Construction Details:

My blog post on this sword's construction process
The 6 foot sword of my dreams.
Illustrator was a great tool to help me make the sword prop and armor, since I could trace the design directly from pictures or artwork to then scale it to the necessary sizes...
The base is made from 1/4" oakwood. I printed the sword design I had traced in illustrator, glued it over the wood, and cut at it with a dremel (hand held cutting tool). One that was done, we cut a slit in the middle were a dowel would be inserted to make the handle of the sword. Thusly it was all glued up.rnStyrofoam sheets were glued on each side of the sword with epoxy and then sanded down to resemble the thickness of the blade, 'its not a completely flat sword ya know...rnrnThe "heart" of the sword which is the intricate design in the middle was made entirely of several layers foamies painted over with glossy acrylic.
After this the styrofoam was covered in fiberglass cloth and given 2 coats of epoxy resin (shoulda gone for 3...) to give it a smooth edge that could be spray painted on. This was the most labor intensive part since the epoxy (hardener + resin) have to be mixed in exact ratios, you have a limited amount of time to work with it before it thickens, the cloth had to be precisely placed before being covered, and any tools I used with them would be rendered useless after the substance dried... =_=
Also it takes 24 hours for each coat to thoroughly dry, and sanding fiberglass is the biggest b*tch ever since the tiny particles stick to your clothing and skin and it makes you MAD itchy.

Personal Thoughts:

This sword taught me how NOT to go about building giant things, I even made a tutorial for it!
Not bad, for my first sword! Definitely will not make props of similar size using wood, ever again, it's too darn heavy. Also the epoxy resin takes too long to dry =_=
When I travel with the sword, that's pretty much all I can travel with... it takes up almost the entire length of my car. I guess it's good it's so sturdy cuz people always want to carry it and it's been through quite a bunch.

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