I got a wood lathe recently and I decided I should make my own sticks. A pair of sticks usually costs about $7 or so, but two pieces of wood that could be turned into sticks on a lathe just cost a dollar or two at most (and I'm sure only endangered or hard-to-find exotic woods would cost that much for two stick-sized turning blanks).

I'm hoping to try these woods out for making sticks:

Purpleheart
Ebony
Cocobolo
Lignum Vitae (possibly--this type of wood is the hardest in the world, so I don't know if I'd want to risk breaking a bunch of heads and cymbals)

How many of you guys make your own sticks or have done so before?

I love that show. I watch it every week on Fridays and Saturdays on DIY Network. And yeah...his equipment must be dozens of thousands of dollars (particularly that wide belt sander he has...those things go for over $20,000 most of the time!). 

I have tons of passion for woodworking, so I'm willing to take the chance. As long as you know what you're doing, it's fine. Still, I always keep my hands as far away from spinning blades and bits as I can, though.

And BTW, making sticks was just an idea of mine. It's not like I'm going to boycott buying Vic Firths or Vaters and start making ALL of my sticks myself. Heck, some of the sticks I make in the future may just become decorations if they're made out of a really expensive wood.

i'd like to just to save some money, after the initial investment of course...


I'd end up just making a bunch of VF 5a's anyway, lol

You may fnd yourself making many, many, sticks before you get a pair that match well. 

However, I do have some chunks of old mahogany that I plan to make some sticks from, if only for display with some of my rope tension drum collection.

Roger