To mimic the hero Kenobi hilt from a distance.
Lineage Foundry Cast ANH Kenobi Stunt Hilts
To mimic the hero Kenobi hilt from a distance.
Tan Djarka
Sr Member
Keep in mind that the lightsaber was conceived as a practical in camera effect. It was decided in post production to enhance it with an optical effect. Limiting the reflectivity of the hilt verses the blade helped achieve that effect. Also, as others have point out, the stunt was probably based on the Tunisia version of the saber, which was mostly dark and appeared virtually all black in most pics and footage.
I was really disappointed with how one of my previous '76 hilts came out and decided to melt it down and cast it again for, hopefully, something better. The following is the result:
It has my new gating system and it worked well enough. The emitter area had some sand come loose and it made a gouge in the neck area. Overall, it was a close as perfect as I've come compared to earlier attempts as there were no major deformations from shrinkage and very, very little pockmarks from trapped gas.
I saw that I still had some scrap 4145 left, and figured it might be enough for one more, and I decided to try an experiment with a more "conventional" approach, pouring it horizontally. Only this time, I would incorporate some techniques I've learned to getting cleaner metal casts: small, tapered runner with a pouring basin to maintain a consistent flow; risers to feed metal as it cools, narrow gate at one end widening in to the cast negative. I incorporated them into this as I was having difficulty adding them to how I do vertical casts, and it was easier to incorporate them into a horizontal sand mold. I had issues in previous, earlier attempts with areas shrinking and not filling properly when doing it this way and didn't know enough to figure why.
I still don't know enough but I think I know a little bit more to try. I added these to areas I thought made the most sense to place on the production made castings, judging by where a grinding wheel was taken to them and where areas showed slight dips that were reminiscent of my pours.
This was the result.
The PERFECT cast.
It has taken six years and this is the first truly perfect cast I've ever made, and it was with the last of the scrap 4145 I had laying around. I had just enough for this one cast. It's perfectly filled in all the details, the gas vented through (or were trapped) in the risers at either end, the gating kept a steady flow of metal without sloshing or mixing it up too much. There are zero blemishes on this. It looks so simple but it took nearly six years for me to get to this point and produce this one cast.
The trick now is to try and reproduce this outcome with a few more attempts. If they all turn out like this, then this is the way to go about making these. Hell, this may have actually been the way they did it back in 1976. How this has turned out is nearly identical to surviving photos of the production-made castings in private hands.
I made these yesterday and will be machining these further today. There's still some things I'd like to try in that regard, as well. As I have exhausted my supply of 4145 to make these, and PERFECT casts, no less; these are definitely the final ones I can make for the foreseeable.
It has my new gating system and it worked well enough. The emitter area had some sand come loose and it made a gouge in the neck area. Overall, it was a close as perfect as I've come compared to earlier attempts as there were no major deformations from shrinkage and very, very little pockmarks from trapped gas.
I saw that I still had some scrap 4145 left, and figured it might be enough for one more, and I decided to try an experiment with a more "conventional" approach, pouring it horizontally. Only this time, I would incorporate some techniques I've learned to getting cleaner metal casts: small, tapered runner with a pouring basin to maintain a consistent flow; risers to feed metal as it cools, narrow gate at one end widening in to the cast negative. I incorporated them into this as I was having difficulty adding them to how I do vertical casts, and it was easier to incorporate them into a horizontal sand mold. I had issues in previous, earlier attempts with areas shrinking and not filling properly when doing it this way and didn't know enough to figure why.
I still don't know enough but I think I know a little bit more to try. I added these to areas I thought made the most sense to place on the production made castings, judging by where a grinding wheel was taken to them and where areas showed slight dips that were reminiscent of my pours.
This was the result.
The PERFECT cast.
It has taken six years and this is the first truly perfect cast I've ever made, and it was with the last of the scrap 4145 I had laying around. I had just enough for this one cast. It's perfectly filled in all the details, the gas vented through (or were trapped) in the risers at either end, the gating kept a steady flow of metal without sloshing or mixing it up too much. There are zero blemishes on this. It looks so simple but it took nearly six years for me to get to this point and produce this one cast.
The trick now is to try and reproduce this outcome with a few more attempts. If they all turn out like this, then this is the way to go about making these. Hell, this may have actually been the way they did it back in 1976. How this has turned out is nearly identical to surviving photos of the production-made castings in private hands.
I made these yesterday and will be machining these further today. There's still some things I'd like to try in that regard, as well. As I have exhausted my supply of 4145 to make these, and PERFECT casts, no less; these are definitely the final ones I can make for the foreseeable.
That's the intent of the whole endeavor! As it is, it still looks like it came from the forge but, after my machining, it should look like something from '82.
I can't tell you just how much I appreciate every single person who's supported the project over these years, as more affordable, idealized pieces are made available and really intense, impractical, and expensive passion projects like these fall out of favor.
This piece took a ton of work but I’m very happy with how the casting cleaned up. Here’s my ANH Stunt cast with as many vintage parts as possible 
Not for the v3. It was left without clamp and partsFantastic job! Now she needs a clamp
These are what my previous perfect casts turned into:
The absolute last of my original, production-used material turned into impeccable V2 hilts. The one on the left sports an original clamp with my custom steel lever, and the one on the right sports a replica clamp and lever. Both have vintage boot studs.
As much as I wanted to keep one of these, I have to let them both go (they're both in the JY, FYI). I'm so absolutely proud of how these turned out and it has been a culmination of 6 years of toil and tinkering to get here; cast, machined, then weathered and painted to absolute perfection. It took all that I had left to make them and these are as close as I can get to having left the set with the real thing.
The absolute last of my original, production-used material turned into impeccable V2 hilts. The one on the left sports an original clamp with my custom steel lever, and the one on the right sports a replica clamp and lever. Both have vintage boot studs.
As much as I wanted to keep one of these, I have to let them both go (they're both in the JY, FYI). I'm so absolutely proud of how these turned out and it has been a culmination of 6 years of toil and tinkering to get here; cast, machined, then weathered and painted to absolute perfection. It took all that I had left to make them and these are as close as I can get to having left the set with the real thing.
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Beautifully crafted
Hope they sell soon!
I hope they go to good collections! I kill myself everytime I make one of these (almost literally), and with these two, there's only 9 I've ever been fortunate enough to make.
If I had the funds to I would snatch one up in a heartbeat but unfortunately I've gotta save for other endeavors lol. Do these hilts take well to acid aging to dull down the color?
I imagine so. I've never felt the need to do it with these hilts, so I've never tried to find out. They look bright in the photos but the color on the cast components are fairly dark and I'd much rather they left to patina over time as the originals had done. The main body section and pommel, anyway. The emitters are machined from stock so if you want a duller finish on it sooner, they'd have to be darkened and cleaned up as such. Although, I must say that I don't much care for how some others do that on their replicas. It doesn't look authentic to me.
