Project Information
My 6-year-old son is going to be a knight for Halloween this year. A week ago we went to Renaissance Festival where he saw a wooden sword that he wanted to buy for part of his costume. It was very simple and looked mass produced, but they still wanted about $20 for it. So I told him that we would not buy a sword, but I would make him one and it would be much cooler than that one. Of course, I made this promise while having never made a sword before.
The next day I had to get to work on it because (he would not stop asking me about it) Halloween was quickly approaching. We looked online at some pics of swords and he told me which kind he liked the most. Then I gathered some scrap red oak pieces and started figuring it out.
A couple of days later he was wielding the sword you see!
I really enjoyed making it and it wasn't all that hard. It's made of 4 pieces - the blade, the hand guard, the grip and the ball. I don't have a lathe, so I purchased the ball from Michael's.
The blade and the grip are connected by a dowel with the hand guard sandwiched between. On the top of the guard I chiseled out a space for the blade to seat in and on the bottom I used a forstner bit to create the hole for the grip. The blade and the grip actually make contact inside of the hand guard.
The ball is also attached to the grip using a dowel.
I created the bevel on the blade by making 4 angled cuts on the table saw - the last of which was relatively sketchy because at that point there was only one small edge on the table and one small edge on the fence.
Again, I don't have a lathe, so for the grip I cut the shape as best as I could with the bandsaw and then just used by belt sander to smooth it into a conical shape.
The sword has no finish on it yet. He thinks he might want to paint it. ~gasp~
The next day I had to get to work on it because (he would not stop asking me about it) Halloween was quickly approaching. We looked online at some pics of swords and he told me which kind he liked the most. Then I gathered some scrap red oak pieces and started figuring it out.
A couple of days later he was wielding the sword you see!
I really enjoyed making it and it wasn't all that hard. It's made of 4 pieces - the blade, the hand guard, the grip and the ball. I don't have a lathe, so I purchased the ball from Michael's.
The blade and the grip are connected by a dowel with the hand guard sandwiched between. On the top of the guard I chiseled out a space for the blade to seat in and on the bottom I used a forstner bit to create the hole for the grip. The blade and the grip actually make contact inside of the hand guard.
The ball is also attached to the grip using a dowel.
I created the bevel on the blade by making 4 angled cuts on the table saw - the last of which was relatively sketchy because at that point there was only one small edge on the table and one small edge on the fence.
Again, I don't have a lathe, so for the grip I cut the shape as best as I could with the bandsaw and then just used by belt sander to smooth it into a conical shape.
The sword has no finish on it yet. He thinks he might want to paint it. ~gasp~