The Master Sword

My friend wanted to exploit some Legend of Zelda nostalgia in an attempt to make another viral video (since Youtube partnership seemingly makes everybody into the Ed, Edd, and Eddys of videography). To be more convincing than a cardboard cutout of a dragon scimitar, he needed somebody who could actually make a sword, or at least a sword-shaped piece of metal, which is where I came in. As I searched my scrap collection for a good piece of steel, I figured I wanted to get rid of this motor mount, which was connected to a motor I bought at a garage sale, which I will be upgrading my machine with in a later project. First, we had to separate the flat piece from the welded on angle pieces, which we did with a hacksaw. I also found out it's much faster to hacksaw stuff when you have multiple people to do it when one gets tired!

Sandals in a machine shop? Are you kidding me?!

After all that hard work and flipping off the camera, we were too lazy to try cutting out the part for the handle, so I just used the technique I remembered using in the bicycle compressor project and drilled a bunch of holes to start the outline. Afterwards, I cut it through with relative ease, and then filed off the sharpness.

They really couldn't get their head straight as to how the handle would look, and I was too lazy to try my terrible woodworking skills. I also figured that if Christ were around in the 21st century, he would be a machinist instead of a carpenter, (not that this blog has any religious affiliations!). I decided to just clad the handle with some aluminum sheet leftover from the bicycle trailer project and also use it to make the hilt, and call it a day. Both of which were pop riveted on.

Even with my incredible de-burring skills, it still didn't prevent me from getting stabbed in recoil when attempting to assassinate a terrible green beverage. Sheet metal is deadly! I attempted to sharpen the blade with my bench grinder, but then decided I didn't want to accidentally get the other actors hurt. And then it turned out they didn't show up and I was going to be the star of the video anyhow! Good call! I fight for the grapefruits! This thing cuts fruit pretty good in spite of not being sharp to the touch, probably since it's so heavy that the fruit wouldn't be able to stop it anyways.

Then my friend spent the rest of the budget on the protective tape for the handle and some rhinestones (which were the most expensive materials!). For my valiant smithing efforts, I was given a compensation of $15!
This project and the light sabres have got me really inspired, maybe I should start carrying around a sword with me at all times like George Washington!
Here it is before sanding, and probably not enough tape:

Then after lots of filing and sandpapering with baking soda and vinegar apparently, it got clean. My electric sander didn't do it justice since the metal was so pitted that it was very hard to get the rust out.

He really knows how to make machining look sexy!