Let it begin! Completed Accurate Kill Bill Replica!

Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Bought a new brush, and finished the touch-ups on the fuchi leafs. Now I'll wait a couple of days, and then clear-coat 'em.

Sure makes it easier using a real brush (triple-0) versus the 10 for-a-buck ones from the dollar store, especially when working with tiny dots of paint while wearing a 5x loupe:)


Next up - drilling!

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Got the hole drilled through the nakago (tang) and tsuka (handle) this weekend. Had just a smidge of a wiggle to the tsuba (handguard), so I added just a tiny bit of wood to the tsuka to tighten everything up. I was a little worried -wanted to get it right the first time, and everything worked out (with proper measurements, clamping, leveling, re-clamping, etc). Took about an hour to drill the hole:)

Next up, rayskin!:)

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Rayskin sanded and epoxied in place. I like to use a two-hour marine epoxy, because the rayskin goes on slightly wet. You have to soak it in warm water for a couple of minutes before applying so it'll take the curve of the handle better. Also, the marine epoxy dries white, which is always handy:)

Managed to get the strips of rayskin to go under the fuchi instead of having to cut them at the edge of the fuchi, if you get my meaning. This was much nicer than cutting, because even a slight gap between the rayskin and the edge of the fuchi is very noticable on the ura side of the handle. Always a little worrysome. Fit worked out very well, no gap at all between the rayskin and the inside edge of the fuchi.

Did a test wrap (no hishigami) and the mekugi-ana seems to be lining up just where I wanted it.

Next up, making paper triangles (hishigami), and then I get to finally start the wrap...

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Been a busy month, but finally got around to making some progress - ordered some more leather wrap (ito) from Fred Lohman in Oregon. Very nice guy to deal with, and the wrap is excellent. Got the fittings finished (finally) and coated with a couple of layers of clear-coat.

Started wrapping sword B, to get a feel for how the ito would work and if I would run into any problems. Used paper triangles (hishi-gami) made from a thin cardboard, and the template from Japanese Sword Projects. I usually print out the template, glue it to cardboard, and then cut them out. An hour later, you've got a bunch of little truncated triangles. They're used to add support to and help shape the diamonds of the wrap, and get inserted inside every half-diamond of the wrap.

Things went fine with the wrap - the ito was a joy to work with, very strong, and only a tiny bit of stretch. Ended up having to shorten my handle (tsuka) by half and inch or so to get everything to work out. and have the same number of cross-overs as the OP.

As I reached the end of the wrap, I discovered that the butt end of the tsuka was just a little (.5 mm or so) too skinny to work out nicely with the size of the end cap (kashira). Had to add about 6-7 layers of rice paper strips to bring up the side, staggered as to not introduce a lump to the handle.

Once that was done, everything went fine. Trying to get the two strips of leather through the hole in the kashira (****odome) was a bit tricky, but not too bad.

Anyhow, other than etching the foodog on the blade, and adding a brushed finish to the blade collar (habaki), the sword part of sword B is now done:) Next up, wrapping sword A (Adam's sword). Then, all the little tasks associated with the scabbards (saya).

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Started working on wrapping Adam's sword last night. As I got towards the end, however, my suspicions about incorrect emperor node placement were confirmed - it was about 5mm off from where it should be. I'll have to unwrap about half, cut the rayskin strip, remove 5mm (or so, depending on kerf), glue it back down, and rewrap. More burning hair smell soon:) I'll hide the new seam under a cross-over.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Thanks guys:)

Fixed up the rayskin emperor node placement issue yesterday. Unwrapped about half the handle, cut the rayskin strip with my dremel (right where a cross-over would be). Pried it off, sanded away the required amount (about 5mm), and epoxied it back on. Did a test wrap, and everything works now - the seam is completely hidden, and the node is centered in the right diamond.

Next up, fitting the end cap (kashira) - which is possible now that I know where the leather wrap ends...

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

This thread is really interesting. I can't wait to see your finished product. I was wondering...would you be able to make a bill and bride replica set just like it is in the movie that is very usable, very accurate, and I don't care much for the price of it. If so, let me know as soon as you can. Atm, I can't really buy them, seeing as I'm only 15 years old lol, but my cousin is a collector of swords and he's been wanting an exact replica for years now. Handmadesword.com sells a really good replica, but it's not exact. If you're interested in making them sometime in the future, just pm me. I'll also pm you the exact details I want, like blade steel and other specifics.
Good luck!
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Hi Tanvir175,

I haven't looked at Bill's sword much yet, still concentrating on finishing up these two (which is keeping me busy enough:)). To start from scratch on another one would take a while, and a lot of research/work. I'll have to think about it.

Update on the current swords - I've finally come to a decision to replace my eBay chinese-made CNC controller with a better one. It's been loosing steps from day one, and I can't trust it. At least, I hope it's the controller:) Ordered a new setup from probotix.com, and I think it should fix my reliability problems.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Finished up Adam's wrap this weekend, and then was saddened to realize that I had made a mistake with one of the cross-overs going the wrong way. Only noticed about half-way through tying the end-knot:( New ito to be ordered from Lohman shortly... My end knot didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked, in any case, so I'm not too sad. It'll be good to redo it (well, maybe not good, but it needs doing:))

On the CNC side, I had to order new stepper controllers (probotix.com). My eBay bargain controller turned out to be no bargain, and was in fact barely functional at the lowest speed/power levels. I was getting errors in every run (not acceptable on a one-chance blade engraving:)) I'm hoping to have an actual usable system after this upgrade:)

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Quick update - new stepper controllers / break-out card are in for my CNC. Hopefully, I'll get to do a test run or two this weekend with the new, more carved foodog, and see how it looks.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

CNC success!

Got my CNC controllers wired up last night, soldered and heat-shrinked and screwed-down. Finally got to run the rig through a test run, and it did beautifully! 10 inches/min feed rate (although I think the rig will happily do more than that). Not one error on the whole run, and it ran for 1.5 - 2 hours on this test (many, many iterations over the same lines because of a very small cut depth setting, something like .001 inches). This is not the final foo-dog, but it's the only gcode I had handy at the time. It's pretty close to the end design, though.

Anyhow, I'm ready to finish up my CNC "shelf", formalize it a bit, and then start trying to figure out how to do a manual fourth axis for my blade/saya designs.

Please excuse the blurry pics, I used my ipod to take 'em.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Just a short update - not much action as yet, but the field is being setup for the final chapter (how's that for mixed metaphors):)

Finally ran my first successful probing run this weekend! I'm finally getting this CNC to actually do what I've been wanting it to do all along. It's been a pretty steep learning curve.

What I'm planning to do is use a 3d digitizing probe (in combination with the CNC of course) to map the surface of the blade where the engraving is going to happen. I then take this point cloud, run it through a script that another fella (Lee, over on the Zen Toolworks forum) wrote in combination with my original g-code for the foodog, and hopefully get out a new g-code file that'll "wrap" the engraving to the blade. If the blade were flat, this would be no problem. Since the blade has a ridge, and I want a carved image, not just engraved, this job becomes tricky, thus the many steps to completion.

Now I just need to use the CNC to cut some custom holders/clamps that match the profile of the blade, and I can get probin'!:) I'm going to use some UHMW plastic (used for woodworking jigs). It's heavy, rigid, and won't mark up the blade (or saya, when the time comes).



Crappy video of my (second) test run is up at
Zen Toolworks / EMC2 CNC Probing Test Run - YouTube

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Quick update -


Over the Christmas holidays, I managed to get the re-wrap done on Adam's sword. Had to take the tsuka down to the wood (again), add a big more rice paper, trim away about 3-4 mm of wood, reshape the end (again) to fit the kashira, epoxy that on, and do the re-wrap with new pasteboard hishigami, but it's done now, and I'm happy with the outcome. The end-knots came out much better, and I think the wrap is just a little tighter than last time (or at least my thumbs say so).

More pics up at

https://picasaweb.google.com/jblakey/20120102

Next up, more foodog fighting!:)


Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

What a work of art - if this is ever manufactured - I'm so in. Thanks for this thread on your progress!
 
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