Wooden sword
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How to make a Wooden sword
Well, I'm no expert in swordmaking, but I just finished sanding my samurai sword in woodshop today. It's not bad and I suspect the wood warped a little. Anyways, I basically just went through the threads on cosplay.com to find people's ideas and I just recently found one of my own and I think it will work. Just keep in mind that this is a theory for a samurai sword, but it is a logical one (at least to me).
Materials
- Few pieces of hardwood
- Wood stain (optional)
- Fabric
- Gesso
- Chrome or metallic paint/*Spraypaint
Tools
- Radial Arm saw
- Table saw
- Biscuit joiner (optional)
- Bandsaw
- Sander (belt or sandpaper = your best friends)
- Planer
- Files of varying teeth
- Chisel (? if you really mess up or need to get an edge w/o cutting)
- Protective eyewear like goggles
Procedure
Step 1. Get the measurements of the sword you are making - width, height, length of all the parts. If you don't know a friend with the sword you have in mind, go online and find measurements for a similar sword and then estimate on what you think looks proportional. Luckily, my friend had a samurai sword so I took measurements from that and online. Tips: Definitely know the thickness of everything from the bottom of the blade to the tip of it.
Step 2. Make a template of the sword. Either trace out an available one or draw one on paper from your measurements. Use pencil to do a rub on to the wood or pen; if you are using pen, you will have to cut out the shape and tape it onto a piece of wood, then use tick marks to indicate the edges of the blade.
Step 3. Woodshop time. I worked with pine and it's a soft but strong wood. Other people have recommended it while I've heard other hardwoods are also okay, but more difficult to work with/carve. Basswood I hear is also good. Anyways, find a piece of wood and cut it in to the length and width of the blade. Since a samurai sword's blade is curved, you want to make sure the wood is wide enough to cut into and make that curve. Leave a bit extra so that you can make a joint with the handle.
Step 4. Put it through a planer. Take the thickest part of the blade, adjust it, and send the piece right on through.
Step 5. Cut the width and even height if you so desire of the end of the blade so it will fit into a handle (look at parts of swords/pictures of parts for reference). Do not make it a curved tang - having a straight cut rectangle is easier to work with.
Step 6. Now that you know the length of the handle, leave some room for your tsuba or handguard. Use a bandsaw to cut out the template of your blade. Make sure the small space of wood where your tsuba will slide onto is rectangular.
Step 7. Sanding time. Use a sander to bevel the blade. You must have very steady hands to do this. Make a line down the middle of your sword where the edge is supposed to be. Clamp your sword either between tables or have the edge side pointing towards you so that you can angle the sander to create the edge. Go with the grain when you sand from the bottom of the blade to the tip. Make sure you leave a thicker portion of the wood to make the collar. Or you could do it separately, but it may be easier to just have it made from the same piece of wood. Touch up with sandpaper going from low to high grit. You can also use a file to make a flatter edge vs. the rounded one you may get from using sandpaper.
Step 8. Make the tsuba. Decide if you want an oval shape or round shape. I hear you can use a wood biscuit or cut a piece of wood, send it through the planer, and cut out the rectangular shape you made at the end of your blade, which will be going into the handle. Once you've shapened your tsuba/carved it, slide it from the tip of the blade to the rectangle. It should be fairly snug, and if it doesn't fit, sand or use a file. You can use glue, but it should fit onto the sword well enough.
Step 9. You can do this step before putting on the tsuba: Measure and make the handle out of whatever hardwood you like depending on if you are going to do any carving or not. Measure the end of your cut-out blade to the handle so that the end will slide into the handle. Then cut out the handle using two pieces of wood and sandwich the three pieces together by gluing. That or find a block of wood the size of your handle and have fun with a dremel and chisel if necessary. Or, even ask your woodshop teacher for an effective way of joining the handle and the blade. In any case, your handle will be thicker and wider than your blade. Sand the blade with a sander and sandpaper.
Step 10. Home stretch: Now that you've got your sword all fitted and sanded, you can begin to paint/stain the wood. For the blade, according to someone's tutorial and a few other propmakers, a few layers of gesso on the wood and some chrome paint will do the trick or some metallic spray paint. For the tsuba, you can gesso and paint it or stain it for a nice touch. (Of course you'll want to stain the tsuba separately then). Wrap the handle via tsukamaki, which is explained clearly on this site http://pages.prodigy.net/tlbuck/tsuka/tsuka.htm. And voila, you have a nice, wooden samurai sword.
So, that was a pretty detailed method - if you can't figure it out from there, well...I can try to explain some more, but all the tools and materials are pretty much listed.
