theatrical sword

[dan416]

Hello, anybody have advice on making stage swords capable of some banging and clanging? I thought 1075/1080 hardened and tempered peacock blue.
1/8"x1-1/2" tapered to 1" round tip, 30" blade.

 

[darth kcorbe]

i'd start with welding stock from Lowes. years ago i made a sword on a bench grinder out of the stuff. won't hold an edge as-is, but it'll make a nice sound, and you can put it back into shape fairly easily if/when it gets warped. i think i paid about eight dollars for the piece i used.
if these are just for a play, why not use aluminum? you can always pipe in clanging sounds through the speakers.

 

[Mahoney]

There was another recent thread in the knife maker's forum about stage swords. The short answer is that a stage sword has to be just as well made as a "real" sword Anything else is dangerous.

Unless you really want to make a blade as a project for your own use, you can't really compete on price against buying a blade. There are decent replacement "practical" broadsword blades available from fencing supply houses and online vendors like Kult of Athena for less than $150 that are specifically made for stage combat, and that's what a lot of stage armorers use