The Power Of The Street Magician's Wand. Part 2.
-secret technique, wand craft, and product review.
This is part two, of a series on Street Wands.
Today we are presenting a product review, secret wand techniques, and special offers from Makoto to our Magician's Guild here at the newsletter.
Over the years I have used sanded unstained oak for my wands, I would just let the natural oils of daily use polish the wand. This gave them beauty and unseen advantages.
Today we will be attempting to explain said unseen advantages.
This will be very difficult to explain, because you really need to hold these things, and then look at them for a minute, and then work with them in real time, in front of real people, to truly get what's going on here.
But here goes.
Makoto told me all his wands are unstained natural and very resinous he just adds wax for shine and feel. The wax, the resin, and extra weight and density of the wands adds intensely to the handling.
The wax and resin cause the wand to cling to the hand as if it were sticky, but strangely it is not really sticky, it leaves no film or residue to the fingers, it's like real magic, I'm not kidding.
While palming an object, with the wand as concealment in the same hand, the wand's wax and resin seem to help hold the object, but once again without leaving residue.
It is very clean and smells incredible, it's almost like a type of sandalwood.
The Blackheart Wand, (right) which looks to be slightly thicker than 1/4"
The other wand (bottom) is about 1/2" round.
The Blackheart Wand.
The average magician's wand runs between 12"-14" long.
This wand is 9" long made to my specifications.
The most important feature in my opinion, to the Blackheart Wand he sent me, is it is an oval flat. This detail can't be seen unless it is held with close inspection.
I tried to take a close up picture, to post up here in the article, but the flatness can't be seen in the photos I took.
When you place the wand on the table it stays where you put it. Not only does this wand not roll off the table from a slant or wind, but its flatness, allows the operator more room to palm an object with it, and toss said object with the wand with more centrifugal cling.
It's beautiful because the hand can close more around the wand and the secret object, adding for control and more concealment.
Doing the Cups and Balls with my small bean bags and this wand made everything natural and graceful, because everything molded to my hand's natural contour.
No longer did I have two round things awkwardly rolling around in my fist, also it made me invincible to the wind and my slanted table on the cobble stone.
Nothing rolled or moved, unless I wanted it to!
The subtle flatness and density puts the fingers in a very noticeable automatic position for the Flip stick with added grip and security.
When the Flip is completed the wand lays flat on the forearm with the feel of clinging. And it being flat, it leaves a thinner inside concealed profile. It leaves much more open space between the arm and body.
Less wand, means less flash fellas.
When producing the flat wand from an ungimmicked purse or when doing the Wand Thru The Cup Illusion, the wand stays flat clinging to the object combined with its waxy finish. This allows more control and less awkward sliding and slipping.
But again strangely there is no residue.
It feels like a completely different trick, like it is completely natural, like it is really doing the magic almost on its own.
No more fumbling, it's sure and true, every time.
The genius is, you don't lose the weight or strength of a regular ordinary round wand, because this wand is very dense, it almost feels like another material, something stronger than wood. It is actually stronger and heavier than a regular round wand of the same size.
When you hand it out for inspection, it just looks like a round wooden stick, albeit beautiful and mysterious, but nothing suspicious of trickery.
And at 9" it is a dangerous tool for sleight of hand and self defense, because once again, less wand, means less flashing and more moves available.
The Blackheart 9" flat wand, I would say is my wand of choice for the table. It's thin strong and elegant.
But for the street act with no table I would use the other design he sent me. It's not flat and it's more round and thicker.
This thing is a hunker, it's chunky, and when banged on the ground it makes a cracking sound, louder than any oak hardwood I have ever used over the years.
I have always tried to use Japanese oak drumsticks with the tips cut off. The reason is, the oak holds up longer being banged on the ground over and over again.
Also, I want a loud cracking sound, to get people's attention. Other woods like pine, break a lot, and make a muffled sound when banged on the cement.
This more round Lignum wand, besides being louder and more durable, gets a higher more controllable bounce off the ground for flourish and crowd building.
Some of you maybe familiar with street wand bouncing, it can either be thrown straight down vertically, like a dagger, only to bounce up to your waiting hand vertically, or it can be thrown horizontally, with a slight tilt, to bounce straight up for a horizontal catch.
But once again you will need a very dense wood to do this, the denser the wood the higher and louder the bounce. This is why I always chose oak for my wands.
Lignum to me feels twice as dense and out performs oak, twice as loud and twice as high.
Since this second wand is heftier, I think it would be better suited for the unusual abuse the street worker puts it through, because he uses the sidewalk as his workspace instead of a table.
I would like to add one more thing about the weight.
In my opinion, shorter wands are harder to twirl, since Makoto's wands are heavier and balanced professionally, it makes them a breeze to twirl.
Strangely it feels like a much longer wand when twirled.
The flat wand is great for twirling, the flatness adds more control, but bounces on the arms when rolling, but the other wand which is rounder, doesn't have that problem, which is good if your working without a table, because you're going to want more flourishes to gain more flash for the walkers, since you have no table.
In the upcoming articles of this series I will be teaching us how I have made my own wands over the years and how you can too.
I will teach you how you can make them out of all sorts of things, like a piece of chair, or other discarded furniture parts, or scrap or whatever.
keeping costs so low, even a homeless person could make one in a pinch, no problem.
If you have the money or you just want to dream and window shop I would urge you to check out Makoto's Wand Selection.
Along with wands he has magic coin purses for wands and books and tutorials on magic with wands.
The good news is, that if you contact him and tell him you are a member here, he will honor the Guild and give you discounts and throw in free stuff for the worker.
Also he will be setting up a section for us in his shop in the near future, with automated discounts exclusively for our Guild and also featuring shorter wands like the one I use 9” at a much lower price than the standard size wands even for non members.
In the my next article, Part Three of the series, I will list the exclusive offerings for our Guild that you will get automatically on his shops new section for us.
Makoto has done the homework, and been loyal to the guild his entire career, one only has to ask Tom Frank, Shawn Greer, or any of the great legends out there.
Here is an excerpt of a conversation I had with Makoto, he says:
"It's complicated.
There are actually 3 woods being called "Lignum Vitae". The "true" Lignum Vitae is very rare and actually one of the hardest woods in the world (4,600lb Janka rating).
Cellini, and all the other folks who've produced Lignum vitae wands, used "Argentine Lignum Vitae" or "Verawood" that is very similar in characteristics and appearance, but 3,600lb on the Janka scale. It's still a very hard ironwood though.
I have the genuine stuff, but the wands I regularly produce are Argentine. (In Eileen Mcfall's memoir with Cellini, she describes how he got his Lignum Vitae from Argentina!). It's illegal to ship the genuine stuff internationally, because it's so rare.
The Blackheart Wood that I discovered in my research is unique, it has secret superior qualities that in my opinion is arguably better for what we need. It's less rare and not regulated, but no one else makes wands out of it. I tested dozens of different woods before finding Blackheart."
I don't usually endorse magic products, because I am usually a D.I.Y. guy, I shop at hardware stores and pet supplies for my magic equipment.
But Mr. Makoto has taken this to a higher level than I am capable of.
With that said, in my next article on the subject, I will offer my humble wand craft skills to get you started if you can't afford the champagne of street wands ha.
Also I am planning to do some Magic with Wands video tutorials.
Speaking of affording stuff, if you got a kick out of this article, you can drop me a tip HERE.
Your Pal Jimmy
This is fascinating information! Thanks for sharing the characteristics also. I made my drumstick a little flatter on a belt sander after reading this! It really does add an advantage to the flip stick.
Great review and recomendation Jimmy! Makoto's wands are indeed for those with a Champaign budget! However, if you get one that speaks to you (is aesthetically pleasing to your eye and just feels right in your hand), and will last a good five years of constant work, then it really isn't that costly over time. The biggest problem I foresee is someone "borrowing" it without your permission and never returning it.