that new guy from NM

[Shadow Guard]

Hello My name is Jarred and im new to the saber building scene!
Ive bought some sabers in the past but now I need to make a Shadow Guards Staff and at a lose at to were to start

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p2/dark_monkey_2006/starwarstv37darthtemocph9.jpg

the staff needs to be 5 feet long and i would like to add a 36-40 in blade to it

[DarkarNights]

Start by reading all the forum stickies that have the tutorials for beginners. Your project is pretty ambitious for your first, but it's basically just a normal lightsaber with a 5 foot hilt. Learn how to build a normal lightsaber then add five foot worth of hilt pieces to it.

[mrknify]

no. look up the different yari, or nagimaki the blade must be balanced with the hilt. or it just feels wrong. (there after all are polycarbonate.)

[Shadow Guard]

Im doing this for 501st approval so its got to be perfect

[mrknify]

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4pVt74sxG-NdRFDwpNpUIoa1dRjdHrcjyYNEAXD-yQaZ1YO0C

lets assume average hieght is 5' 8"7290
polearm in photo is about 5'
your going to want the blade to be about 2 3/4'

this is if the handle is 5' to match the photo.

now, the handle is what your building the blade is tertiary as its just cut and glue.

use 1.25 sing tube, and an adapter to mhs for your upper portion, for the haft, use wood, cherry wood would be nice and strong enough for actual sparring. just re-inforce the connection with a pin at least 4'' in length, followed by an outside tang the same 4"7295

[Silver Serpent]

Well, I don't think he's intending to build an actual weapon. Remember, it's just a prop. It needs to match dimensions of his picture, and not necessarily be equivalent to a real-world weapon.

I have seen some staves like this done with a bunch of MHS pieces threaded together. Personally, I'd try to use a single piece for the main section of the hilt (though that'll make transportation harder). Check your local hardware store for conduit or pipe. You'll want something with the proper diameter that doesn't flex too much with the length you'll be using.

[DarkarNights]

I don't know what picture Knify is looking at, because the blade in that picture is at least 36 inches long. You can tell just by looking at it that if he was holding it in his hand with a normal hilt that it's equivalent to a normal lightsaber. And to just be sure I'm not talking out my rear end, I got out the ruler and measured the picture. The blade is just slightly less than 2/3rds the length of the hilt. Now if you look at the picture, he is actually holding the staff at an angle to the floor, making the blade appear slightly shorter. If you imagine the staff being moved perpendicular to the floor to get the true length, then you can extrapolate the length is likely about 2/3rds the hilt, because that angle was causing the "slightly less" measurement. Now if the hilt is known to be 5 foot, 5 divided by 3 is 1.666. That doubled is 3.333. So 3.3 foot is the estimated calculation. Shadow Guard's 36 to 40 inches was right on the money.

[Silver Serpent]

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?13144-Dominos-Morbius-The-Plague-Lord-fully-MHS-Saber-Spear
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?4152-Forced-Unleashed-Saber-Pike
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?14119-Jin-Ke-s-quot-Titan-quot

A quick search for "pike" turned up quite a few hits on the forums. If you want some examples, those are some good starting points. Some of them are rather old posts, so you may not be able to contact all the builders for advice.

[Shadow Guard]

I was thinking of make it to where it would break down into 3 pieces for easy transport

[DarkarNights]

How accurate does the hilt design have to be for 501st? Could you get away with TCSS ribbed extensions for the three places on the staff that are ribbed? The blade holder will be the hardest part to mimic as there is nothing similar in the shop.

[Shadow Guard]

It will have to be just like the reference from the game

[Shadow Guard]

I also want to be able to duel with it

[DarkarNights]

As long as you are using a single LED with polycarbonate blade design it will be duelable.

[Shadow Guard]

having trouble finding the detail parts

[Silver Serpent]

If you can't find the parts you need, http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/MHS-Sleeve-material-P468.aspx and some metalworking skills are probably what you will have to use.

[Machinimax]

How accurate does the hilt design have to be for 501st? Could you get away with TCSS ribbed extensions for the three places on the staff that are ribbed? The blade holder will be the hardest part to mimic as there is nothing similar in the shop.

Blade holder 24 is kind of similar. Maybe that would work?

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Assets/ProductImages/holder24a.jpg

[Shadow Guard]

i think that may work!!!