The bodhran is an Irish frame drum. At the recent St Alban’s Festival I gave away my tipper (single double-headed stick) to the bodhran player in the band Mothers of Intention - I figured I would soon enough get around to turning another one.

Today I ventured out to my shed, selected a branch from our mulberry tree - which had died last year in the drought - and cut a suitable length. I mounted it between centres and roughed out the shape. Then I brought out the shape properly, using a spindle gouge, to shape the ends and a nice bead around one-third of the way from one end.

Then I removed the tool rest and sanded the piece and applied a little beeswax polish, before cutting the tipper free and giving a little touch of sandpaper and polish at the ends. And here is the result:

bodhran tipper

And here it is next to the bodhran :-)

Walton bodhran with tipper

This should last quite a while!

Cheers
Jerry