GhostWithThMost
New Member
Hi guys; being on this site has emboldened me to branch out my prop making ways. I decided to tackle a project that I've wanted to do for a long time: An all metal (except for the glove, natch) Freddy glove. I looked around and found a template I liked, then I gathered up my materials:
Three sheets of 6"x 6" copper from Amazon
One sheet of 22 gauge steel from Home Depot
A propane torch
Flux
Plumbing solder
Double cap rivets (brass ideally, but any kind will do)
A rubber mallet
A grinder ( A Dremel with a grinding bit is excellent, but this stuff is great too)
An old leather work glove (these are great)
3/4" pipe (or dowel rod)
Aircraftgrade snips
Ok, on to the pictures:
View attachment 716272View attachment 716273
After tracing and cutting out the patterns, you gotta smooth the edges! But first, smash 'em with your rubber mallet until they are nice 'n' flat. That'll teach 'em for cutting the **** out of my fingertips.
View attachment 716274
Ok, once all that is over, take your pipe and starting shaping the metal. Luckily, copper is pretty easy to manipulate, and you can do a lot of this by hand, or you can enjoy smashing it again with that sweet mallet.
View attachment 716275
Once all your pieces are smoothed and shaped, go ahead and drill the holes for the rivets. DO IT ONCE THEY'VE BEEN SHAPED! I had a hell of time with this; I never saw this mentioned anywhere, so I'm saying it here.
As far as attaching the rivets go, it's best to use a rivet setter, although a table vise is a good next option. However, I did neither of those things and opted for a pair of vise grips. Naturally, this created varying results all over the glove.
Also, cut out eight ring sized pieces of copper for your glove; go ahead and weld them in now (smart way) instead of once the blades are in (my not so smart way). Make sure you compensate for the glove and make the pieces pretty big. I did not and I had a hell of a time with this, so please take my advice.
All right, enough of that. Time for the blades:
View attachment 716276
Same song, second verse. Cut 'em out with your snips; sand 'em, smooth em, and most importantly, KEEP THEM DULL. This is a prop, you freak.
View attachment 716277View attachment 716278
Nice and shiny.
Now it's time for the torch. Before we begin, I'd like to mention FLUX. Before you set the blade, take your little flux brush and gunk the end of the blade. This aids the bonding process during welding (I guess; I really don't know). Now this is once again where a table vice would be extremely helpful, but I didn't have one. But here's a little trick I picked up. Cut the finger tip part of your gloves down the middle just a little bit, so you can slide the blade in place while you weld it up.
If your welds don't look that great, don't worry. Art is subjective anyway! Freddy's stuff wasn't exactly pristine, either. Once all that's done, it's time to attach the glove. It's a pretty simple; just poke a hole in the glove back and pop your rivets through, then cap 'em.
Once it was finished, I thought that brass rivets were the real way to go (hindsight is always 20/20, innit?). Instead of doing it all over again, I just grabbed a bronze Sharpie and started coloring. It's a bit of a cheat, but hey, it looks pretty good to me.
And there you have it, folks. Even if your skills aren't quite there, don't let that stop you! You can only get better with each prop.
Three sheets of 6"x 6" copper from Amazon
One sheet of 22 gauge steel from Home Depot
A propane torch
Flux
Plumbing solder
Double cap rivets (brass ideally, but any kind will do)
A rubber mallet
A grinder ( A Dremel with a grinding bit is excellent, but this stuff is great too)
An old leather work glove (these are great)
3/4" pipe (or dowel rod)
Aircraftgrade snips
Ok, on to the pictures:
View attachment 716272View attachment 716273
After tracing and cutting out the patterns, you gotta smooth the edges! But first, smash 'em with your rubber mallet until they are nice 'n' flat. That'll teach 'em for cutting the **** out of my fingertips.
View attachment 716274
Ok, once all that is over, take your pipe and starting shaping the metal. Luckily, copper is pretty easy to manipulate, and you can do a lot of this by hand, or you can enjoy smashing it again with that sweet mallet.
View attachment 716275
Once all your pieces are smoothed and shaped, go ahead and drill the holes for the rivets. DO IT ONCE THEY'VE BEEN SHAPED! I had a hell of time with this; I never saw this mentioned anywhere, so I'm saying it here.
As far as attaching the rivets go, it's best to use a rivet setter, although a table vise is a good next option. However, I did neither of those things and opted for a pair of vise grips. Naturally, this created varying results all over the glove.
Also, cut out eight ring sized pieces of copper for your glove; go ahead and weld them in now (smart way) instead of once the blades are in (my not so smart way). Make sure you compensate for the glove and make the pieces pretty big. I did not and I had a hell of a time with this, so please take my advice.
All right, enough of that. Time for the blades:
View attachment 716276
Same song, second verse. Cut 'em out with your snips; sand 'em, smooth em, and most importantly, KEEP THEM DULL. This is a prop, you freak.
View attachment 716277View attachment 716278
Nice and shiny.
Now it's time for the torch. Before we begin, I'd like to mention FLUX. Before you set the blade, take your little flux brush and gunk the end of the blade. This aids the bonding process during welding (I guess; I really don't know). Now this is once again where a table vice would be extremely helpful, but I didn't have one. But here's a little trick I picked up. Cut the finger tip part of your gloves down the middle just a little bit, so you can slide the blade in place while you weld it up.
If your welds don't look that great, don't worry. Art is subjective anyway! Freddy's stuff wasn't exactly pristine, either. Once all that's done, it's time to attach the glove. It's a pretty simple; just poke a hole in the glove back and pop your rivets through, then cap 'em.
Once it was finished, I thought that brass rivets were the real way to go (hindsight is always 20/20, innit?). Instead of doing it all over again, I just grabbed a bronze Sharpie and started coloring. It's a bit of a cheat, but hey, it looks pretty good to me.
And there you have it, folks. Even if your skills aren't quite there, don't let that stop you! You can only get better with each prop.