# been a while--- and swords



## frankp (Sep 17, 2019)

Good day to all my woodbarter compatriots! It's been forever since I had anything to post on here related to woodworking and life has been so busy I have been remiss in posting in general. I have returned from my hiatus (at least briefly) to post a few new little projects, though.

Being the D&D playing geek I am (for almost 40 years now) I am a fan of renaissance fairs etc. By virtue of growing up in a house with me, my kids are too. My two youngest have been asking for a couple years for swords and shields and it just bothers me to pay someone else $40-$150 for "toy" swords. This year we started making our own. (Of course with the woods my kids chose I'm sure they're far more expensive than if I had just bought them at the fair.)

These are all just rough cut for now. The plan is to finish shaping the blades and then put some sealant on them, probably the same mix of 50/50 tung oil and mineral spirits then mixed 50/50 with spar varnish that makes a pretty good homemade "trueoil" finish.

My son chose purpleheart for his odd-shaped thing. He designed the shape of the sword himself. For a sense of scale, the blade is about 24 inches long and overall length is a little over 33.






My daughter went for the "elven sword" shape in teak (I think). I've had this wood so long I'm not sure that's what it is. Overall length about 27 inches





The other three "blades" are a matched set in the "elven sword" shape. I cut the shapes from an old kayak paddle I never finished. Woods for the long blades are walnut and maple from the center of the paddle shaft. For the "knife" it's maple, purpleheart, and mahogany and came from one of the paddle blades. I may also make a second knife but haven't decided for certain yet. Long swords are overall length about 39 inches. For the rough dimensions I used specs from this page: https://kingfisherwoodworks.com/pages/bokken-specifications






The last picture is a hand axe my son started from a left-over cut-off of spectraply from gunstock I made a couple years ago. Link to that thread: https://woodbarter.com/threads/spectraply-stock-build.23957/

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 11


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## Echoashtoreth (Sep 17, 2019)

If you have any mages in the fam, i could come up w some cypress rootstock (courtesy of Harvey) - runs cylindrical, light and can usually find something straight in a staff length... did some DnD meself back in the day....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## frankp (Sep 17, 2019)

Thanks for the offer @Echoashtoreth. We have some good stuff in the woods right by our house and I even have some walking sticks that would be good staffs for the kids, if they wanted. So far they're more inclined toward the swords... and dragons. My daughter wants to make a dragon costume for Halloween.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Great Post 1


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## DKMD (Sep 21, 2019)

Nice to see you, Frank! Looks like a cool project with the kids!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Mike1950 (Sep 21, 2019)

Made swords for grandkids to their specs yrs ago. we had fun. Oldest started D&D club at High school.

Reactions: Like 2


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## frankp (Sep 27, 2019)

No further progress on these, unfortunately. Needed to get some new supplies but we now have them and have some time this weekend so hopefully we'll progress a little more.


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## frankp (Oct 23, 2019)

Pics coming soon...


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## frankp (Nov 19, 2019)

As usual, things are conspiring to keep me from getting projects completed. Got the first coat of finish on the swords and axe. Just a picture of the axe, though... I figure it will take 3 or 4 more coats to have the finish I want.


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