Thoughts on blade sizes

[Noyl Wendor]

Howdy all,
Lately I've been playing around with the 7/8 blades from TCSS. Any one else?
At first I was not really convinced. I did a lot with 3/4 blades and was mostly disappointed every time. So I went with 1" transwhite, which I really like and am still a big fan of. So I purchased my first stock of 7/8 not long ago and built a couple of them in different lengths.
First I did my standard 34"(32 installed) and I was very happy with the effect. So I went up to 36" (34" installed) and found (MO) that the 7/8 blades with diffuser in them really push the lite the full length of the blade.
Here's some of what I was talking about. Both blades have exactly the same amount of diffuser in them. I measured each piece of diffuser the same for both blades.
First up the 7/8 transwhite blade, cut to 34" (32 installed) with a Green Rebel LED.
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/th_78blade2.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/?action=view&current=78blade2.jpg)
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/th_78blade.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/?action=view&current=78blade.jpg)
Next the 1" transwhite blade, cut to 34" (32 installed) using the same hilt and LED.
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/th_1blade2.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/?action=view&current=1blade2.jpg)
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/th_1blade.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/noylwendor/waypointsabers/?action=view&current=1blade.jpg)
To me at first they appeared the same. But on further inspection of the 1" blade I noticed a bit of a dimming effect near the middle. Where on the 7/8 I found that it was solid all the way across. Of course this could be just my eyes. Also I'm still doing a bit more testing :)
But I thought it would be interesting to see if anyone had any thoughts on this.

[IndustrialAction]

Personally, I'm not a fan of transwhite.

[shmoetech]

I agree with IndustrialAction, not a fan of transwhite.

[Jedi Mynock]

im a fan of transwhite, and i've been curious about the 7/8" blades. so, THANKS!

i have a question though. how do you fit the 7/8" into a 1" BH? i've seen 3/4" blade adapters in the store, but not 7/8"? did i miss something? and how did you affix the adapter? "permanently" to the blade? or longer blade retention screw with a hole drilled through the adapter?
just curious as i'm not able to see any vids or pics (darned gov't network).

thanks again!

[psab keel]

I have yet to really try the transwhite blades as of yet, so I can't comment on them. But I am seriously considering making 7/8 inch blades the standard size for my sabers. I can always add a piece of 1 inch tubing to make an adapter for hilts that require it. The more I look at the 7/8 they seem to really fit the bill. 3/4 are too narrow and not as durable (at least in thin wall) and the more I look at 1 inch blades they seem to be too bulky. Not to mention that the 1 inch size bulks out the ring attachment on the bunny ears on a Graflex, making it look funny. A 7/8 blade should eliminate that. Plus, because my thin necked sabers will have a 7/8 blade, by making it my standard size for all of my sabers it will make my collection all uniform (as well as equal when dueling with them.)

[Jay-gon Jinn]

For the record, I am a big fan of the transwhite blade stock, and actually have the pieces here to make a 7/8" blade, but have yet to get around to it.

[Noyl Wendor]

Hmm, I see there are not too many fans of the transwhite. At least that responded to the post :) But I will say that in a few cases (MO) the clear blades do provide a good effect for some colors that I have seen. I don't use the clear too often, but when I do I am still happy with how they turn out.
As for the 7/8 (to answer Mynock's Q, if he has not seen it in the post yet) for the "adapter" a piece of 1" thin walled blade stock cut to 2" or so makes for a good adapter for the 7/8 blades. no need to alter your blade retention screw or blade holder. I have yet to glue that adapter to my 7/8 blades. I have not really seen the need for it ;)
One thing I would like to add. The 7/8 blade looks really good in my Graflex ESB. It gives the blade a closer look to the one seen in the movie (width) and provides less stress on the bunny ears. Or the clamp the blade goes through to get to the holder.
Lastly, I was expecting to find the 7/8 blades to be "whippy" like the 3/4. But it turns out to be pretty solid, has enough flex to make a hit not so hard and returns to "true" afterwards.
Over all I'm with Jay Gon, I too am a big fan of the transwhite blades. So I guess I'm on record for say as much too :)

[Jedi Mynock]

I have yet to really try the transwhite blades as of yet, so I can't comment on them. But I am seriously considering making 7/8 inch blades the standard size for my sabers. I can always add a piece of 1 inch tubing to make an adapter for hilts that require it. The more I look at the 7/8 they seem to really fit the bill. 3/4 are too narrow and not as durable (at least in thin wall) and the more I look at 1 inch blades they seem to be too bulky. Not to mention that the 1 inch size bulks out the ring attachment on the bunny ears on a Graflex, making it look funny. A 7/8 blade should eliminate that. Plus, because my thin necked sabers will have a 7/8 blade, by making it my standard size for all of my sabers it will make my collection all uniform (as well as equal when dueling with them.)

^^^ ALL OF THIS
but really Psab the transwhites are worth a shot. i tried it and really liked it, even without any film inside. (but i do plan on trying film since i also notice some slight dimming about 3/4 up)

and Noyl, thanks for the adapter info!

[psab keel]

I do have two pieces of Transwhite 1 inch blade stock that I have to try out. From preliminary tests they look really impressive. I have so many projects going right now that saber building has been set aside until I can get these others done, but I can't wait to get back into it!

[Darth Odious]

I personally like the trans white stock over the clear blade stock (thin walled)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7065/6938698589_ffa59da251_z.jpg

The top one is the Trans white blade, bottom one is a clear blade, both p4 running 1000ma, 1 inch diameter and 2 feet of giftwrap in them.

I also have an RLSA saber that runs a 3/4in clear blade, and personally, I just don't like thinner diameter blades, haven't tried a 7/8 blade, but aesthetically smaller blade sizes just seem to look odd to me. I think it's more hilt diameter vs blade diameter ratio, when one is off it kinda throws out what I find to be appealing to a saber build.

[AlaskaBat]

I've got a pile of 3/4 clear and one trans white for my current builds.
I'll report back with results...

[Weaver]

Just an observation: If the primary difference between trans white and clear is the diffusion effect granted by the partial opacity of the trans white material, isn't it sort of expected that a clear blade with the same amount of gift wrap would be less effective? I'd like to see some trans white without wrap against clear with wrap, some trans white with a little wrap and clear with more, etc, etc. What about clear blade stock that's been lightly sanded on the inside?

Comparing a material that has an inherrent light diffusion advantage against a purely transparent material isn't exactly a fair comparison.

[AlaskaBat]

Just an observation: If the primary difference between trans white and clear is the diffusion effect granted by the partial opacity of the trans white material, isn't it sort of expected that a clear blade with the same amount of gift wrap would be less effective? I'd like
to see some trans white without wrap against clear with wrap, some trans white with a little wrap and clear with more, etc, etc. What about clear blade stock that's been lightly sanded on the inside?

Comparing a material that has an inherrent light diffusion advantage against a purely transparent material isn't exactly a fair comparison.

This is exactly what I'll be doing with my 3/4" blades.

[Noyl Wendor]

Just an observation: If the primary difference between trans white and clear is the diffusion effect granted by the partial opacity of the trans white material, isn't it sort of expected that a clear blade with the same amount of gift wrap would be less effective? I'd like to see some trans white without wrap against clear with wrap, some trans white with a little wrap and clear with more, etc, etc. What about clear blade stock that's been lightly sanded on the inside?

Comparing a material that has an inherrent light diffusion advantage against a purely transparent material isn't exactly a fair comparison.
^^^ that is a really good idea. I think that could also be extended to seeing what a 7/8 transwhite compared to a 1" with out film would look like. I think I'll do some pics this weekend of each ;)

[Weaver]

All I know is that my blade is 1", thickwall, transparent polycarbonate with the standard shouldered tip+mirror setup, loaded with one continuous length of transparent gift wrap from JoAnn Fabrics and I couldn't be happier. I got a 40" long roll of the stuff (50ft, I think) for $4 (after my half-off coupon) and never looked back. I've got even lighting the whole way down and man, is it bright.

If you're saying that other configurations could be comparable, even better, then I'd love to see the comparison. The entire goal of this hobby is to get the best lighting and sound you can get, right? It's hard for me to imagine anything being better than what I've seen, but that's because I haven't seen anything else yet. If I'd had the money, I'd have gotten a blade for each style I've read about.

I'm inclined to say the trans white with diffuser tube should be a good buy, in theory, but again, I haven't seen it. Closest I've gotten is my storebought Vader with the LED string, which uses a dual-diffused system, and that seems pretty evenly lit. Then again, it is a string blade.

I think this is a great experiment. Show every single blade style with identical conditions (i.e. same LED, same brightness, fresh, full charge on each test photo, etc, etc) and let the photos determine which is best. Of course, as we all know, photos tend not to show the whole story when it comes to saber blades. Unfortunately, the only way to determine, 100%, which one is best, is to hold the blades ourselves. Since that's not possible for everyone, this is the next best thing.

Depending on the accuracy of the tests, I would recommend a sticky for this topic. Being new to the craft myself, I know that many people are going to want to know the difference between blade types, as well as how they're constructed. I had those questions myself.

Anxious to see the results.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

There are quite a few topics in this section already that show comparisons between different types and sizes of blades, one of which is already stickied.

[Noyl Wendor]

There are quite a few topics in this section already that show comparisons between different types and sizes of blades, one of which is already stickied.

:) JG is correct, as such I'm thinking I'll still do some testing. But there are a couple really good threads about the above ^. For this particular subject I was going for what a preference is of size of blade. Diameter mostly, we got a little off track from where I started.
Mainly what I was saying was the 7/8 blades seem to light up (MO) as well as the 1" of the same length with the same amount of diffuser material, both blades the same length, on the same LED (color, full charge, so on). Also keep in mind the dueling aspect. Does the smaller diameter make a difference? In general? Or is there something specific someone has noticed? Possibly better or worse than a 1" blade? This last part is really something that just came to mind ;)
However, I would like to see the comparison between a 7/8 transwhite and a 7/8 clear. I'm pretty sure there is some clear stock out there. So if anyone has some pics that would be cool.