Engine Yard contacted us recently with an interesting project. They were looking to laser-etch a wall hanging for their conference room using hurling sticks (more on this later). They recently acquired Orchestra, so this hanging would represent the two companies coming together.

The hurling sticks that they gave us to use looked like they were actually played with. It took some finishing work to get it to look like a nice wall piece, but it was worth it! Here’s how the piece looked when it was done.

What’s a hurling stick?

Here’s a video of a hurling game. Hurling is a high-speed Irish sport that combines baseball, hockey, and lacrosse. It’s believed to be one of the world’s oldest field games.

We actually paid a visit to their office in San Francisco to pick up the sticks and see where they would be hung up.

They were looking to hang up the hurling sticks in a “X”, like you would see in a bar.

The stick is called a hurley. it’s made from the base of the ash tree, near the root. That explains the interesting curved grain pattern you see at the end of the stick.

Finishing

The hurleys come as rough, unfinished wood. It looked like the were shaped using a rasp or Shur Form tool, especially near the foot. Since this was to be a sign on the wall, I wanted to take that rough surface down to a smooth, beautifully glossy one.

The random orbital sander is a magical tool. It’ll remove the wood as efficiently as a belt sander, but without the nasty scrape marks. It is my go-to sander when something needs a little extra elbow grease.

I installed small eyelets for Engine Yard to hang the hurleys on the wall. Both sticks are not very heavy, so lightweight hardware was all that it required.

Three screws and wood glue hold the crossed sticks permanently together. I increased the contact area by belt sanding a shallow valley in the rear stick to match the curvature of the front stick. I then countersunk three screws so they wouldn’t rub against the wall once the sticks are hung up.

Laser Etching

The laser etchings came out great! We positioned the logos to follow the direction of the stick, and did a deep etch to add some dimension to the piece.

We’re thrilled at how the piece turned out. This is just one of the many interesting custom orders that we have coming in lately. If you have an interesting project for us, let us know! Contact us for custom orders »