In a lot of ways, there's not a lot that stands out about Caramon's sword. In fact, it's not really even special. All of Caramon's gear throughout the duration of the Legends of the Twins trilogy is borrowed or acquired. However, Larry Elmore's art is pretty consistent on the details, and the fact that this sword isn't distinct means that I could let the art inform my decisions, but make some of my own choices along the way. This project is very indicative of my standard "sword building technique". It's going to be about 95% MDF construction (with the exception of the sheath). So it's a simple, straight forward project to demonstrate these methods.
These are the two best shots of Caramon's sword. They're both rather small, but at least they're at a straight angle, always a good thing with reference shots. The crossguard on the hilt is more straight in the left reference than the right, and I chose to draft a pattern more along these lines. The basic design of his sword seems to be a standard long/broadsword. I'll confess that I've never much liked this look, and so the sword I drafted is more of a bastard sword, with a 1 1/2 hand grip. Yay for artistic license and interpretation. This ended up alright, as I had to scrap the idea of finishing his shield for Fantasy Con, due to time constraints, so Caramon needed a heftier weapon to make up. (That's solid rationalization, right? right?)
When I was done drafting the patterns they were printed out onto paper. The main layer, which encompasses all of the blade and the hilt (shown above), consists of one layer of 1/4" MDF and one of 1/8". These were laminated together by taking both MDF boards, slathering them with wood glue, and clamping them (with as many clamps as you have on hand evenly distributed) together for an hour (or more). The pattern was applied afterwards with spray adhesive.
(Why laminate the boards, you say? 1/4" probably would have been fine for this blade, you say. Yeah, you're probably right, but let me tell you a little story: A long time ago, I made Zuko's double sword out of MDF. It just so happened that each blade was a 1/4" layer of MDF. Well, MDF has no grain, which is what gives wood it's flexibility and strength. MDF has a certain amount of flex, but will only take so much force. So our Zuko, my son, gets out on stage first and whirls around (as planned), separating and swinging both blades. Between the whirl and the swing, a leeeettle too much force was applied to one blade. Our friend described it thusly: "As he separated the swords, there was an excited gasp from the crowd, and then it snapped, and the gasp turned into soft sigh of anguish." Mine anguish was more internal. So yeah, when you laminate materials, it creates a flexible, stronger material. Just make sure that your glue is spread over the entire surface, or when you go to cut or sand the bevels of your sword's edge in, you may have gaps that will need filling! Moving on)
The blade portion of the main layer was then cut out with a band saw. The band saw is spectacular at cutting long, straight, or widely curved line, and it will go through your MDF like butter if your blade is sharp, so be steady and careful.
The rest of the sword consists of eight more individual layers. The entire hilt section (shown in the second photo above) was cut out twice in 1/4" pieces to fill it out and give body to the grip. Then the crossguard and the pommel each got two layers cut from 1/8" MDF to provide the rim. Finally, two more pieces were cut from 1/8" MDF to make a setting for a gem that would fit on that roundish, triangle portion at the center of the crossguard.
(Why laminate the boards, you say? 1/4" probably would have been fine for this blade, you say. Yeah, you're probably right, but let me tell you a little story: A long time ago, I made Zuko's double sword out of MDF. It just so happened that each blade was a 1/4" layer of MDF. Well, MDF has no grain, which is what gives wood it's flexibility and strength. MDF has a certain amount of flex, but will only take so much force. So our Zuko, my son, gets out on stage first and whirls around (as planned), separating and swinging both blades. Between the whirl and the swing, a leeeettle too much force was applied to one blade. Our friend described it thusly: "As he separated the swords, there was an excited gasp from the crowd, and then it snapped, and the gasp turned into soft sigh of anguish." Mine anguish was more internal. So yeah, when you laminate materials, it creates a flexible, stronger material. Just make sure that your glue is spread over the entire surface, or when you go to cut or sand the bevels of your sword's edge in, you may have gaps that will need filling! Moving on)
The blade portion of the main layer was then cut out with a band saw. The band saw is spectacular at cutting long, straight, or widely curved line, and it will go through your MDF like butter if your blade is sharp, so be steady and careful.
The rest of the sword consists of eight more individual layers. The entire hilt section (shown in the second photo above) was cut out twice in 1/4" pieces to fill it out and give body to the grip. Then the crossguard and the pommel each got two layers cut from 1/8" MDF to provide the rim. Finally, two more pieces were cut from 1/8" MDF to make a setting for a gem that would fit on that roundish, triangle portion at the center of the crossguard.
This is one of the 1/8" layers to make the rim around the crossguard. If you have a scroll saw or coping saw, drill a hole through the center (as shown on the left "arm"), disconnect your blade and pass it through the hole. Reconnect your blade and then saw out the inside shape. The same process was done for the rims on the pommel and for the settings of the gem that sit in the center of this piece.
Meanwhile, speaking of the gems, I created an Apoxie Sculpt master for the gems. Notice how I've got a piece of the pattern beneath it to make sure it's the proper size? Once this hardened, it was sanded smooth and used to make a silicone mold. The final gems were cast later on in red tinted clear polyester resin.
Once all of your layers are cut out, you can begin thinking about shaping them. The sword in the reference photos clearly has a fuller (the groove you often see in the center of sword blades) running most of its length, so that was step one. For this, I left on the paper pattern so I could use the center line I'd added during the drafting phase as a guide.
Started out on the fuller with the standard sized sanding head of my Dremel and running it along the center line of the pattern. You need to be very careful with this method to keep the sanding head at an even depth. You can fix irregularities later on, but it'll take some elbow grease, so save the effort and do it right the first time. Once you've got your channel, it's going to be pretty rough still. Take a cylindrical object (In this case it was a 1/2" piece of PVC pipe) about the same diameter as the fuller you've create, wrap a bit of sandpaper around it, and go to town smoothing it out. Start with 60 grit and work your way up.
After both your fullers are smoothed out you can work on the edge of your blade. I start out with my Dremel and then go in with sandpaper. Many people swear by their belt sander, and this is a great method. I just don't feel I have the necessary control yet for the results that I want. Another drawback with MDF is that it doesn't like holding sharp edges well. My solution here is to draw a thin line of super glue along the edge, allow it to soak in for a few minutes, and then wipe up the excess. This hardens the MDF and protects the edge from degarding. It will look stained, and it is, but this won't be a problem come painting.
Here's a test fit of the layers. You can see nothing's been shaped yet. Nothing's been glued together. The gem fitting is there, along with the master sculpt of the gem to make sure they fit properly as well.
Satisfied that all the layers line up, I took both 1/4" layers of the hilt and sketched out a design for inside the rims of the pommel and crossguard. It's difficult to tell what, if any, design is going on in the reference, so a little artistic license comes in here. The shield, however, looks like it's got a thorny vine type motif around the center track, so I tried to emulate that here. I sketched out my ideas. Place hash marks in the negative spaces to indicate which areas needed to be carved out and went to work. I tried wood burning, but it was a pain with the MDF and the fumes were downright noxious, so I switch to an engraving bit on my Dremel. Engraving this kind of detail before you place the rims on means you don't have to fight and finagle around those walls. It's much easier. These layers were glued to the main blade layer and the grip was rounded out in similar fashion with a sanding Dremel bit and then sandpaper.
After that, all the layers were lined up and glued down with wood glue. When you're clamping, be sure that the pressure of the clamp doesn't push your layers out of alignment. Work a layer at a time and once one is fully secured, move on to the next.
The single drawback, in my opinion, to building your props in slices, is that the layers create seams. You can sand these away, no doubt, but it's a lot of time, and you may lose some of the shape you're going for. Instead, you can use Bondo, or wood filler. Skin all the seams, allow the Bondo to dry, and then sand flush. You still have to sand, but you're going to retain your overall shape and Bondo is just easier to sand in the first place. Make sure to wear your respirator when sanding ANY of these materials. Your lungs don't like dust. You don't like picking out sawdust boogers either...
Next comes primer! First off, tape off areas you know you don't want paint. In this case, the area where the gems would be set, and the grip, were taped off. In both instances, pieces would be glued down, so save yourself the trouble of scraping off paint. (Note: Never glue to a painted surface. One wrong look and it'll just pop right off.) I tend to use automotive filler primer, unless there's very fine details that it might obscure. After two layers of primer, it gets wet sanded. You can -really- make your props smooth if you prime and then wet sand. Plus, thinner coats of paint are generally better.
After priming and sanding, the blade got a coat of Model Master's Metalizer. This stuff comes in both spray can, and airbrush versions, but they function the same way. Spray it on, wait an hour, and then buff the painted areas with a soft cloth. This photo doesn't do it justice, but after buffing this stuff reeeeally looks like real metal. It does have two drawbacks, however. It needs to be sealed and the sealer dulls the shine just a bit (it's still worth it), and the paint coat is very delicate. It's so delicate, Testor's doesn't recommend even using standard painter's tape over it. This stuff is really cool though, seriously.
Once the metalizer was sealed and dry, I had to mask off the blade. On the bottle of the metalizer it recommends using wet newspaper instead of painter's tape. I tried this... and failed miserably. It didn't seem to want to stick at all. I had to use a bit of painter's tape at the top to keep it in place. Thankfully it didn't pull off any of the finish. The painter's tape from the priming phase was left on and the pommel and crossguard got a coat of gold (queue "The Rains of Castamere"?). Once dry, the crossguard and the pommel were then masked off and the outer ends of the grip got a spray of satin brown.
The reference very clearly shows the grip of Caramon's sword wrapped in some form of braided wire. I've done a number of traditional Japanese wraps, but this was a new method for me, so I was excited to do it! (It's the little things). Start out by taking a string approximately the width of the wire you'll be using (after twisting) and wrapping it the entire length you intend to cover your grip. Don't pull the string too tight as your wrapping. Remember, string it stretchy, wire not so much. When you've wrapped the whole area, measure how much string you have. For this method, you'll need double that length in wire, plus some to be safe. In this case, I used 20 gauge silver coated copper wire. Aluminum would have been good too, though it's prone to snapping under tension. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the twisting process. I had four hands (thanks to my boyo, Braiden, who was an extreme help), but they were all needed to tame the wire. Fold your wire in half. Secure your two loose ends into a vise. On the folded end, take a bent nail or other hook type device and place it into the chuck of a power drill and loop your wire on it. Back up until the wire is almost taut (obviously you need a fair amount of straight space from your vise for this) and slowly start to spin your wire. As is gets tighter, slowly give it a little slack. Too much tension will snap the wire, no matter the type you use. You want a fairly tight spiral, but slow down, stop, and inspect it occasionally to determine if it's good.
Once you've got your wire twisted you can begin the wrapping process. I used furniture tacks to anchor the ends of my wire. Your starting point is the thinnest portion of the gip, workig towards the thickest. This will cause the wire to push downwards, keeping it tight. Drill a small pilot hole at your starting and ending points and place your tack in the starting hole. Take the end of your twisted wire and place it beneath the tack. I place a small amount of super glue on top of and under the wire for safe measure, and then pressed the tack down on top of the wire and maintain pressure until the glue is dry. Then carefully began wrapping the wire around the grip. Go slow. Try to keep the wraps as tight to each other as possible. Place a small amount of glue every inch and a half or so (this is why I left this portion unpainted). Once you get to the end, repeat your beginning process by placing glue and pressing a tack down to secure it. Voila! Authentic medieval grip (with some modern chemical assistance)!
Once you've got your wire twisted you can begin the wrapping process. I used furniture tacks to anchor the ends of my wire. Your starting point is the thinnest portion of the gip, workig towards the thickest. This will cause the wire to push downwards, keeping it tight. Drill a small pilot hole at your starting and ending points and place your tack in the starting hole. Take the end of your twisted wire and place it beneath the tack. I place a small amount of super glue on top of and under the wire for safe measure, and then pressed the tack down on top of the wire and maintain pressure until the glue is dry. Then carefully began wrapping the wire around the grip. Go slow. Try to keep the wraps as tight to each other as possible. Place a small amount of glue every inch and a half or so (this is why I left this portion unpainted). Once you get to the end, repeat your beginning process by placing glue and pressing a tack down to secure it. Voila! Authentic medieval grip (with some modern chemical assistance)!
Can you guess where we're at now? The rag in the last photo is a tame version of what most end up looking like in this phase of construction. Weathering is what really brings a prop to life. Weathering is what tells the human eye that something has been used, has seen life. It's all a trick of course, but c'mon, this is a sword made from compressed wood dust. Start out with blacks. Brush them into all of the crevices, then brush them over every surface, no matter how flat. Allow it to dry for half a minute, then start wiping it down. This will leave the black in the crevices, and any pit, ding, or other imperfection it encounters. Noticed I even painted the black into the braided wire. It dulled down the shine and really made it look like years of dirt was trapped where no polish rag will ever reach. Really wipe down high, flat areas to bring out the highlights again. Weathering isn't just about making it look dirty, it's also about adding depth and contrast. In this case, because it's gold, I went back in with some browns to soften up the weathering a bit. This sword is old, but well taken care of. It needs to look the part. A thin, thin line of white was painted (with fingertip) along the edge of the blade to give it a more sharpened appearance.
Last step was to set the gems. Both were polyester resin with a transparent red dye. They fit the bill perfect.
That's it for this one. Thanks for reading! Still have a few more from Dragonlance in the queue (Staff of Magius, Rabbitslayer, and I might do Caramon's armor if I get a chance). Leave a comment and tell me which you'd like to see first!