I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard this story about resourceful folks making their own lefse stick. People who wanted to save money on lefse-making equipment would use the long, thin, wood strip that’s in the sleeve at the bottom of window shades. They’d slide out the strip, bevel off one of the ends, and use the stick for flipping and carrying lefse rounds. I have done this for demonstration purposes in my lefse classes, and it works fine. You could also do the same thing with a yardstick.
You can get by with whatever as a lefse stick. When I first bought my narrow-handled, 2-foot-long lefse sticks for under $5 each, I was satisfied. They did the trick, and I didn’t give them another thought over decades of use.
And then this week I came upon the lefse stick pictured that was made by Dan Larson, a Minnesota woodturner who also made the beautiful lefse rolling pin that is on the cover of Keep On Rolling! Life on the Lefse Trail and Learning to Get a Round. Dan puts thought into every piece he makes, and before making his lefse stick, he saw the major shortcoming with lefse sticks: the handle. Most handles are skinny extensions of the lefse stick. They may have a design painted on them, but they don’t feel all that good in the hand, and the handle doesn’t make for easy flipping of rounds.
Dan’s stick is wide and flexible, and the ergonomic handle is large and rounded and smooth and good looking. It feels good—really good—and the calm you draw from it when holding the stick is as good as meditation.
Chances are you’ll only use one lefse stick in your life, so why invest in one that adds comfort and joy to lefse making? The Best Handle Ever Lefse Stick.