Kill Bill Bride's sword

parfaitelumiere

parfaitelumiere

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Hello,

It's funny to see how old projects never gone, I am member here since 2010, and when I saw my old threads I was thinking about getting scaramanga golden gun and Bride's katana.
I made lots of searches on scaramanga gun, and now have quite a neat idea about it.
But about Bride's katana, I still have some confusion.
I made some searches on google, and blueray, I found some good pictures of the saber, lion engraving (2 different ones, one look like real horimono in real steel blade, other like engraving on a iaito blade, with visible rough zamac inside), and some pics of one stunt prop too.
After checking on this forum, and finding interesting informations, especially on Jblackey work, it seems the original props fitting were some japanese iaito or training sabers, meaning why the stunt prop is so close to the hero prop, fittings are identical.
Some parts are easy to find, still available (tsuba, menuki, ****o dome, seppa, habaki, blank blade, sheat, leather strap rayskin)
Some are much more difficult to find (fuchi kashira kojiri).
 
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For the moment here is what I found, available as spare parts:
-menuki
-tsuka ito
-tsuba
-seppa
-glossy black saya
-various kind of blades
 
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I began to work on the tsuba design:

Tsuba desigh.jpg
 
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This inspires me....my dad has an Japanese samurai-style sword blade, and I was talking with him recently about making a handle for it. Might be cool to do a Kill Bill inspired design.
 
I get some real sik sageo.

Sageo1.jpg
The one on the right, the left looks closer to the original one, but I wanted real silk, even it's 4 times more expensive.
 
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Here is the first attempt for the sageo, There are at least 2 different lenght used in movies, one is 90cm (first movie) other is 120cm (second movie)
The attachment is different, several different attachments on first movie, and really different on second movie
My version is the hattori hanzo full portrait saber:
KB 2.png
visible here:
2015-11-10_15-37-49.png
You can see the close up has different sageo attachment:
kuri gata.png
And here is the second movie version (budd), easy to see on the stunt saber auction pictures.
lion 1 16 50.png
but the shorter sageo with different attachment was also used in second movie (budd)
vlcsnap-2010-03-17-07h23m47s74.png
Most of the times, the close-up version of the scabbard had the different sageo, either one band on each side of the kuri-gata, or both on same size but with simple attachement, this scabbard also had simplier lion engraving on the black paint.
This is the scabbard we can see at full lenght in bill's hands at the end.
We can see the triangular engraving is different, too, but I will talk about it in a next post.

and here is the first work on the blade, modifying the habaki to match a bit more to promotion picture and "hattori hanzo" saber habaki.
KB 3.png
 
Here it is:

KB 6.png

Made with a pocket knife and filled with japanese lacquer and gold powder.
It's the complete version of the lion, not the smaller one.
Based from the pictures of earlier posts, and this picture:

lion.png

Here is the smaller one:

Lion 1 40 47.png

You can see the simplier lion design, and the longer sageo attached on each side of the kuri gata.
 
I don't know where to find the ¼" mylar tape.
Tomorrow I will do a second gold layer on the lion engraving.
I will also have to find some wood to start the handle.
This first saber will be for sale once it will be finished.
 
Today I applied a second layer of gold on sheat lion, now it's ok.
I also decided to carve the blade lion:

KB 7.png

I will have to modify the habaki shape for a better and closer look.
 
Here is a comparation picture between screen-used sword close-up (about 35mn in first movie) and mine (the second blade I worked on, the first has shorter habaki, like the "hattori hanzo" picture)
I already shortened the habaki a bit and put it closer to the lion feets.
Also shortened the scabbard a bit.

IMG_0008.jpg
 
I received the parts from Jblackey from the forum.
These are black painted bronze, cast from original iaito parts, same as the ones on original prop.
Sadly there are some flaws, some from the original iaito part and probably some from casting.
I made a special "nanako" pinch to make the pattern on missing areas.
I removed flaws, added some pattern, and make better finish than original leaf engraving.

IMG_0352.png

KB 21.png

Same problem on the menuki, original iaito parts, but roughly finished and the gold plating is just yellow warnish:

KB 20.png

I polished it entirely, removed defects and restorated missing engravings (not pictured today, will do a comparation shot tomorrow)
Then I will do same on kashira, and other menuki, oce all we be completed, the next step will be gold dissolution in aqua regia, and selective gold plating.
I also received the shi*odome, but it's impossible to find the righ ones, so I will make them by traditionnal way: a copper tube and 3 brass foils with special engraving and finish.
 
KB 08.png

Here is a little comparation between various shisa engravings on the blade.
-Top left, commercial chinese stuff, stamped or acid etched based from scan of the "hattori hanzo" picture, easy to recognise the shadows, also interesting is the proportions, perfect proportions, really hard to get by hand...
-top middle original (digitally modified "hattori hanzo" picture, the line in leg has beed erased and habaki shortened, details are visible on other pictures, and in the movie)
-bottom left, the 2millions views thing its authors proudly call a hanzo sword.
-right, my own work, sadly the rear leg is a bit too big, as the body, the mouth a bit to high too...
 

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