The latest off the bench ('Gangs of New York' related)...

[Nexus6]

I recently saw this movie for the first time, & I have to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly (particularly Daniel Day-Lewis' performance). It's a rather lengthy film, & near the end an interesting piece of movie propery caught my eye. Observe this mêlée weapon used by DiCaprio's character at the film's climax: CLICK for screencaps.

Now, I did some searching & was able to get a correct length (& suitable profile shot, from which I could calculate the other dimensions) from the SFX "stunt" piece for sale at PSoL. There were some visible differences between the "stunt" & what I would classify as the "hero" (seen in the screencaps above), so I decided to stick more closely to the "hero" design:

​

The shaft on my project is hickory wood from the handle of a gardening tamper, the blade is fashioned from a piece of steel I came across at work, the leather wrappings are from a deer hide that I had procured previously, & the rock I found at a local landscaping company.

Regarding the rock, In a futile effort, I spent about 90 minutes searching through giant piles of rock, looking for a "spherical" specimen. In the end, I was forced to settle for a large-ish rock that I spent the next week or so, pounding, banging, & chipping-away-at with a hammer (a regular claw hammer, BTW). In the end, I'm pretty pleased with the results:

​

Thanks for looking. :thumbsup

EDITED for imageshack being a pretty worthless host.

 

[Kadajiroth]

If you said you obtained the screen-used piece and this was it, I would have believed you. That's how well you've made it, in my opinion.

Great job! :thumbsup

 

[PHArchivist]

EXCEEDINGLY cool (and couldn't agree with you more about Lewis' performance). When I saw the film I too thought about ding this, but passed. Glad to see if done!

 

[dropshipbob]

"Now I can die....a true American."

A highly underrated movie, I was surprised no one tried making a "gang" like that for Dcon.

An awesome recreation. DEAD RABBITS!

 

[Apollo]

Beautifully done!

I'm glad there are others who appreciate this great Movie!

I always wanted the huge shieleigh-leigh that the Barber used!

 

[PHArchivist]

BTW I'm curious -- are the blade and rock securely fastened enough to serve as a real weapon?

It certainly seems your approach is close to what you'd do if you were making a real melee weapon...

 

[Nexus6]

BTW I'm curious -- are the blade and rock securely fastened enough to serve as a real weapon?

It certainly seems your approach is close to what you'd do if you were making a real melee weapon...

Luckily, I'm friends with a guy who is of Native American descent, & knows a lot about building sturdy weapons using wood, rock, bone, leather/sinew, & other natural stuff.

I wanted it to look (& be) basically authentic, but I also didn't mind using some modern techniques to make it even stronger as long as they weren't seen.

The handle is slotted, & the blade is inserted & affixed with 2-ton epoxy & a counter-sunk bolt/nut that goes through a hole in the shank of the blade. Then I soaked the leather in water & did the wrapping (when the hide dries, it shrinks up, & gets VERY tight).

The rock is affixed to the end of the handle with a product called 'Heavy Duty Welder Adhesive'. The 2-ton epoxy was too thin for this application, but the Welder Adhesive is very thick, very strong, BUT also slightly flexible when it dries. then I did the wrapping using the same technique as the other end.

If you used it for what it was designed for (people :eek), I'm confident that it would perform quite effectively. However, if you were to strike either end up against something like metal, concrete, brick, stone, etc, I doubt it would last very long...

 

[juno]

That is awesome!

 

[Nexus6]

Thanks everyone. :$

In other news, I just found the specs on THE screen-used Hero club/ax (if the "source" I'm using is correct, that is). Apparently the blade is fashioned from aluminum & the "rock" is make of foam. That makes mine more authentic to the time period than the actual hero weapon (no offense to the owner of the hero, if they are here ). Although I suppose a more accurate description would be: "idealized"...

 

[PHArchivist]

Thanks everyone. :$

In other news, I just found the specs on THE screen-used Hero club/ax (if the "source" I'm using is correct, that is). Apparently the blade is fashioned from aluminum & the "rock" is make of foam. That makes mine more authentic to the time period than the actual hero weapon (no offense to the owner of the hero, if they are here ). Although I suppose a more accurate description would be: "idealized"...

Again - very cool! Makes perfect sense on the constructio of the hero prop.

AWESOME answer on the construction techniques! I like your prop even more now! :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

 

[wilysteve]

Thats definitely one screen worthy prop - great job thumbsup

 

[PHArchivist]

The rock is affixed to the end of the handle with a product called 'Heavy Duty Welder Adhesive'.[/quote]

Should have asked this a year or two ago, but is this welder's adhesive hard to find?

 

[Betamin]

That looks great! Impressive job on that!

 

[Nexus6]

The rock is affixed to the end of the handle with a product called 'Heavy Duty Welder Adhesive'.

Should have asked this a year or two ago, but is this welder's adhesive hard to find?

Wow, thread necromancy!

I wouldn't think it would be hard to find. I wasn't specifically looking for it when I bought it. I got it from somewhere you'd expect: Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-mart. Something like that.

Here it is though.

 

[tain669]

I'd like to see someone do Bill Cutting Butcher knives and cleaver. Those were neat.

 

[Nexus6]

I'd like to see someone do Bill Cutting Butcher knives and cleaver. Those were neat.

:love :angel