Odst Knife Wip

[Devious]

Well ever since I saw the new weapon topic I was thinking I gotta make a ODST knife. Now since I have no metalworking experience I decided to make one out of wood. I had made many wooden knives and swords before but nothing like this.

It took me about half an hour to get the various drawn and then cut out of the wood. I used a good old coping saw for the rough cutting and a sanding pad on a power drill to smooth out and shape the knife.

Here's what I have so far:

Constructive criticism is welcome!

 

[Stygmatah]

Mate, no criticism here constructive or otherwise just keep doing what you're doing, that thing looks sweet already.

I'm anxiously waiting to see how it turns out.

 

[Unique Name]

To be honest, it looks to me like you didn't have any reference pictures handy while you were shaping the knife. The blade's way too thin, the guard doesn't stick out far enough, it doesn't have the trademark protrusion on the front of the blade, etc.

The way I did it was to make and print a template on cardboard, trace onto the wood, and then begin shaping. It worked like a charm. I still want to revisit that project and get it made in metal. Actually, you know what, I'd actually be willing to send you one of the wooden knives I have sitting around if you'd like. I don't need them.

 

[S1l3nt V1p3r]

Got this pictures straight from the Halo Wikia, and it should work as a good blueprint for your knife.
Just print it out, cut it out, transfer cutting lines, cut out knife out of wood. Thank me later.

Also, use paint to increase the size of the knife. I'm sure you know how to do so?

 

[Devious]

I did use that photo in the beginning but due to the lack of printer ink I was unable to have it handy.
I will be add in material for the grip, pommel, and guard. As for what to use for the grip I would like some ideas. Is there some type of cheap black foam or rubber out there?

 

[BFDesigns]

I did use that photo in the beginning but due to the lack of printer ink I was unable to have it handy.
I will be add in material for the grip, pommel, and guard. As for what to use for the grip I would like some ideas. Is there some type of cheap black foam or rubber out there?

The easiest and probably cheapest way to do it would be to stretch a rubber mountain bike handle grip over where you want it to fit. should conform beautifully to the handle and it'll look really good if you recess the area by the thickness. A banded line version or a hexagonal cell version would probably look the best.

The other way to do it so that it looks great out of metal is to go to Home Depot or True Value and pay $5 for a big 12" file. You can then anneal the file by heating it red hot (a BBQ grill works well for this, just make sure you have the heat even cuz warpage is a pain in the ass to fix!) and burying it in sand or ashes untill it's cool; usually overnight. Then you can use a bench grinder or an angle grinder to shape it to the pattern that you want. Then just build the handle like normal and use Duplicolor's Chrome Paint (Cheap at Autozone) to make the wooden guard and pommel look like metal, and shape a separate wooden piece that is slightly smaller in cross section than the outer border of the guard/pommel - recessing it. Then you can stretch a bike handle over it, slide everything together, and glue it with metal epoxy. Since it's a show knife, you don't even have to harden & temper it, just sharpen and oil it. You should get something that looks really good and accurate over the space of about 2 days.

If a file isn't wide enough, then trace a pattern onto a 2" piece of welding stock and grind accordingly. It will be a softer blade (no annealing required) but as long as you don't get it stuck in between something you should be fine. The alternative would be to planish to harden and then sand and grind the marks out, but you'll need more specialized tools for that.

 

[Devious]

Some very interesting ideas. I will give them a try sooner or later thanks.

As for the wooden knife I just got some wood based clay so that I can add in detail and bulk it up a bit. Pics to follow.