Wooden athames and wands are used much in the same way. Both are generally held in the practitioner's sending (as opposed to receiving hand), they are both used to focus and project magical energy, and they are both something that you can make yourself.
Wands are occasionally created for a specific purpose and it isn't uncommon for a witch to have a number of wands around. I've seen wands that were used specifically for healings, blessings, and bindings and not for any other reason.
While some people would argue that the athame is also used to cut "doorways" within a cast circle, this is not the case in Sylvan Tradition. Rather than cut, we open. Stand before the perimeter of your cast Circle. Close your eyes for just a moment and feel the energy around you, that creates the space between the worlds. Opening your eyes, place your hands in front of you, palm-to-palm. As your hands slowly part, visualize a doorway opening in the Circle before you. A great deal of the time you will actually feel the energy parting. To close the doorway, simply connect with the energy and visualize the doorway closing as you bring your hands back together.
The wooden athame is also used to bless the wine and cakes, but that is dealt with elsewhere in this site. I have been told that wooden athames are also used when working faerie magic, as steel is the bane of the faire folke. While there is a suggestion in contemporary folklore that this may be true, I don't have any first hand knowledge to either verify or rebut these claims.