Finding decent blank fan sticks to make historical looking fan can be a challenging. This style of Battenburg lace fans have been around for years and the ones that are about 10 years or so old are very good quality modern ones I find do not have the same quality of rivets or stitching. I like to search out the older ones to take apart and re use. These are the 10″ ones that match my pattern. Just so you know Battenberg lace is an American lace first used in the late 1800s.
Open the fan up.
Carefully pull the lace off the guards.
These fans are made of two laters the lace and a sheer backing fabric sewn together around the ribs. Often the stitching goes over the wood. You need to use a seam ripper to remove those stitches.
I find it easier to cut the lace between each rib and remove each one separately. Often they do not use much glue and you can pull the lace and backing fabric off.
If they have used a lot of glue and it is not hot glue then dampen a paper towel and let it sit on the ribs for an hour or so. Then you should be able to remove the fabric. If hot glue, use the seam ripper to take the stitching out and use an iron with a press cloth over the rib on the side with the glue to soften it, Then you should be able to pull to fabric away.
My set after I removed the fabric on all the ribs.
Here are three sticks that I removed the lace from. The two on the left are modern ones and the one on the right is an older set. I’ve taken apart many and with the modern ones many of the ribs are split because the stitching often goes onto the wood, these turned out OK. And would be usable for my pattern.