museypoo
New Member
Hey everybody! *This is actually my first post and build, so hopefully everything goes down well.*
I love Borderlands 2, especially the screamy rippy stabby aspects of Krieg. I decided to make his buzz axe as a first build and post here! I knew it had been done before, but hopefully want to add my own touches.
I started the project maybe a month ago, and at the time thought no one would care about seeing how it goes down, so I was not taking pictures. *HOWEVER AHAHA I TOOK SOME ANYWAYS*. Here are some updates!
Spring BREAK! I cut the general shape of the handle twice in 1/2" MDF. I then glued the pieces together to get the correct diameter and then sanded the edges down to a matching curved edge.
INTERESTING NOTE!: I don't have a bloody sander like apparently everyone in the world does, so I did this sanding by hand. In fact, I did essentially all my sanding by hand. Later I started using a sanding bit on my dremel, but dang.
I cut the saw blade out of 1/4" MDF. The blades were hellish to do and took forever. I considered simplifying the blades by making the saw have less blades and make them each slightly bigger (which is what the other build I saw did) BUT HELL THEN IT WONT BE SCREEN ACCURATE SO I DIDN'T DO THAT! The only issue that arose was that I sometimes cut a bit unevenly. It's okay! That will get fixed later.
BEAUTY SHOT!! Just kidding this looks terrible. Sort of. This is my initial pass with a dremel to crack up the wooden handle to make it look old. This was pretty terrifying. I used some dremel head attachment that was basically a circular and flat metal brush. Do I know what that head is actually meant for? NO I DO NOT! WHO CARES I ONLY RUINED FOUR OF THEM! Kidding. Kind of. Not really. Aah.
The worst part of this build is the upper 'cage' that houses the blade and the handle. Up to this point, I had not built any of it. The issue is the weird way it bends in space-- it curves but does so in the flat... 'bent-metal' type way. Since I was doing this in wood, I had no idea how to really approach this. BUT I DON'T CARE! I worked something out. If you care, this is how I did it: I again cut the shapes I wanted in general out of MDF (1/4"). These dimensions are actually accurate to the size of axe I am doing. ...YES THAT IS ON PURPOSE AHAHA Yeah. Then I cut a smaller, also general piece of 1/4" MDF just in the shape of the BENDY part of the 'cage' (the part that bends back to meet up with each other-- the pointy side). Then, I could mark out my slopes and just SAND AWAY for like twenty thousand billion hours on the right part for the side until it actually did bend in 3d space! YAY MEAT
Then I just like cut out the other details for this BASIC step and slapped it all together with glue.
Trying to really explain about those cage pieces is like not working, WORDS AAAH so probably just pictures will explain the whole thing better.
Also, yes I continued to do more detailed sculpting (fine cracks) in the wooden handle with some weird pointy dremel head I found. perfect
*LOOK AT ALL THAT DETAIL*
Up there you can see the slight bend to the cage. You can see how the MDF (light wood) has been sanded to slope down (on the right side of the picture). The dark wood is some like... 1/8" random board I saw in the corner of my school and RAN OFF WITH AAHAAAAAA uhh yeah. *UPDATE APPARENTLY IT IS CALLED MASONITE OR HARDBOARD. AAAAH! INFORMAAATION*
Okay, to orient you sort of: I am pinching the edge of the cage where it slopes down into it's point, where the cage connects. In the back. Hopefully you get it. This is a weird view of it (kind of like... you would be looking from under and behind the buzz axe) BUT WHO ******** CARES WHERE I AM HOLDING IT WHEN YOU CAN SEE THAT MUCH CURVE IN A PIECE OF WOOD
Great, this shows that the inside of the cage is also being shaped. Does it suck to shape it like that? Yes, it does. plus, there is a slight bend to the cage on both sides. Is this awesome? YES IT IS LITERALLY THE COOLEST THING YOU HAVE SEEN IN YOUR LIFE
Okay! There you have the bulk of the progress so far. I am currently just priming with that white primer you saw on the handle (white spray gesso... not sure if it really is great) over everything. Over, and over, and over, and over because MDF apparently eats paint like I EAT MEAT
Why do I keep doing this? Because 1) it looks good and 2) I ordered Apoxie Sculpt but when it arrived from Amazon it had only shipped with one part. Thus I had to send it all back and re-order and am waiting for it to arrive so I can shape some other fine details and patch it up.
Hopefully this is an interesting enough build for this amazing community. I have been a long time watcher and am excited to actually be part of this place. Any feedback you guys have would be appreciated! Let me know! This is a W.I.P, so as much as I will be keeping you guys posted I will be taking into account any advice or answer questions. ALTERNATIVELY IF YOU GUYS HATE IT JUST TELL ME AND I WILL SMASH MY OWN FACE IN WITH A ROCK AND NEVER POST AGAIN
haha. kidding.
I started the project maybe a month ago, and at the time thought no one would care about seeing how it goes down, so I was not taking pictures. *HOWEVER AHAHA I TOOK SOME ANYWAYS*. Here are some updates!
INTERESTING NOTE!: I don't have a bloody sander like apparently everyone in the world does, so I did this sanding by hand. In fact, I did essentially all my sanding by hand. Later I started using a sanding bit on my dremel, but dang.
I cut the saw blade out of 1/4" MDF. The blades were hellish to do and took forever. I considered simplifying the blades by making the saw have less blades and make them each slightly bigger (which is what the other build I saw did) BUT HELL THEN IT WONT BE SCREEN ACCURATE SO I DIDN'T DO THAT! The only issue that arose was that I sometimes cut a bit unevenly. It's okay! That will get fixed later.
The worst part of this build is the upper 'cage' that houses the blade and the handle. Up to this point, I had not built any of it. The issue is the weird way it bends in space-- it curves but does so in the flat... 'bent-metal' type way. Since I was doing this in wood, I had no idea how to really approach this. BUT I DON'T CARE! I worked something out. If you care, this is how I did it: I again cut the shapes I wanted in general out of MDF (1/4"). These dimensions are actually accurate to the size of axe I am doing. ...YES THAT IS ON PURPOSE AHAHA Yeah. Then I cut a smaller, also general piece of 1/4" MDF just in the shape of the BENDY part of the 'cage' (the part that bends back to meet up with each other-- the pointy side). Then, I could mark out my slopes and just SAND AWAY for like twenty thousand billion hours on the right part for the side until it actually did bend in 3d space! YAY MEAT
Then I just like cut out the other details for this BASIC step and slapped it all together with glue.
Also, yes I continued to do more detailed sculpting (fine cracks) in the wooden handle with some weird pointy dremel head I found. perfect
*LOOK AT ALL THAT DETAIL*
Okay! There you have the bulk of the progress so far. I am currently just priming with that white primer you saw on the handle (white spray gesso... not sure if it really is great) over everything. Over, and over, and over, and over because MDF apparently eats paint like I EAT MEAT
Why do I keep doing this? Because 1) it looks good and 2) I ordered Apoxie Sculpt but when it arrived from Amazon it had only shipped with one part. Thus I had to send it all back and re-order and am waiting for it to arrive so I can shape some other fine details and patch it up.
Hopefully this is an interesting enough build for this amazing community. I have been a long time watcher and am excited to actually be part of this place. Any feedback you guys have would be appreciated! Let me know! This is a W.I.P, so as much as I will be keeping you guys posted I will be taking into account any advice or answer questions. ALTERNATIVELY IF YOU GUYS HATE IT JUST TELL ME AND I WILL SMASH MY OWN FACE IN WITH A ROCK AND NEVER POST AGAIN
haha. kidding.
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