it makes them look a lot better.

I understand that TLG didn't make them though. Their design can be used for many more things than just a wand.

On the other hand, the custome one can also be used for icicles (white version) or as a toothpick...

Or perhaps child safety was the main reason. Anyway, nice job :thumbup:

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Not a bad idea at all. As I believe everyone would like new wand molds (though I'm fine with what we've got) these will substitute perfectly for now. :thumbup:

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They look great, but I don't think I could do something like that to my precious bricks. :cry_sad: Maybe if I bought some extras from Bricklink...

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They look great, but I don't think I could do something like that to my precious bricks. :cry_sad: Maybe if I bought some extras from Bricklink...

I feel the same way - the only reason I didn't do brown is because I didn't have extra brown ones, I'm not going to "enhance" what came with the set (even though I could just order replacements... it's just not the same in my head).

I also think I will try to make them even smaller.

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I bow before, and admire your brilliance! I am stunned that this fix for more accurate wands didn't occur to ME. Why can't I be the brainy one for a change? Uh... right. Must have brain in the first place.

But seriously, the rustic look of the carved wands is great. As soon as I saw your work I started to wonder how difficult, or not, it would be to not only carve a wand, but to make it unique from other wands. Could such eensie wands be carved to a degree that they can closely resemble wands from the movies (or one's imagination via canon)?

You have inspired me. I will probably wind up with so many bandages on my fingers I will look like Dobby after speaking ill of his family. Now! Where the HELL did I put that jack knive???

Edited by ybmagpye

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Me again! I gave carving a wand a try and failed dismally. I used pliers to hold the rod, and carved with a new razor blade. The rods are amazingly tough & it was rough going. What is the best method and tools for whittlin' a wand?

Thanks :sweet:

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I imagine holding a blade would be very difficult.

I have needle nose pliers; I wrapped the very end of the bar in a torn bit of an index card so that it wouldn't get roughed up, but since I clipped the end anyway, that's a waste of time and makes it harder to hold.

Then I used a utility knife - you really need something to hold the blade.

Then I whittled - you can't do it all at once, you have to sheer off little bits at a time. I'd do a couple of cuts, then twist the bar in the pliers to get it at a different angle.

You also want to make sure you're using a sharp blade.

Each wand will be unique. I simply didn't try at all to make the cuts straight because I wanted it to look like twisted wood and I wanted them to be unique - how to make them look like each wizard's wand from the movies? Don't know if I'd try, but I think I'd start with what I did and then use a smaller xacto knife to try to customize.

I've got a bunch of bars on order, including brown and tan, and I think I'd actually like them to be a bit smaller still, so I'll post more when I make them.

Edited by fred67

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Im not one for modifying Lego but i will admit these look pretty well done, and more accurate to the movie. And am i the only one that thinks the title sounds a little dirty? :laugh:

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