Claymore Armor!

The first part of my armor made out of Wonderflex. The largest of the shoulder armor.

Claymore Sword Tutorial Part 3

Continuing with the initial preparations for the Claymore sword, the next part discusses the dowel, which will serve as the hilt, and the issue of clamping and gluing.

When the cross and dado cuts were completed, I moved to solving the problem of the dowel.


This was a problem because the dado blade only allowed up to a 13/16" cut. In order to compensate for this difference in size (13/16" vs. 7/8"), I used my handy table saw to make very thin cuts in the dowel.

I can't exactly say what the measurements of the cuts were, maybe a few 32nds of an inch. I did this just to make sure the dowel would fit without having to make any more cuts in the main pieces of wood.


Once all of the preliminary cuts were made, I used multiple sandpaper grits to smooth the edges of the dado cuts and the cuts made on the dowel. I also used a chisel to chip away some extra wood that was remaining on the dowel.


Here you can see the small cuts allowed the dowel to rest snugly into it's housing in the piece of pine:


Before clamping and gluing, this is what the sword looks like when it is put together:


In order to create a snug housing for the sword's hilt and to make sure the sword will be stable, you must glue the pieces together and clamp them tightly. The best way to do this is with c-clamps, Gorilla Glue, and some scrap wood.


Gorilla Glue is a superior glue that foams up once it's been applied to the surfaces it is bonding. In case you want to use a steel rod instead of a wooden dowel, Gorilla Glue will still work for you. You will want to apply the glue to only one piece of wood and to the dowel. Make sure to wide down the piece of wood that you apply the glue to with a damp towel. I suggest creating a squiggly pattern which will ensure maximum coverage.

Once you have applied the glue, you should let it sit for a few minutes to allow it to start foaming. The foam will expand to about 4 times it's initial size. After about five minutes, begin to sandwich the pieces together. You will want to make sure you clamp in strategic places such as on the ends and close to the middle.

I used 12 clamps total in order to ensure the best coverage I could get. As you can see, the glue will foam quite a bit and may leak out of the sides. You can sand this off later, or wait to see if the cuts you make will get rid of the excess.

Claymore Sword Tutorial Part 2

This is the second installment of my Phantom Miria Claymore sword tutorial. To begin, I'd like to discuss the first steps you'll need to take in order to begin making your sword.

First of all, you need the wood itself. Like I discussed in the first part of the tutorial, I chose to use clear pine. After you have gathered your wood, be sure to remove any harmful elements, such as staples, tags, etc.


Next, you need to gather the tools you'll need to begin measuring and cutting your wood. I'd highly suggest using a large ruler or a tape measure to accurately mark the places where you will be making cuts. Also, make sure to be prepared with goggles to protect your eyes and ear plugs to protect your ears.

Once you have your tape measure handy, measure the length of the wood (8') and find the center point (4'). My wood was a bit longer than 8', so I found the center and marked it based on the extra length.

Once the wood is measured, you can get ready to make your cuts! In this part of the tutorial, I will only discuss the cross cuts, the dado cuts, and the small cuts on the dowel. The more complex angle and bevel cuts will be discussed in a later part of the tutorial. In order to cut the large piece of wood in half, the cross cut, I opted to use a radial arm saw.


The radial arm saw was optimal because you can easily reinforce the wood against the jam I have set up. It is also convenient because you don't have to push the wood through the saw to complete the cut, you pull the blade through. You could easily use a table saw, etc. if you don't have a radial arm saw, but I would not suggest using any type of hand held saw for these cuts. The cuts were clean and although the sword bade will be shorter than 48" (blade length will be around 43"), this was the easiest measurement to go by in order to give some leeway in later cuts.


The next cuts I made were the dado cuts. These cuts are the grooves made in each side of the wood where the handle will sit. As the name suggests, the cut was made with a dado blade:

A Dado blade is a blade consisting of a circular blade mounted on an adjustable, multi-piece hub that varies the angle of the blade to the arbor shaft. Essentially, it wobbles around to create dado or groove cuts. I mounted this blade on my radial arm saw and used it to create the grooves that will house the dowel which will act as the sword hilt. After a lot of careful measuring and realizing that my wood was not actually 8" wide, I established the measurements for the grooves on some scrap and then prepared to make the cuts.


Once I had realized that the wood I bought measured something like 7.25", I decided that I would make the sword width 7" instead of 8". This gave me the ability to have some flaws in the measurements of the middle of the wood because I'll have to trim it down anyway. This is what the cuts look like:

Claymore Sword Tutorial Part 1

The construction of my Claymore for my Phantom Miria cosplay is imminent. With this said, I've only worked with wood a few times in my life and I've never made a prop weapon. I've found it quite difficult to find good sword tutorials and even more specifically, any Claymore sword tutorials. Many people, when they think of a claymore envision a long, narrow sword with a v-shaped hand guard. This is not what the swords look like in the Claymore anime, instead this sword's blade is wide at the bottom and tapers to a sharp point at the tip. Along with a different blade shape, it also has a long, narrow hilt and a very intricate hand guard that kind of looks like the Batman symbol. While this might end up being trial and error, I'm going to post my progress here in case anyone would care to use the steps I take to make their own Claymore.

With this said, before I even thought about materials, I decided to make a mock up using cardboard. This serves as a template of sorts, although I won't actually trace the pieces onto the materials I'll use to construct the actual sword. The most important part of the template is the measurements, this is why I made it. It was hard for me to find screenshots or panels where any of the Claymores were actually holding their swords facing down with the tip of the blade on the ground. This made it difficult for me to draw out measurements, but I eventually estimated and drew them out in Illustrator on a picture of a Claire figurine.

Keep in mind that mymeasurements were made to compliment and be proportional to my height of 5'6". When comparing the measurements on the figurine to my own body, here are the measurements I established:

- Blade: 43" long
- Hilt: 19" long
- Hand guard: 3" long by 12" wide
- Other Blade dimensions: 8" wide at bottom, 4" wide at top, 4" long for very top of the blade which will be sculpted into the tip

The blade widths could be used as a standard considering the fact that the lengths should only vary slightly with differing heights (maybe a few inches on the blade and hilt).

Once I made the measurements, I began to think about materials I could use. There are pros and cons to many different materials, but a Claymore is a pretty heavy duty sword, so I figured the stronger the material, the stronger the sword. With this said, I initially though of just using some fiberglass strips and resin to cover my cardboard template. The fiberglass would be able to make the cardboard really sturdy, but it would also tend to be pretty heavy. I also thought of using craft foam, but I realized that it would get gouged and broken pretty easily if I wasn't SUPER careful with it at all times. I'm not a super careful person and neither are people at cons, so that was scratched almost immediately. My best bet, I decided, was to use some sort of semi-light weight wood that would be strong, but also not weigh a ton.

I went to the Lowe's in my neighborhood and perused the lumber yard in search of the prefect wood. Like I said, I needed something that was strong, but not too heavy. I choose pine because it is the lightest, highest quality wood. My recommendation would be the clear or highest quality pine you can find. Because the sword measures at it's largest 43"x8", I bought one piece of 1"x8'x8". I figured that I could just cut the wood in half and sandwich the pieces together in order to avoid using multiple pieces of wood. For the hilt, I was torn because I wanted to use a steel rod, but all Lowe's had was rebar which was definitely not wide enough or the type of texture I was looking for. Instead, I settled for a 7/8"x48" pine dowel. Looks like I'll be developing some pretty strong arms this summer!

So far, most of this information is theoretical, but once I begin the practice of it, I will be able to give more concise and direct information. I'll also be posting a tutorial for the Claymore armor I'm going to be making (I've never made armor before either, but it looks like fun!).

Rockin' Review

Here are some of the works that were either too big or too 3-D to fit into my physical cardboard portfolio when the AFO portfolio came around. I'd like to post some of my other projects when I get the chance. I think I had a lot of great work.


My first wood working experience. I had to create a jig and use a belt sander to make the edges of each hexagon perfect. There are five and they all interlock.

This was an installation based on the act of typing words on a keyboard. I actually wrote the email and sent it to my friend.

This is a painting I created for my painting project based on the concept of nostalgia.

An installation created in a group based on the idea of the natural verses the synthetic. It's essentially a giant plastic wrap teepee.

An independent project. 12 unique squares with a basis in sign language and metaphor.

This was the worst project I did in AFO. My teacher hated it and she chewed me out for being an A student doing C work. I liked it.

How this related to Time Studio, I will never know, but it is the stool backpack that my project partner and I created. It actually works!

This was my first handmade book and it might still be my favorite. The concept was based on a car crash, well, a car hitting a deer.

A light I created by encasing a touch light inside a cloth covered wire base, inside a plastic wrap covered wire base. Based off of the idea of new life.

Updates!

I think I am going to be doing some major updates soon. I'd like to post a lot of my work that has been backlogged and I've been thinking about starting a new 30 Days of Drawing project. This one will be more loose though, not like the one I had to do for Drawing Studio. It might take a while to upload all of the work I'd like to have posted, but I think it will be worth it. I'm kind of excited about posting some of my AFO stuff and things I did this past year! Keep your eyes open for new stuff soon!

Oh The Places You'll Go!

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, has probably been at least a small part of each of our childhoods. For me, he was a major part. Ever since I was a little kid I have been fascinated and entertained by the genius of Dr. Seuss stories and illustrations. I can't exactly say which of his stories is my favorite, but I do have a particular fondness for a hardcover collection that I had growing up. Some of the stories included in this collection were: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, The Lorax, And To Think That I Saw It On Mullberry Street, Yertle the Turtle, and Horton Hears A Who! One of these that I liked in particular was The Lorax, so much in fact that I have one part of my room painted with a garden full of truffula trees.



















As true as it was in 1971, the year of publication, The Lorax tells the story of environmental destruction in favor of industry. This, as throughout a large part of our history, is extremely relevant in the current age of technology versus conservation. By no means would I consider myself to be an passionate activist spouting rhetoric about how we as a planet need to cut down on pollution and consumption, but I do believe these things. As the Lorax stated, with the destruction of one part of an eco-system, the rest also begins to disintegrate. Can't this be said for our society as well? All I can say is that I think The Lorax is much more than a children's book, it is a warning for what will happen if humanity continues it's slow downward spiral. We need to start doing more than just listening to the stories of our forefathers, the Once-lers, and planting truffula trees from the few precious seeds they have collected. Shouldn't we do something to save ourselves and our planet while we still can?