PLEASE NOTE: The items I sell are FASHION ACCESSORIES (excepting ornaments) and are intended to be worn in the hair. They are NOT full scale toy swords or replicas. If you are interested in a full sized replica sword, I cannot help you. If you are interested in a MINIATURE replica for a doll or action figure as a custom request, I may be able to help. Please do not hesitate to ask.



Hair sticks: I can custom make them to any length you desire. If you like a design, but not the length, let me know. A working length of 5" is my standard (in most cases). There will be an added $1.00 charge for each additional inch.



A NOTE ON STATED DIMENSIONS: As each item is individually hand crafted, it is difficult to be overly precise when stating dimensions, and it is all but impossible to insure that every stick made will be exactly the same. For this reason, I always use 'approx.' when stating dimensions, as in: Total length is approx. 8 1/2". There is always some length lost when creating any given hair stick - typically 1/8 - 1/4". As I prefer to err on the side of caution, I always add 1/4" to the length of a pattern. As a result, most sticks will be at, or slightly longer than the stated dimension; I try to never have a stick come out LESS than stated, although I won't swear it's never happened. Also, with many sticks it is not obvious at what point to start measuring the 'working end' from. I have recently started adding pictures of my hair sticks next to rulers as help with scale on my newer listings. My target thickness for all sticks is 9 mm. Actual thickness can vary, but never by more than 1 mm. I consider 8 mm to be an acceptable thickness ( 9 mm is probably thicker than they need to be in the first place - but when I used to aim for 8 mm, I was hitting 7 mm too often, and THAT is unacceptable to me).







WOODS RANKED BY HARDNESS



Hardness is not the sole factor in determining the strength of any given piece of lumber. Judging any given wood by solely by hardness may be oversimplifying things a bit, but it does serve as a good general indicator of strength. As with anything else, there will be the occasional exception… but as a general rule, the harder a wood is the stronger it is.



The following are the hardwoods that I use in making hair sticks ranked from softest to hardest using the Janka hardness scale. What the actual numbers represent is not important for our purposes, but they are useful for purposes of comparison. By way of example, let me say that as a woodworker I do not feel any appreciable difference between cherry and walnut, but DO feel the difference between walnut and oak when cutting and sanding, and noticeably more so between walnut and maple.



I do not make hair sticks from cedar, but show it to help illustrate the difference between even the softer hardwoods and a typical softwood.



Western red cedar – 350

Cherry – 950

Walnut – 1010

Redheart – 1210

Red Oak - 1220

White Ash - 1320

White Oak – 1350

Maple - 1450

Mahogany (sapele) – 1510

Yellowheart – 1790

Padauk – 1970

Bocote – 2010

Leopardwood - 2150

Mora – 2380

Pupleheart – 2520

Bloodwood - 2900







CARING FOR YOUR WOODEN HAIR STICK



Congratulations on the purchase of your heirloom quality hair stick! With proper care and usage this hair stick will last for many years to come.



This hair stick/fork/dagger is made from a quality hardwood and the working portion can handle any reasonable force, but as with any wood product, care should be observed at all times. This is particularly true with the decorative heads which, as a rule, are far more fragile than the working ends.



Keep your hair stick dry – avoid excessive humidity and dampness.



Avoid prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. Long term exposure to UV rays can be harmful to any wood product. This is particularly true for the more colorful exotic hardwoods (such as purpleheart, bloodwood, etc.) which are known to ‘color-shift’ over time.



Avoid extreme temperatures



Wipe down your hair stick with a clean soft fabric (or polishing cloth) after every usage. Buffing while doing so will help to maintain a nice shine.



Your hair stick has been treated with Danish Oil and paste wax. This will wear off with usage and exposure to moisture and contaminants, and should be reapplied periodically. Once a month is a good ‘rule of thumb’. Any finishing oil and/or paste wax will work – the idea is simply to maintain the protective coating.







Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to make a custom order request; I am always interested in new ideas - many of the hair sticks I am currently selling started out as custom requests. With custom requests I typically will only add $2.50 to the standard price, to compensate me for the added time of creating a custom pattern. I often waive the additional charge if the request is one that I can expect to sell to other people; in other words, if it's a pattern that I SHOULD have been selling to begin with, I won't charge extra (after all, you did ME a favor by giving me a good idea!).