Making a wooden toy sword/waster
Dec 9, 2015 0:01:38 GMT
Post by Draven on Dec 9, 2015 0:01:38 GMT
Howdy folks!
The other week I made a sword for the kiddo for yule. Today, I made another! With the holidays coming up, I thought I'd post a walkthrough so that anyone who wants to do the same can follow along. It's not a tutorial as such, and I assume some basic proficiency with tools, but this is how I do it. Just about all of this can be done with hand tools, but I use power tools (specifically a router, jigsaw and belt sander) to speed up the process.
First thing's first... safety. Be smart, know how to use your tools, take the precautions. Wear a respirator. I used oak for this sword and I hate oak dust. Oak is rich in tannic acid and it's very irritating - but working in any cloud of sawdust gives me a headache. Goggles or a minimum of safety glasses are also a must - sawdust in the eye ain't much better than sawdust in the lung. A wooden sword is a great present for a kid but a better present is staying in good health long enough to make wooden swords for your grandkids and great grandkids. It helps to have a shopvac near to suck up the dust, as when you're done with the sander and router you'll be leaning over a dusty workspace. I'm very cluttered by I tried to be relatively dust free!
Another note: reference lines. Use them. If you square something up against a line, use that line to square up everything else so that even if it's not perfect, your lines are square in relation to each other. A pocket knife is great for scoring precise lines rather than trying to keep a carpenters pencil sharp. On the subject of squares, I use three - a framing square, a speed square and a combination square. They're all really handy. If you don't have one, you ought to get one - even a cheap one is better than nothing, just make sure to check its accuracy against the more expensive squares in the store. I have two framing squares and one is clearly off. The other is better. Don't use plastic!
Materials - this was all done with a piece of 3x1/2x48" piece of oak. For the grip I used green jute twine and the glue is just regular old wood glue.
Ok, well here goes. Start with a template:
Note that it's folded down a centerline and I have a separate template of the guard. The fold is for symmetry when cutting it out.
Template cut out - this is why I have a separate one for the guard. You want the edges where the guard fits on to be flat and parallel.
Here I have my lines scribed on both sides (make sure you measure from the same edge) - I use the speed square for that before I lay the template down. One line at 2" and one at 1" to be the centerline. By accident, my template was about 3/32" or so wider, but I just centered it up and ignored it. In this picture you also see the short line that serves as a fuller stop - I measured about 9.5" up from the grip and marked the edge of the wood, then used the combination square and a pocket knife to transfer that to either side. Just a short line, not all the way across. I darkened it with pencil so it was clear.
The router bit I use for the fuller. It's a 3/4" IIRC. I got it from Lowes for $20 because I was there, but I bet you could get it cheaper at harbour freight. Router bits are pricey and my harbour freight ones have done pretty well.
My router setup. The 1x4 was screwed to the bench to ensure stability -it serves as a guide for the router. Setup is hands down the most important part of successful routing - if you spend 30-40 minutes setting up and 3 minutes routing, you're doing it right. Ideally you want to know the distance from the edge of the router you'll run along the guide to the axis of the bit. I can't recall what exactly it was for mine, but it required a 1/4" gap between the oak and the guide. I used a drill bit as a spacer, very carefully measured, clamped and remeasured.
After that, it's just a quick buzz with the router on either side to get a straight, even fuller. I eyeballed the depth at about 1/8", leaving a good thickness in the middle of the fuller. The fuller terminates beneath the guard, which is where I started the router each time so any initial skips would not be visible on the blade.
Shaping the blade. I cut it out with a jigsaw and smoothed the curves on the 1x30 belt sander. Coping saw and a rasp would work just as well, just be slower.
Back to router setup. The guard is in two pieces with a space routed to fit the blade. These just barely fit on the one piece, which was great because it meant only one setup.
Opening routed. This was a little small, which would allow a good tight filed-fit. I wound up messing that up, but oh well... note that the grain runs perpendicular to the grain in the blade so the crossguard has strength.
Coping saw to cut out the guard.
And glued
Note that i cut a step into the grip so that when I wrap it the wrapping doesn't stand proud over the pommel.
Guard was shaped on the sander - nothing fancy, just rounded and the coping saw edges were smoothed. Here are the grip panels - 1/4" plywood.
The 'blade' was beveled with the belt sander. Again, this could be accomplished with rasps. The main thing to watch out for here it to keep the fuller intact. Also, I keep the edges thick - 1/4" per side so it can be rounded into a durable edge for the kiddo to bash off of things. I went for a lenticular section, but you could do diamond as well.
Pommel pieces beveled - that oak looks gorgeous when you put a bevel on it! Note that the grain on the pommel runs the same way as the crossguard.
Glued up and the pommel trimmed to fit! The first part I glue is the grip slabs - I put the crossguard in place, glue and clamp the grip, then move the crossguard. The grip can then be shaped without marring the cross or pommel, which I finish sand to 220 before gluing them. Since the grip will be wrapped, I left it at 120 grit.
And wrapping... I used some pre-dyed green jute and wood glue. I gently clamp the blade in a vice, tie the loose end of the string to the vice and wrap over the glue, then tie the other end to something heavy-ish (not too heavy!) until it sets.
And it's damn near done! This was as far as I got when the kid was finished with school. The jute has been singed with a flam to get the hairy bits off, then I rub superglue into it. When the superglue is hard, I sand it... then more superglue and sanding until it's reasonably smooth. If you have good quality (read: uniform) jute it's a much easier job, but this stuff was very uneven. After the grip is completely done, it's oil and steel wool. Til tomorrow!
Hope someone will find some use in that!
Pete
The other week I made a sword for the kiddo for yule. Today, I made another! With the holidays coming up, I thought I'd post a walkthrough so that anyone who wants to do the same can follow along. It's not a tutorial as such, and I assume some basic proficiency with tools, but this is how I do it. Just about all of this can be done with hand tools, but I use power tools (specifically a router, jigsaw and belt sander) to speed up the process.
First thing's first... safety. Be smart, know how to use your tools, take the precautions. Wear a respirator. I used oak for this sword and I hate oak dust. Oak is rich in tannic acid and it's very irritating - but working in any cloud of sawdust gives me a headache. Goggles or a minimum of safety glasses are also a must - sawdust in the eye ain't much better than sawdust in the lung. A wooden sword is a great present for a kid but a better present is staying in good health long enough to make wooden swords for your grandkids and great grandkids. It helps to have a shopvac near to suck up the dust, as when you're done with the sander and router you'll be leaning over a dusty workspace. I'm very cluttered by I tried to be relatively dust free!
Another note: reference lines. Use them. If you square something up against a line, use that line to square up everything else so that even if it's not perfect, your lines are square in relation to each other. A pocket knife is great for scoring precise lines rather than trying to keep a carpenters pencil sharp. On the subject of squares, I use three - a framing square, a speed square and a combination square. They're all really handy. If you don't have one, you ought to get one - even a cheap one is better than nothing, just make sure to check its accuracy against the more expensive squares in the store. I have two framing squares and one is clearly off. The other is better. Don't use plastic!
Materials - this was all done with a piece of 3x1/2x48" piece of oak. For the grip I used green jute twine and the glue is just regular old wood glue.
Ok, well here goes. Start with a template:
Note that it's folded down a centerline and I have a separate template of the guard. The fold is for symmetry when cutting it out.
Template cut out - this is why I have a separate one for the guard. You want the edges where the guard fits on to be flat and parallel.
Here I have my lines scribed on both sides (make sure you measure from the same edge) - I use the speed square for that before I lay the template down. One line at 2" and one at 1" to be the centerline. By accident, my template was about 3/32" or so wider, but I just centered it up and ignored it. In this picture you also see the short line that serves as a fuller stop - I measured about 9.5" up from the grip and marked the edge of the wood, then used the combination square and a pocket knife to transfer that to either side. Just a short line, not all the way across. I darkened it with pencil so it was clear.
The router bit I use for the fuller. It's a 3/4" IIRC. I got it from Lowes for $20 because I was there, but I bet you could get it cheaper at harbour freight. Router bits are pricey and my harbour freight ones have done pretty well.
My router setup. The 1x4 was screwed to the bench to ensure stability -it serves as a guide for the router. Setup is hands down the most important part of successful routing - if you spend 30-40 minutes setting up and 3 minutes routing, you're doing it right. Ideally you want to know the distance from the edge of the router you'll run along the guide to the axis of the bit. I can't recall what exactly it was for mine, but it required a 1/4" gap between the oak and the guide. I used a drill bit as a spacer, very carefully measured, clamped and remeasured.
After that, it's just a quick buzz with the router on either side to get a straight, even fuller. I eyeballed the depth at about 1/8", leaving a good thickness in the middle of the fuller. The fuller terminates beneath the guard, which is where I started the router each time so any initial skips would not be visible on the blade.
Shaping the blade. I cut it out with a jigsaw and smoothed the curves on the 1x30 belt sander. Coping saw and a rasp would work just as well, just be slower.
Back to router setup. The guard is in two pieces with a space routed to fit the blade. These just barely fit on the one piece, which was great because it meant only one setup.
Opening routed. This was a little small, which would allow a good tight filed-fit. I wound up messing that up, but oh well... note that the grain runs perpendicular to the grain in the blade so the crossguard has strength.
Coping saw to cut out the guard.
And glued
Note that i cut a step into the grip so that when I wrap it the wrapping doesn't stand proud over the pommel.
Guard was shaped on the sander - nothing fancy, just rounded and the coping saw edges were smoothed. Here are the grip panels - 1/4" plywood.
The 'blade' was beveled with the belt sander. Again, this could be accomplished with rasps. The main thing to watch out for here it to keep the fuller intact. Also, I keep the edges thick - 1/4" per side so it can be rounded into a durable edge for the kiddo to bash off of things. I went for a lenticular section, but you could do diamond as well.
Pommel pieces beveled - that oak looks gorgeous when you put a bevel on it! Note that the grain on the pommel runs the same way as the crossguard.
Glued up and the pommel trimmed to fit! The first part I glue is the grip slabs - I put the crossguard in place, glue and clamp the grip, then move the crossguard. The grip can then be shaped without marring the cross or pommel, which I finish sand to 220 before gluing them. Since the grip will be wrapped, I left it at 120 grit.
And wrapping... I used some pre-dyed green jute and wood glue. I gently clamp the blade in a vice, tie the loose end of the string to the vice and wrap over the glue, then tie the other end to something heavy-ish (not too heavy!) until it sets.
And it's damn near done! This was as far as I got when the kid was finished with school. The jute has been singed with a flam to get the hairy bits off, then I rub superglue into it. When the superglue is hard, I sand it... then more superglue and sanding until it's reasonably smooth. If you have good quality (read: uniform) jute it's a much easier job, but this stuff was very uneven. After the grip is completely done, it's oil and steel wool. Til tomorrow!
Hope someone will find some use in that!
Pete