Sword material for costuming?
- Thread starter joeranger
- Start date
My thought was to use wood but wood tends to snap when thin. 
Have you checked out Cold Steel training gear? They have various knives and swords in rubber and polypropylene. Supposed to be for full contact training. The only bad thing I've heard about the swords are that the blades are sometimes delivered with a bend or curve and need to be heated for straightening.
Thick sheet styrene would do the trick I think.
irishamericanlad
Sr Member
how detailed do you want it.. alot of time a full one part mold is made and the handle, guard, pommell and blade are all one part with a metal or wooden dowl up the center in the cast.. then its painted to look real... fiberglass, rubber, task series resin, but then your gonna want to use a pressure pot or vaccum...
Darth Lars
Master Member
Do you want just a hilt and scabbard to hang from your belt, or a blade that looks like metal?
It is hard to get a finish that looks like shiny metal and is durable, without using real metal. Though, perhaps you could be creative with aluminium tape so that the edges are on real edges of the sword.
If it would have been a Samurai sword, then there are swords for the sport "Iaido" that are made from aluminium that are very light. They are only for practising in the air, not intended to strike anything.
LARP'ers swords are usually oversized and cartoonish, but light, soft and durable. Made from soft rubbery foam coated with latex, with a fibreglass rod in the centre for stability. There are usually regulations for how to construct them so that they are safe. There are stores that sell kits for building them.
For the Lord of the Rings movies, some prop swords were supposedly made from aluminium, so save weight when they were just carried around. I don't know the specifics.
It is hard to get a finish that looks like shiny metal and is durable, without using real metal. Though, perhaps you could be creative with aluminium tape so that the edges are on real edges of the sword.
If it would have been a Samurai sword, then there are swords for the sport "Iaido" that are made from aluminium that are very light. They are only for practising in the air, not intended to strike anything.
LARP'ers swords are usually oversized and cartoonish, but light, soft and durable. Made from soft rubbery foam coated with latex, with a fibreglass rod in the centre for stability. There are usually regulations for how to construct them so that they are safe. There are stores that sell kits for building them.
For the Lord of the Rings movies, some prop swords were supposedly made from aluminium, so save weight when they were just carried around. I don't know the specifics.
THere is a plethora of excellent LARP swords out there that look really fantastic for being made out of foam and latex.
joeranger
Sr Member
Done. It looks great. (for a costume party) Aluminum is very easy to work with but for swords, it bends and kinks.
It is also still a metal sword which means zipties ar renfaires.
For anyone interested, this is about 2 hrs work. If you ever are going to work with metal, keep your eyes open for railroad construction and find a scrap piece of RR rail.
For a Navy Cutlass, when you hammer the edge on one side, it gives a natural curve.
It is also still a metal sword which means zipties ar renfaires.
For anyone interested, this is about 2 hrs work. If you ever are going to work with metal, keep your eyes open for railroad construction and find a scrap piece of RR rail.
For a Navy Cutlass, when you hammer the edge on one side, it gives a natural curve.
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