Sorry that was so expensive a way to find out. Welcome to experimental research
Jon said he made balsa blades, did he say specifically that's what was used on screen for the dual? People (me in particular) can take questions (& answers) differently to how they're meant. Has he ever said when, in production, he did this? I get the strong feeling it was early on pos. even before filming started. In particular I'm thinking of the jack plug connection & no switch in his sketch.
In OB1's hovel scene Mark.H is quite gentle in waving his sabre about & thinking about that's just the sort of way you'd do it if the blade was fragile. Of course that's if it was made like yours is & not how I did it. This is such a Gordian knot.
If I recall Jon also said they tried other woods. I have something I think is Obechi which is like dense balsa. The ANH blade could have been bored for the d/s directly with no metal insert or been left solid & pushed in a hollow nipple. The birch dowel I have tried is definitely sturdy enough in the graffy & I'm sure would work how you made yours (so is balsa for that matter but I used hollow d/s & solid blade.). Haliwax, was it you posted a link to a Dave P interview? where he clearly said carbon blades. Incidentally that was my local regional TV news program. They still have the same presenter, now grey haired. There is so much scope here for different ways of doing this & mixtures of all sorts. I think it's easy to fall in the trap of
it was done like this (ie just one way).
Jon also mentioned wobblyness, did he not? The only thing I've tried that doesn't is the golf sticks. That said I also know that it's easy to detect even just slight wobbles in the hand, & see them as well but they have to be really quite bad to show up when I video.
(Can you salvage the tape & insert for another golf stick - there'd be a join at the tare of course I'm sure you could neaten that up.)
