Here is a link to an amazing replica makers site, I believe he's a member of the RPF also.
yes, Volpin is member of the RPF, and a good characteristic of him is that you can contact him if you have problems and questions and he will answer you :lol
but coming back to your question,
I was wondering what material you guys think is best for making large weapons like swords, axes, etc.
I think that just depends on what you want to build, what it is used for, and how it should be build.
I've seen excellent weapons made out of wood as well as of resin, and depending on your know-how, I guess both materials are good to work with, but both have their advantages and disadvantages. Resin copies for example are lighter and easy to dublicate (if you want for example two or more exact copies of the same prop), but you always have to make a master, which means more work.
Wood is heavier than resin or fiberglass (well, depending on what wood you use), but probably easier to handle, and it's faster to work with.
But as said, you should first of all think of what to build and what it will be used for. If you plan for example to build a sword for decoration that's just hanging on your room's wall, wood would be my first choice. If you want to go to conventions or something and you carry your prop a lot, you should think of resin or fiberglass or something like that.
Oh, and you should also have a look at
Blind Squirrel's blog (he is also member of the RPF), he builds great weapon-props
