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alphamale
07-31-2006, 09:20 PM
Hi, I'm trying to make a lightsaber that is faithful to the movies. In that regard, I want the blade length from emitter to tip to be "standard length". Is there even such thing? I know yoda's blade is smaller and maces blade longer, but what about the average? I've heard that the prequel blades are longer than the original trilogy. I'm looking at settling on 32 inches, what do you guys think?

Lord Maul
07-31-2006, 09:23 PM
i don't know. you should do some digging on google for the specs for the original filming props, then you could find out the blade lenght. all of the MRs are about the same length

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987654321a
07-31-2006, 09:47 PM
i think 40" looks more like the movies or maybe 38"

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LAN-ED-TUL
07-31-2006, 10:42 PM
most everyone goes with 36 for lux's with 2 inches more for the blade holder. so 38 total. my great saber has a 48 inch blade. its big.

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Lord Maul
07-31-2006, 11:44 PM
you must be tall to weild that saber, my young apprentice. that thing must be HUGE lan[:0]

At last we will reveal ourselves to the jedi, at last we will have revenge.

Jonitus
08-01-2006, 05:01 AM
For deuling and saber spins, I always settled for a length equal to this:

Standing upright with your dominant hand at your side, have someone measure the distance from your finger tip to the top of your ear. Take that measurement and subtract the length of your hilt. You now have the length of your blade.

It works for me, and that's all I'm sayin'

james3
08-01-2006, 05:32 AM
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jonitus

For deuling and saber spins, I always settled for a length equal to this:

Standing upright with your dominant hand at your side, have someone measure the distance from your finger tip to the top of your ear. Take that measurement and subtract the length of your hilt. You now have the length of your blade.

It works for me, and that's all I'm sayin'
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">


That is an awesome way to do it Jonitus. I am similar in that I make my blades so that when mounted in the hilt they are as tall as the persons chest.

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xwingband
08-01-2006, 05:56 AM
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jonitus

For deuling and saber spins, I always settled for a length equal to this:

Standing upright with your dominant hand at your side, have someone measure the distance from your finger tip to the top of your ear. Take that measurement and subtract the length of your hilt. You now have the length of your blade.

It works for me, and that's all I'm sayin'
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Whoa... I checked and that works with my blades.

It needs to be long enough, yet not too long that you can't spin it without hitting the ceiling or floor.

Alphamale, if you want movie accurate 32" will be far from it. Movie accurate is about 40" (one meter). I think it's much better to make the blade work for you, Example 36" works well for me.

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alphamale
08-01-2006, 07:19 AM
Thanx guys,

Jonitus: I did what you said and the blade was only 30 inches. I tried measuring the blade in the KOTOR videogames and they seemed about 32 or so assuming an 11 inch hilt.

xwingband: 40 inches, that long huh? Yeah, I've seen pictures and I tried to measure the best I can of Mace and it looks like your about right, but 36 inches seems more like Obi wan and anakin.

Overall, I don't know if there is really isn't any "official star wars canon Nick Gillard and George lucas approved standard blade length", and that it is a personal preference of the individual jedi.

I'll make two sabers, one will be a movie length saber (40') and the other will be a practical dueling saber that i'll actually use which will be much shorter (30') since I don't want to ruin my ceiling LOL.

alphamale
08-01-2006, 08:02 AM
Or I can always just have 2 blades of different lengths handy.

Do-Clo
08-01-2006, 08:09 AM
I prefer the 40 inch blade for myself but I am taller than average so it works well for me.

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Madcow
08-01-2006, 10:18 AM
I'm 6'4" tall, and I like 34" total length blades.
I might do one that is 36", but no more.

MC

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Chowser
08-01-2006, 10:22 AM
if you're not looking for official, you should size the blade to fit you, each person is different, it's the same as ordering a katana.

stand straight, hold the hilt in your hand the way you would hold it in battle. relax, let your hand fall to your side. the sword should be just above the ground.

i'm 5'11, my katana has an 11" hilt and a 27.5" blade. it fits me fine, but is too long for my son (5'6") and too short for my friend (6'6"). It fits me.

I am in the process of converted two anakins over, with with a 27.5" blade (from the emitter) and another one with a 13" blade. if I can only shorten the anakin hilt...

then again, lightsabers weren't meant for kendo/kenjitsu

SaberSentinel
08-01-2006, 12:49 PM
If your looking for "movie accurate" then I would suggest first finding some good quality screen captures. Measure the hilt in pixels then the blade in pixels, find out how long the hilt is in real life, and use a ratio to convert pixels to inches.
That said, the movies are terribly inconsistant. look at the length of Mace's blade when he ignites his saber to fight the Emperor, then look at how long it is when Anakin walks in. I could be wrong but that looks like a lot of difference to me.
And I agree with Chowser, the blade length should be proportional to the user. I think the Jedi probably would make blade length a matter of personal taste. Look at Yoda, could you imagine him swinging a three-foot blade around?


Speak softly and carry a big lightsaber.
Old Jedi never die; they just fade away.

987654321a
08-01-2006, 01:37 PM
jonitus any new updates for the replica graflex?

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LAN-ED-TUL
08-01-2006, 10:44 PM
the katana thing is cool idea. i have a real one, and when holding it with my hand against the tsuba, its a half inch off the floor.

but its a lil over 29 inch blade, i think, cant remember for sure.

but i use the most accepted length of 36 for the saber blades.

with the exception of the great saber. its 48 long remember, my hilt with claw emitter on is almost 6 d cells long too. this saber is designed to be along the lines of the great saber in lucas's star wars lore, never seen, but existed. see, in lore, the hilt was around that long, but i cant get a blade no 10 foot long, as the descriptions say it was. i couldnt lift the darn thing. lol

but as far as it being a lightsaber, the blade would of been weightless, just the hilt weight. physics, go figure! lol

yeah, a guy couldnt go slingin this puppy around real easy, it'll be more like the knights slingin around the great sabers they had, a 2 handed sword.



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The Brotherhood Of The Sith

You dont know the POWER, of the dark side...

What
08-02-2006, 06:23 PM
<u>THIS CAME FROM WIKIPEDIA!!!!!!!</u>

The standard blade for a human or human-sized wielder appears to be one meter (3 ft) long or slightly longer, with a diameter of approximately 20-25 millimeters (3/4 in). However, these numbers may vary depending on the wielder's own size and preferences.



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xwingband
08-02-2006, 07:42 PM
one meter = 3.3 feet = 40" [:p]

You were probably thinking 3 feet = 1 yard

It's also interesting to note that with the ID of PolyC that LED blades are around 3/4"[:)] I'd never do a 40" LED blade with a TCSS diffuser. Maybe Corbin's but the center would be so prone to being dim.

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O-B 1
08-12-2006, 10:05 AM
Keep in mind that the blades they were using weren't poly-c. They were carbon fiber blades that were 1/2 OD. The blades were 40" because they were so light. 1" Poly-c isn't going to weight less than half a pound.

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xwingband
08-12-2006, 12:43 PM
Actually they were 40" to mark the rotoscoping, but even that went all to hell because anything that could stand the hits had to be bendable. They used carbon fiber because it was light and strong. They could have made them larger in diameter but there was a huge problem with getting them to move faster for the moves.

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Nightwing
08-12-2006, 10:32 PM
The problem with blade width is that it varies. In the Thrawn Trilogy novels, the actual lightsaber blade is practically microscopic, but has a ton of glow, making it seem a lot thicker. I think the author (Timothy Zahn) got that idea after watching ROTJ and seeing this:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f252/NightWing726/PDVD_000.jpg
Here, the blades appear to be much thinner, which makes the odd "overlapping" effect.

Of course, in Episode I, we see the effects of Qui-Gon's saber on the blast door, and the trail left by the blade seems to be the exact same width as the blade's appearance.


Since an LED blade only really flares at the base, it's better to have a wider blade, for the sake of appearance. 1 inch seems either perfect or a little too thin. Any thinner and it would be overkill.

Mor-El Kesav
04-02-2007, 09:31 AM
I use a 40 inch blade and I'm 6'1" tall. My daughter, who is only 5'5" tall prefers to use a 38" blade. She tried shorter blades but they didn't balance out right for her. So use what feels right to you when you are dueling is my rule of thumb. The exception to that is dual sided sabers, the length of the hilt necessitates shorter blades. My son uses 34 inch blades for his dual sided saber.

Barmic Rin
04-02-2007, 09:50 AM
Well, I feel rather insignifigant now with my puny height & blade length....

I'm 5'9" & use a 32" blade, but then my bro is 5'8" and prefers 38". I also prefer longer hilts (my MHS is 12.5") but Bro prefers around 9".

I guess it's all down to how you use it, not the size.....
A two foot tall rubber alien taught me that. Oh, I miss you ET..... :P



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Black Gas
07-02-2007, 08:00 AM
Traditionally, there's different measurements depending on sword type and battle style.
Star wars seems to borrow from several sources for its choreography..

Find the style closest to yours (or one you like:)

Long Sword (hand and a half/ two handed):
King phillip's measuring method -- measure from the pommel at the tip of one shoulder, across your chest, to the tip of the outstretched opposite hand.

You can also do blade length, from the navel to the floor.

Longsword fighting:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Y3DhjFUOG6Y

Wushu (kung fu) swords (one handed):

Official measurements
http://www.shopwushu.com/pages.php?pageid=13

Example with light saber rotoscoping.

http://www.youtube.com/v/bxcI7Nf_DsY

Katana:
under 5'3" ( 160cm ) 27 1/5
~ 5'5" ( 165cm ) 28
~ 5'7" ( 170cm ) 28 2/3
~ 5'9" ( 175cm ) 29 1/4
~ 5'11" ( 180cm ) 29 3/4
~ 6'1" ( 185cm ) 30 1/2
~ 6'3" ( 190cm ) 31
over 6' 3" 31 2/3



i'm 5'9, so there's a range depending on style from 29-36 inches i could choose from, depending on what suits me better.

Novastar
07-02-2007, 10:49 AM
I'm not sure about any true and according-to-Hoyle official blade length, but the best blade length seems to be the one that is balanced best for YOU.

In most cases, however--since the entire saber is just alone and really has little to do with a person... you want to balance the SABER where the forward hand is going to go (or close to it).

Whether you're 6ft tall or 4ft tall, you will likely want a balanced saber. How you come to that balance is entirely up to the saber designer. You can do the following to alter the balance (obviously):

* Increase/decrease blade length
* Increase/decrease blade diameter
* Increase/decrease hilt length
* Add weight to hilt

The easiest way to affect a saber without re-design is clearly to cut poly-tube or put in a poly-tube of more length.

My guess from this is that the actors in the movies probably all had some slight variances to suit their needs and comfortability. Or, Lucas said screw that, you'll get 40" and like it, hahahah. I don't know.

supertrogdor
07-02-2007, 12:22 PM
I must agree with the last bit there Nova, Lucas said screw it you get a X inch blade and they were left to balance the carbon fiber rod with weight in the hilt... watching the spins and such makes one quite certain that the sabers were very well balanced.

Hasid Lafre
07-02-2007, 02:04 PM
My new blade that I made is 37" minus the tip and that is perfect for me so Iam gonna have to remember 37" blade minus the tip for future sabers.