Rnmld91
New Member
It's common knowledge to most wand-obsessed fans that Narcissa Malfoy is shown using two different character wands: the one seen used by Narcissa and Draco in the DH part 1 and 2 movies respectively, and the more well known one used in the publicity/promo images and posters which is also the same one sold as a replica. These wands are both official in the sense that they were clearly both designed for the movies, but there's no clear reason given as to why there's two versions. As the movie version isn't for sale anywhere, I naturally took it upon myself to work on a movie version, but with ebony and real metal parts to make it more authentic. I had a clear enough picture from The Wand Collection book that I could use to calculate approximate handle dimensions in proportion to its length, knowing the total length of the wand is listed as 12.25 inches.
I was also inspired by user dcn5002's insane Slughorn replica made with aluminium parts.
So I got to work on it using copper sheet instead of a silver-colored metal the original wand is clearly portrayed with, mostly due to the fact that I have tons of copper lying around, and I thought it would be a good practice metal as it is easy to work with.
The parts shown are all made by cutting, drilling, piercing, and hammering against a steel ring mandrel. They were all then brazed together carefully.
The bottom pyramid-shaped pommel part was made by cutting out a sheet of (mostly equal sized) conjoined triangles, then filed in the lines separating them. I then pliered them around into a mostly-decent pyramid shape. One of the triangle shapes were too irregular so in the end I re-cut a single triangle shape about the right size I needed and brazed it back in place, if that makes sense to any of you. I left a bit of an oxidized finish on the pommel.
The top handle/guard separation was the most challenging part. It was made from NINE different parts, by a combination of different tubular pieces and conical pieces made using the mandrel. The grooves in the top portion were filed in using a thin precision file. It was a bit of a trial and error thing since I had no real previous practice, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out. My sloppy work isn't really noticeable when the wand is viewed straight on if you get what I mean.
I've attached photos showing how it looked before the grooves as well as the handle studs were added.
The handle portion with the studs took a surprisingly long time to get done. I had to carefully mark in the location with a pencil of eight rows of dots, and place them such that the alternating rows more or less lined up. This was my first time inlaying metal into wood (and ebony isn't the most inlay friendly wood), but thankfully I started out on a project that basically involved the simplest form of inlay there is. The holes were drilled in with 1mm drill bits, and the wire pieces were glued in with regular superglue then hammered in place and filed down. I did have a bit of a problem with the glue residue, as some of the metal filings got stuck in the glue before it cured. This was done by using solvent, sandpaper, a utility knife and a narrow chisel to get most of the residue out.
Overall it was a fun challenge of a build, in part because I finally got a chance to put my newly purchased wood lathe to good use. It is true what they say about ebony being a pleasure to turn. I had some trouble mounting the dowel for the shaft section, which resulted in some irregular grooves along the middle portion of the shaft. Again, not too noticeable especially after all the sanding and finishing. The parts all had to be lined up perfectly on the vise before epoxying them together.
Hope you enjoyed reading this!
I was also inspired by user dcn5002's insane Slughorn replica made with aluminium parts.
So I got to work on it using copper sheet instead of a silver-colored metal the original wand is clearly portrayed with, mostly due to the fact that I have tons of copper lying around, and I thought it would be a good practice metal as it is easy to work with.
The parts shown are all made by cutting, drilling, piercing, and hammering against a steel ring mandrel. They were all then brazed together carefully.
The bottom pyramid-shaped pommel part was made by cutting out a sheet of (mostly equal sized) conjoined triangles, then filed in the lines separating them. I then pliered them around into a mostly-decent pyramid shape. One of the triangle shapes were too irregular so in the end I re-cut a single triangle shape about the right size I needed and brazed it back in place, if that makes sense to any of you. I left a bit of an oxidized finish on the pommel.
The top handle/guard separation was the most challenging part. It was made from NINE different parts, by a combination of different tubular pieces and conical pieces made using the mandrel. The grooves in the top portion were filed in using a thin precision file. It was a bit of a trial and error thing since I had no real previous practice, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out. My sloppy work isn't really noticeable when the wand is viewed straight on if you get what I mean.
I've attached photos showing how it looked before the grooves as well as the handle studs were added.
The handle portion with the studs took a surprisingly long time to get done. I had to carefully mark in the location with a pencil of eight rows of dots, and place them such that the alternating rows more or less lined up. This was my first time inlaying metal into wood (and ebony isn't the most inlay friendly wood), but thankfully I started out on a project that basically involved the simplest form of inlay there is. The holes were drilled in with 1mm drill bits, and the wire pieces were glued in with regular superglue then hammered in place and filed down. I did have a bit of a problem with the glue residue, as some of the metal filings got stuck in the glue before it cured. This was done by using solvent, sandpaper, a utility knife and a narrow chisel to get most of the residue out.
Overall it was a fun challenge of a build, in part because I finally got a chance to put my newly purchased wood lathe to good use. It is true what they say about ebony being a pleasure to turn. I had some trouble mounting the dowel for the shaft section, which resulted in some irregular grooves along the middle portion of the shaft. Again, not too noticeable especially after all the sanding and finishing. The parts all had to be lined up perfectly on the vise before epoxying them together.
Hope you enjoyed reading this!
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