Custom Saber Project

[Usagi Pilgrim]

My son gave me this as a Father's Day gift last year, & it's pretty much just been lying around on the To-Do pile cause I just haven't had the time, but now, with my grandson starting preschool, I'm going to do something with it.

It's pretty much a plain aluminium hilt with a green light installed, no sound. I think it was a grab bag item from UltraSabers, so it'll be great for a base.

Even though my favorite designs are the thin necked V2s & Kenobi's, I've always liked the look of the older, EU, leather wrapped, beat up sabers.

I bought a couple pieces of different colored suede & a length of twisted leather cord from Amazon for a few bucks, since I want this to be a budget build.

Before I get to that, though, I'm going to try & age the aluminum with oven cleaner. I decided to start with the pommel, so here it is before & during...

& since this will hopefully be a progress thread, I'll update later with the 'after'.

Only other thing I'm considering is to add some sort of shroud around the emitter end, but that'll probably just be simply cut from thin sheet metal & attached with JB WELD.

ANY thoughts or suggestions will be welcomed & appreciated. I like brainstorming with folks.

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

If you cut the sheet metal into two or three pieces varying in length and layer them shortest on top of longest you could do a stepped shroud which would make it thicker. It might give the emitter a little extra prominence and interest. The JB WELD should do the trick or even a few screws to keep it together. Just a thought, I'm sure whatever you do will be great.

I have several unfinished custom sabers that I'd love to get to sometime soon. These types of projects are so much fun.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Well... Small update, but nothing to show.

I sprayed the oven cleaner on the pommel, & let it sit about 30 minutes, wiped then rinsed it off & nothing. No change whatsoever. I sprayed it again & also sprayed it on the emitter end. Let them both sit for another 2 hours, wiped & rinsed, & nothing again.

I read the label & it clearly says it will damage aluminum, so IDK what I'm doing wrong.

We'll try again Thursday.

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

The saber probably has a protective coating on it that needs to be removed with very light sanding so as not to damage the saber yet expose the aluminum. I would try a test with a fine sandpaper or fine steel wool on the inside of the pommel or somewhere else not plainly visible. Hope that helps.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

The saber probably has a protective coating on it that needs to be removed with very light sanding so as not to damage the saber yet expose the aluminum. I would try a test with a fine sandpaper or fine steel wool on the inside of the pommel or somewhere else not plainly visible. Hope that helps.

Huh... Good point. I'll give that a try. Thanks Jinx.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Well, IDK what I'm doing wrong, but I washed the pommel in degreaser, scrubbed it with a Scotch Brite pad, & went over it with a wire wheel on my Dremel, sprayed it down with the oven cleaner & let it sit for 2 hours. All I got were the marks from the wire wheel, which I don't mind as this & the emitter are going to be heavily weathered & scarred up.

I guess I'm just going to order some aluminum black & experiment from there.

The look in going for on those 2 areas was to have them pretty aged & darkened, go back with steel wool on the edges to highlight them, then have some aggressive slashes with a cutting wheel on the Dremel to show that it's been through the wringer & was a fighting weapon. More of a tool than a ceremonial piece.

Off to Amazon.

 

[eethan]

the different alloys of aluminium react VERY differently to household chemicals. I'll try to take a photo of 2 tests I did a while back if I don't forget. first test became pure black and rubbed off a bit, which gave a super nice natural weathering on grooves on a saber. After being very happy with that test, i put the actual piece I wanted to weather into the same bath and it became something like satin white, really like some clear anodizing or galvanizing even.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

the different alloys of aluminium react VERY differently to household chemicals. I'll try to take a photo of 2 tests I did a while back if I don't forget. first test became pure black and rubbed off a bit, which gave a super nice natural weathering on grooves on a saber. After being very happy with that test, i put the actual piece I wanted to weather into the same bath and it became something like satin white, really like some clear anodizing or galvanizing even.

Really good info to have. Thank you!

I posted a video from Adam Savage earlier today & in it, he's talking about weathering aluminum. He mentions spray painting it black & then hitting it with a polishing wheel. I really wanted to do something that wouldn't eventually rub off, but I may test it just to see how it looks.

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

the different alloys of aluminium react VERY differently to household chemicals. I'll try to take a photo of 2 tests I did a while back if I don't forget. first test became pure black and rubbed off a bit, which gave a super nice natural weathering on grooves on a saber. After being very happy with that test, i put the actual piece I wanted to weather into the same bath and it became something like satin white, really like some clear anodizing or galvanizing even.

Thats an excellent point. I just assumed it was the usual 6061 but you're probably right. I think 7075 has zinc in it which isn't typically very reactive.

Really good info to have. Thank you!

I posted a video from Adam Savage earlier today & in it, he's talking about weathering aluminum. He mentions spray painting it black & then hitting it with a polishing wheel. I really wanted to do something that wouldn't eventually rub off, but I may test it just to see how it looks.

If you're using basic/generic oven cleaner it should've worked if it was going to and agree with the alloy theory. Sending it off to be professionally anodized then removing it yourself where you want is another option but that makes things more complicated & time consuming. Painting has its inherent flaws but makes up for them in DIY as it's easier & slightly safer than using chemicals/acids/torches to weather. If you seal the saber after painting it with a clear protective coat, it should be more difficult to rub off. I hope this helps, my apologies that the sanding didn't work. Good luck.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Welp... I looked at the aluminum black & decided it was just more than I needed to do to keep this a budget build.

I looked through my supplies & found a can of high-temp black paint I had bought for a sawed off shotgun. I hit the 2 ends with it, cause I'm not sure how much of the hilt I'm going to wrap. It came out deep, matte black & was a good starting point.

Next, I whipped out the graphite powder for a gunmetal look. This caused me to grin a LOT.

Final thing for the day was too use the cutting wheel of the Dremel & REALLY scar it up. These ended up looking maybe too 'clean' but they'll be weathered after the fact.

That's all I had time for, so next it'll be deciding on how to wrap it & where, then, the final dirt & grime for the SW look we all love.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Triin]

Looks good!! Just a little insight about the oven cleaner.. it works really well removing coatings and cleaning. I’m not sure if it will actually “age” the aluminum. ( more progressive chemicals would do that or the dishwasher method ). I’ve used oven cleaner to remove anodizing but left the metal clean and bare. Not aged . I know you are a bit further in the process of your build but just in case if in the future if you want to experiment...
otherwise I like seeing the progress and can’t wait to see your final result!

 

[Triin]

Here is a tutorial by Halliwax using A14. ( please please please be careful of this chemical. If you decide to use it .. follow extreme safety and proper procedures and precautions/ safety gear etc )
Anyway just in case you haven’t seen this thread..
It would definitely give you the desired weathered result you are looking for

Anakin Starkiller FX V2 - Aging Weathering & Stencil Tutorial (Master Thread)

Anakin Starkiller FX Master Thread This has been long awaited. Below is how I have aged, weathered, and stenciled my Starkiller FX V2. A super special shout out to Dan (Anakin Starkiller) Roy (wannawanga.com) Trent (Trooper trent) Scott (Scottjua) and everyone else included in making this...

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