Hair comb for wife

[Cyclops]

Good morning I am a wood carver who has a wife with beautiful long hair. She has recently been getting into sticks and flexi clips and now she is talking about combs.( not sure why it is called a comb I would have thought prong or fork but what do I know) Anyway back to my original question. I would like to carve her a comb for her hair from a beautiful piece of maple I have been saving for a few years until a special project came my way. This is where I need some help I am trying to surprise her but being ex military and bald I have no knowledge of these combs other than what I have been able find online. I am unable to find anything on dimensions. This is what I would like to know
1. How wide the comb is. I am thinking of 3 prong but could do a two prong
2. How thick the wood is my guess is 1/4 inch
3. The length and width of the prongs (not sure if this is dependent on the length of her hair or not if it will help her hair is a few inches shy of her waist and very thick)
4. Also would it be better to have the prongs straight or with a slight curve inward.
5. Also are the forks tapered I can see from the pictures I have seen some are tapered when you look straight at them some are not(which is better) and are they tapered from outside to inside.
I plan on carving either a bird(my specialty) or some flowers (depending where my heart takes me when I start)at the top in bass relief.
I would appreciate any advise you could provide I know she would love this and would buy me a few points toward past present or future stupid decisions I have made.

[Stormynights]

You are just adorable. My suggestion is to ask her what her dream comb would look like and go from there.

[sapphire-o]

We need to know some info about your wife's hair. How long and how thick? If you're not too sure, when she put it up into a bun, estimate how many inches across it is. Your fork need to be longer than the width of her bun. If it's hard to estimate maybe compare it to an object. Like grapefruit sized, orange sized, golf ball sized...etc.

[schnibbles]

I vote for adding a slight headcurve too, if possible. I know at least for me, a headcurve is definitely more comfy than a straight fork.
If her hair is super thick she may appreciate sharper points on the tines also. (they don't have to be super sharp but too blunt and she'll have a hard time inserting it into a thick bun)
Good luck! What a cute (and great) present!

[Calaelen]

We do need to know the approximate size of your wife's bun, as well as approximately how thick her hair is, as Sapphire-O said, to advise you about dimensions.

You've certainly come to the right place for advice about making your wife a hair fork though!! This is such a sweet intention

(We usually refer to anything 4 prongs or less as a fork, while more tines tends to be more comb like. Perhaps your wife is thinking along the lines of antique decorative hair combs, and isn't familiar with the term hair fork to refer to modern day hair accessories. Hair forks are also a pretty niche market, and aren't something you will easily be able to find just anywhere, so she can certainly be forgiven the terminology!)

[Stellaaa]

Hi Cyclops
I suggest you go to http://etsy.com and enter "hair fork" into the search function. There are a LOT of variations on the theme. Many makers list the dimensions and have photos at all angles.

And if we are talking about something with three longish prongs, designed to hold the hair up on its own, that would usually be called a hair fork around here. So you're right about the terminology. Hair combs usually have many shorter prongs (3" or less) and are more just decorative (as in antique combs and mantilla combs) or used to hold a french twist in place. Often, I use the terms comb and fork interchangeably IRL, so don't get hung up on the "fork" "comb" thing. Comb's just a more old-fashioned term.
(ETA: Xposted with Calaelen - yup - what she said)

I have three prong forks from several different makers on Etsy (Jeterforks, Crockett Mountain Woodworks, Elymwold, 60th Street) and they are all about 1.5" wide and 1/4" thick. A head curve is definitely a plus. Since you are carving a topper you'll want three prongs (maybe even four, but that might be a bit difficult for a first fork, I donno, I've never carved one).

It's personal thing but, I prefer the tines to be pointy (60th Street are my fav) but not tapered. By tapered, I mean conical, getting wider at the top in multiple dimensions. My hair loves to spit that sort of wedge shape right out. I like the tines to be the same thickness from the toppper on down, until about 3/4" from the end where the pointy bit starts. OTOH, I like the fork to flare at the top, or a square top, because my hair climbs over a simple rounded top (if you KWIM?)

For length, I refer you back to saphire-o's post. Some very general ideas though. We talk about FPL (functional prong length) and total length. I'm talking FPL here, you have add the size of your topper to get total length. I'd say too long is better than too short, because you can always alter it, but don't go crazy. No one needs a fork bigger than their head (ok, I can think of a couple members here with the killer hair, but ALMOST nobody). In very general terms - 3.5" is small, 4.5" is medium, 5.5" is large, and 6.5" is xtra large when it comes to FPL. There is a rough sort of size chart in the last photo here, with hair length on the y axis vs hair thickness on the x axis.
HTH

[Kina]

This might be a good thread for you to read (or at least skim, it's pretty hefty) for tips. I'm not a do it herself kind of woman when it comes to carving, but admire those who do. Good luck, I know that if my significant other were to do something like this for me, it would earn him HUGE points.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...read.php?t=131

[Scarlet_Heart]

Here are some links to etsy listings for hair forks. Most makers list the dimensions (as these ones do) which should help you.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1956995...rong-hair-fork

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1985406...k-reserved-for

These are both forks I've bought. My hair is waist length, average thickness, and slightly wavy. There's a picture of my hair down (from the back) on my profile. I hope this helps you!
By the way, you are the sweetest husband. If my husband did that for me I would be so surprised and love it so much.

[Zebra Fish]

I'm not of much help here, as I still don't know how to use them, but I find it just so sweet of you

[Cyclops]

Wow lots of great info. My wife's hair is about 2&1/2 feet long and when she puts it up about 5 or 6 inches across. It sort of looks to be about the same as scnibbles as best I can tell.
So according to the info I have I would guess I should make it about 3 inches wide then plane the board down to be about 1/4 inch, make the prong part to be about 6 inches long tapering down at the last 3/4 inch and then 1&1/2 to 2 inches for the top.