Lightsabe Blade Attachment on Props

[misterfusion]

So here's my question:

The tapped metal rod in production made lightsabers. Is the rod there just for F/X reference, or was it also to attach blades for fighting?

 

[Psab keel]

Both for reference and for blade attachment.

 

[misterfusion]

Excellent Thanks.

Any reference as to what the blades were made of or how they were connected?

 

[bleyd]

From what I read/heard somewhere they were carbonfibre rods covered in heatshrink rubber. Everything else would break and metal or fibre chips would fly thus the heatshrink. Same stuff they use in electronics but larger. That bit of info MAY be in the extras DVD somewhere.

 

[Mrcosmo]

Here is an interesting reference each Star Wars movie used different materials for the production blades. In episode 3 they used carbon fiber blades covered with glass and plastic. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber

 

[Ronan87]

Carbon fiber rods. The company that made them for the movies is selling them to individuals. Don't have the link on me though.

 

[bighowboy]

Hi,
I've owned a number of screen used sabers from all three films and researched these props extensively. Still have a couple sabers and a pair of my old ones that I sold through Profiles are now back in their upcoming auction. The sabers and blades were made the same for Ep.1 & 2. Threaded metal rod extending out from the resin hilt that the blade screws onto. Blades were made of aluminum, painted, and then encased in a heat shrink (like a thin, rubber saran wrap). Again, all the stuff for the first two films was the same.

They changed it up for Episode Three pretty dramatically. The blades were made in New Zealand (I think the company was called Kiwell?) out of fiberglass composite material to be lighter and stronger. This time around, the blades had the "male" threaded attachment that would screw down into the hilt. They also had fat and skinny versions of these (referred to as Hero and Stunt blades by my connection). I have a pair of both with my Ep.3 Hero Mace saber, and they are pretty different looking beside just the different thickness and heft.

Your saber in the photo is a hilt style from the first two prequels. Either the exact saber hilt you are holding in the photo, or one identical to it was offered for sale for a number of years both through Star Wares and on consignment through Screen Used. If this is the same one, and there are details that match up, then this hilt came from the set of Phantom Menance, and therefore was used for practice/stunt choreography as only the Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Maul fighting sabers were seen on camera.

If you can find yourself an extra blade from either of the first two films, it would screw onto this saber with no problem. That said, production made blades from the first two films are insanely difficult to locate on their own. I have a pair of Maul blades that are the only blades I have ever seen separated from a hilt. Lots of hilts have shown up, both screen used and production made, but very few blades as most of them were destroyed on set. Very different for Episode Three. Very few hilts from the third prequel are in private hands, but a ton of carbon fiber blades made it off the set as they were more or less indestructible and a ton of extras went unused. I have a number of those.

Hope some of that helps. If I can help with anything else, feel free to email me or message me. Troika@Me.Com. If I can put some of what I've learned over the years to use and help out some other saber collectors, I'm happy to help.
Regards,
Troika

-attached is one of 5 or 6 pics I have of the saber I believe may be yours.

 

[Jerome]

bighowboy, interesting post there. It does look like the saber in your picture is the same as the one displayed in the opening post of this thread. There is a dirt mark under the control box with the red rectangles, that appears similar to the one in your photo. Although I'm not sure if the first saber belongs to misterfusion or if it is a pic from the internet.

I recently watched an ebay auction close for a Qui Gon stunt lightsaber. This one came with the blade. What do you know about this?

Star Wars SCREEN USED lightsaber Darth Maul prop vader skywalker han solo yoda | eBay

 

[bighowboy]

Yeah, I definitely saw that auction. I have handled 3 different Qui-Gon sabers and I currently still own one with blade. From what I could tell, it looked good. The hilt was very, very clean, but that doesnt always mean it wasn't used. That said, there were a lot of finished hilts that weren't used that made it out into the wild, so you never know. What was interesting was the blade, as blades from the first two are incredibly hard to come by, and almost act as provenance for the hilts in their own right, in my opinion. The blade looked correct from the photos, but what I did not see were the two holes near the hilt end of the blade that set screws go in. The set screws weren't ultimately necessary as the blades held on just fine due to being screwed down, but every single blade from the first two films I have come across have these visible holes. Of course, they could be there and simply werent photographed?? I would have asked for more photos were I buying, but everything I saw looked ok to me and made me think it might be time to look for some new homes for my own remaining pieces. eBay typically isn't a great place to realize good prices, but $30k for the saber, in the current market (both all around and specifically for prequel savers), seemed really good to me.

 

[Star Raider]

Defiantly very interesting... I know its a little off topic, but I may consider using this method when I construct Star Killers LS.... though they are a bit more simplistic...

Is there electronics in this one?

 

[thd9791]

Hey, old thread, I know, but does anyone have information on how stunt lightsaber blades were attached in Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi? (NOT the spinning motor sticks of A New Hope, although those were genius - but the rods the actors dueled with that were set into Graflex and MPP flash guns or sast metal hilts...that stayed!) ?