Tauriel Dagger with sheath - Elvish daggers from Hobbit- screen accurate build.

I had a friend request a set of these daggers as screen accurate as possible made from resin so they could take them to a con. They have a really cool blade design and it would make a great build. This build would also include a custom designed fitted sheath since one did not exist.

There are a few nice replica pieces made from metal and I used a combination of these and the limited screen shots for my build. I use a design from the Orcrist sword sheath as a basis for the Tauriel Dagger sheath.

The daggers are built from laser cut hand sanded hardwood.

The individual pieces and layout seemed pretty straight forward at first but my first attempt was a fail. I had a few issues with where the "metal frame" parts meet the wooden handle and when rough sanding found that some of the details were to small and when the sanding the actual form would these features would be gone.

Back to the drawing board -

I went about breaking out the individual pieces in a different manner and though about the way the actual dagger and handle would be created. Making the handle "metal frame" details in one piece that would capture the handle. I also made the handle from oak so I could have the actual wood grain in my final cast piece.

Here is the blade and handle with one side glued on. In my first attempt I was trying to make this with as few seams as poss. but that did not work out. The outer handle "metal" piece was made in 2 pieces with the oak handle insert fitting inside.



Here is the handle all glued to the blade and ready for sanding.




The details on the side of the blade are laser cut and glued to align with the cutouts in blade. These are the profiles were sanded and then the detail lines were re-lasered to the actual forms.

Here is the fully assembled dagger rough sanded and ready for the initial coat of primer.



The handle will be masked off so the oak wood will retain it's natural grain for molding and casting.

The sheath was fabricated in the same fashion as the dagger, from laser cut hardwood.


Once the pieces were cut. They were glued together on different levels to create a 3d profile.



Test fit the sheath to the dagger.



Here is the sheath with the profiles rough sanded to shape.

Once the sheath had all forms and profiles sanded to shape, I put it back into the laser to engrave the text in elvish script.
This was followed but a few coats of primer and lots of sanding.



Here is the dagger with the handle taped off for working on the blade and handle details.



Once I got the blade and handle details sanded to proper form and pretty smooth I started work on the handle.
Also while I had the tape off I worked the areas where the details met the handle. There needed to a sharp break to differentiate the two pieces this would have been made from on the actual dagger.



Now that I had the handle all sanded to final shape and a nice sharp blend to the out handle details, it was time to tape up the wood for more priming and final sanding.


Special attention was paid to all the details to get them as accurate as possible. I worked hard on the blade to retain the 3 different angles so they would show up in the final cast. Sharp transitions were created where all the pieces would naturally meet like where the blade meets the handle and where the blade details meet the blade. This extra work will really pay off in the final cast. It should make painting easier and the final product look more realistic

The mold for the dagger is pretty straightforward. Made from Smooth-on mold star 30 silicon.

Clay set and ready to pour 1st side.


Here is the first cast off the mold. The flashing is pretty spread out but very thin. I made the mold thick so it will hold the details over time and keep things aligned and straight. The rubber bands I used were a bit week. The flashing peels right off with a very small seam but with some stronger bands this will be reduced.


Here is the first cast after just peeling off the flashing. The details came out really nice. The natural wood grain in the handle looks great and will paint up really nice. The blade details are nice and smooth and even the 2 small blade details that pass thru came out.




Next step is cleaning and finishing off the small seam then prime.

Lovely!