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I would like to know how to make my own drumsticks with a Swiss Army knife. I would like to know which wood to use, how long they should be, how to whittle the tips correctly.
My goal is to make a pair of rock drumsticks: they should be hard, heavy and very robust.
It would be very nice if you guys could explain it to me, or even send me some links of tutorials you would recommend.
(Answering as both a drummer and wood worker)
Going along with the previous answer, hickory is a common wood for drum sticks. It is nice and strong (also commonly used for baseball bats, axe handles, etc) and can be found at most specialty lumber dealers. You can try with other types too...
I do agree that shaping them with a knife will be very difficult. Try to find wood with straight grain across the entire length of the shaft to prevent breakage when you are playing.
My guess is that drumsticks are not carved, but rather are turned. I can't imagine you'll get the feel you want from carving, especially with a single ordinary blade that was never designed for carving.
That's not to say you can carve with a plain pocket knife, but rather that the skill required to do so takes a long time to learn, and may only be appropriate for whittling-style chipping and paring. Not the smooth and balanced finish that musical instruments require.
If you do want to do this, you'll probably first have to select the appropriate hardwood. Some research will have to be done to know the qualities you want so by the time you get them down to size they don't just fly apart or whatever.
And then a further guess is that you will need a few more carving tools than a single pocket knife. A drawknife springs to mind, along with a shaving horse.
And probably a profile guide of some sort, because getting the complicated profile of a stick carved in even a marginally balanced manner is going to be really really challenging.
That all being said, my suggesting is to do some internet research, because I am almost certain that drumsticks are made by turning on a special lathe, not carved in a linear fashion.
If you go with a marching snare type of stick, you don’t even need to carve a bead head. Just a taper to a rounded end that starts between 1/2 to 2/3 from the bottom of the stick. The top of the stick will be about 1/2 the diameter of the butt.
Doing a traditional concert style stick with a bead head will require a taper down to about 1/3 the diameter of the butt of the stick. Which then swell back up to 1/2 the diameter on the bead.
