ACParadise Forums

How can I make two safe Kenshin swords?

check ebay out, they sell lots of fake swords ^^

You can either make them from wood or you can make them from foam and fiberglass sheets.

Wood is really the easier of the two in my opinion and you can do that by drawing a picture of the sword on a piece of paper. You draw it lifesize, just as you would want it, and you put it on a piece of wood. You basically just...wait...let me show you this site.

http://sarcasm.fanfic.org/makingswords.html

This is well said and isn't very hard to follow.

id do that tutorial. hemoluki never steers anyone wrong.

Wow, thank you Laura, but yes, that tutorial taught me a few good things when I first started making props and eventually, you catch on to your own techniques. But yes, I'd do that one since it really explains it nice and simple.

Yea, propmaking can be hard if you have no starting point. Thats a nice simple tutorial there.

You could jus buy a cheap asian made plastic sword and paint it silver. ^^;

Yea, I did that once, I won a plastic sword at conobie lake park and I spray painted the 'blade' chrome ^_^

At 2004 Fanime they were selling wooden swords for 15 bucks. lol. All sold out in like 2 hours.

<sensei mode=ON>
There is no such thing as a "safe" sword. Oak practice swords or boken can and have broken bones and skulls before, particularly in the hands of the inexperienced, and likely will do so again. Even the bamboo shinai that are usually used in kendo nowadays will bruise and can do serious damage if swung in anger. Plastic and foam swords, while less likely to do damage, are still more then capable of doing so. And this isn't even counting the sharp bits should something break. Respect the soul of the sword within the weapon my son. Now go clean the dojo for even asking for a "safe" sword.
<sensei mode=off>

Sorry, but I've had too many people get into boken fights 6 inches away from my head at cons to not react to that.

Anyway, back to making swords. Remember, it takes 5 lifetimes to perfect the making of a katana. I am not going to spend more then an hour explaining this to you.

If you're looking for a kendo boken or shinai, just buy one off the rack. The going price from a reputable blade shop or martial arts supplier is about $8 to $10 for a boken, $24 to $30 for a shiani. Remember to throw out the little hand guard (whose name I can never remember), they aren't used in traditional kendo.

If you're looking for something that actually looks like a katana, and will pass a weapons check, it gets a little complicated. Actually, this is just a detailed version of the page linked to.

First cut the blade out of 1/4" plywood or thinner. You want to make sure you cut the tang (the part of the blade that goes in the handle) is almost as long as the handle will be, and slightly thinner. Sand a curve onto all the edges (or use a router if you have one) and fill all the little cracks with drywall plaster. You can use wood filler, but it has been my experience that wood filler is too thick to get into the small cracks. let dry then sand again. Prime and paint. You make the guard the same way.

To make the handle take 2 pieces of a hard wood (I prefer poplar, but white oak works fine, don't use pine if you want this to stay unmarred). Place the tang of the blade on the wood and trace. You want the handle of the blade in 2 pieces with a hollow section inside just big enough for the blade. Cut out the pieces, fit them onto the blade, and run 2 or 3 dowels through both pieces and the blade. If you're looking for a quick fix, just use finish nails. Glue everything together. Run a couple of finish nails through the guard into the handle (you can find copper, brass, and chrome finish nails at the local hardware store if your salesgoon is competent). Sand smooth, and varnish.

I can't really help with tying the complicated fabric onto the handle, I've never mastered that.

Making a scabbard is done in a similar fashion as the handle, but you don't nail the blade in.

Of course, if you're looking for a better looking non-katana, try using aluminum plate or sheeting instead of plywood.

For the big arsed sanosuke's sword (which has a name, I'm almost sure of it) it depends on just how big you need. I've seen them over 25 feet long (and I have no clue how they did that) For a smaller, about 10 to 15 foot sword, I'd use foamboard, cut as smooth as possible, run a piece of PVC pipe through the middle for both stability and for a handle. paint on some liquid rubber, prime, paint, and enjoy.

Heh...I'd be afraid of being wacked by crazed anime fans too . Actually, I tried cheap plastic swords that I won at this one booth thing at the fair and painted them really good with car model paint but the sheath started chipping. I threw them away...they were all bent and just plain terrible looking.

The thin plastic swords have flex an resilincy to them, which would cause the paint to be stressed resulting in cracks/chips in the paint. I'm probably going to modify one of my Bokens for my sword and paint it (It's wooden). Although chrome vinyl wouldn't be too bad either, I suppose.

Ah, so wooden swords are "convention-safe"?

For the most part, yes. Only at very big cons are most props not even allowed. But the size must be massive like Otakon or Expo. Their weapon policy is very strict...

I wish they would just have maturity ratings, like test people, and if they're immature, they have to use hollow plastic/rubber props, but mature people can use more realistic ones, etc.

How would you suggest doing that for crowds of the basic massive size of Otakon. There are thousands of people.....what you are suggesting is impossible and there's no doubt in my mind about that.

I know it's not going to happen, but I can still wish for it can't I?

Yes, just like I can wish for actually being a good cook. It's not going to happen...I still have my last failure looming over my head. I swear, I'm the only one that can burn boiled hotdogs.

*PM'd you so we don't get off topic*