Just a Crate of Books? Or do your eyes deceive you???
A story of enchanting imagination, inspiration, sawdust, books, and a magical secret!
Harry Potter’s Wand?
Let me give you a super short summary first. This build was ignited by a simple request; can you make him a “Harry Potter’s Wand?” OH YES! This is the stuff I really live for. An eight year old boy that want’s a Harry Potter’s Wand? Not the latest electronic toy etc? Without a doubt Heck Yes!!!
Again, for summary’s sake, what I came up with was a hand-carved wand and a secret-bookshelf-slash-crate-of-books. It was the perfect place to hide his dangerous and powerful wizard’s wand.
The Build:
Perhaps a little backwards from the original request, I first began the quest to build the box… Build the “Crate of Books” that would hold his magic wand and whatever other wonderful imaginative things he’d like to secretly store. The outside is to be of a weathered and almost insignificant look. The face is in appearance nothing more than a collection of various books.
Opening the secret doors reveals the secret self and the Hogwarts Train Station to transport his imagination any place he wishes.
Here’s a quick walk-through:
As you can see below, the secret bookshelf “Crate-Of-Books”, has a wonderful weathered and aged look. Each of the books you see have been sliced, leaving about an inch thick part of only the book binding. These were permanently attached to two swing open doors. The opening of these secret doors is done by pressing in on the Harry Potter book near the middle of the book set. Swinging open the doors reveals the single secret shelf, and the magical Hogwarts Station in the background.
Now back to Harry Potter’s Wand – It began as nothing more than about 18 inches of 1 inch diameter Maple Dowel I had in shop. Something I’ve never created before; which is also part of the fun – taking on a new challenge. The wand was shaped and carved through turning on the Shopsmith lathe and hand carving the details with both a Dremel tool and bits, and hand sanding. The wand was given an aged look using 3 different wood stains, and protected with gloss polyurethane finish.
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Like it, have questions, or want to know more… Please let me know in the comments below!