Short Sword

In this Instructable, I will show you how to make a short sword. Your sword will be perfect for cosplay, display, playing in the sun, or anything else you might need a sword for!

Materials

Wood: 24 1/4 in long, 1 1/2 in across, and 3/4 in thick

Silver spray paint

Red and Blue acrylic paints

Tools

Scroll saw

Belt sander

Piece of sandpaper

Yard stick

Painters tape

Pencil

Wood carving knife

The first step is to sketch the lines that you are going to need for cutting and sanding. Laying your wood on its back, take your yard stick and measure 2 1/4 inches from the end. Make a mark with your pencil and draw a horizontal line to mark off this segment of your wood. We will call this line "Line 1". Repeat this process on all four sides of the wood so that the line goes around the entire piece of wood. This will be where we cut the pommel from later.
From Line 1, measure 5 inches for your grip. Again, do this on all sides. We will call this line "Line 2". From the end of your grip area, measure down 1 inch further to mark the rain guard. I'm sure you get the idea by now, so go ahead and draw the line on all four sides of your wood!

In this next step, you can take some creative liberties! Move back up to your pommel segment. There are several different shapes you can use, but I decided to make mine into a jewel, so I sketched a rough shape on the wood. Regardless of the shape you decide to use, make sure that there is plenty of pommel touching your grip, so that it doesn't break off!

Congratulations, the rest of your wood is for your blade!

Going from the end of your rain guard, you are going to draw a line up the middle of your blade. On the broad side, take your yard stick and make a dot at the center, which will be 3/4 of an inch from the side. move your stick up a few inches and repeat. Do this all the way up the blade. Line your yard stick up with all of the dots and draw a line all the way up, creating a central ridge. Do this on the two broad sides, and then again on the thin sides, measuring 3/8 of an inch up instead of 3/4 of an inch.

The next order of business is the point of the blade. From the end of your blade, measure 1 1/2 inches down and draw a horizontal line. From the top of the central ridge, draw two curved lines that meet the horizontal line at the edge of your blade.

This is my favorite part! Using your scroll saw, cut the shape of your point. It doesn't need to be perfect, because we are going to do a lot of sanding. Right now, your sword should look like a pointy piece of wood!

Move over to your belt sander. To even up your point, press it straight into the sander at your preferred angle of point. Do this on both sides so you have an even point.

Next is the "sharpness" of the blade. Starting from the end of the rain guard, line the sword up so one of the corners is touching the sander. In a firm, steady, stroke, pull the blade all the way down the sander, taking off a shred of the corner. The goal is to repeat this as many times as needed to have a smooth surface from the central ridge to the line on the side of the blade. Do this on the remaining three sides so you have a complete blade. Don't worry about sanding the point yet, that's next!

Ok, now you can worry about the point! Using the same four corner method that we used on the blade, we are going to sand the point at approximately the same angle you used on the blade.

Now it is starting to look like a sword! The last step in sanding the point is to hold the sword vertically, like you are about to stab into the belt sander, with the broad side facing you. Pull the hilt slightly towards you, so that the point is facing the sander at about a 45 degree angle. Lightly press down on the sander to take off a bit of wood. This will add a bit more of a point to the sword! Repeat on the other side.

As a finishing touch, lightly pull any un-sanded blade parts, like the very edge and the central ridged, across the sander to add a smooth finish!

This next part is a bit tedious, but it is worth it! Using your knife, score along Line 2, and 1/3 of an inch under Line 1. This is going to give you definition for your grip. The scores should be about 1/16 of an inch deep.

Next, start about 1/4 of an inch down the grip, and shave a strip all of the way to your score line. As you get close, press a bit harder on your knife to make the grip curve in a bit. Do this all the way around the score lines, until you are happy with your curvature.

The last step in making your grip is to sand it. Using your belt sander, pull the grip back and forth, turning it as you go, to get a comfortable grip. Once you are happy with the way it feels, you are ready to move on to the pommel!

Making the jewel on your pommel is a bit hard, because of the size, so go nice and slow! Using your scroll saw, cut the lines you drew earlier.

After your shape is cut, move over to your belt sander. Only sanding the top half of the pommel, sand the four edges so that they are soft and tapered. This is only for the looks, so get a little creative with it!

You're almost done! Get out your painters tape, a spray can of metallic, silver paint, three paint brushes, a bottle of black paint, and two other colors. For my two extra colors, I chose red and blue.

With the painters tape, tape from the top of the rain guard all the way down the hilt. Make sure that the top of the tape is straight, so you will have a clearly defined blade. Using the instructions on your spray paint, spray all the way around the blade. Make sure not to miss any spots! Add a few coats, allowing each one to dry before applying the next one.

Once the blade is dry, take the tape off of the hilt. Then, carefully wrap the grip in tape. You don't need to tape the whole thing, just the top and bottom. Line another strip of tape up with the end of your silver paint, making sure to press it in all the way around. Tape your jewel in the same manner. The two places that should be visible are the rain guard and the area between the pommel and grip. I painted these blue, using several coats.

Unwrap the pommel, and tape the blue that you have just painted (after it dries). I painted my pommel red.

Well Done! You now have an awesome short sword!