Long Hilts/Sabers

[Phiily Manyaan]

Don't know if this should be here...
Does anyone else have a long hilt and/or saber in general? I don't have pics of my first MHS yet, but the hilt is over 14" long with a 38" blade. I was going for a claymore saber and I think it works. Anyone elses saber longer than the norm?

[TorLinWaDur]

you can have a hilt that is 14" long if you wish. its really up to you :)
id say go for it.

[Stinky Bantha]

It's all up to personal preference, but there are some advantages and disadvantages to both short and long blades. Hilt preference is mainly up to what you wanna try to cram inside. Here's a thread that discusses blade length:

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=3975

[X]

Well there are "movie accurate" blades that people say are about 35"-36" (about 3ft), and if you read the new "Jedi Vs Sith-The Essential Guild To The Force" book it says standard length for a blade is 1.3 meters which is 51" (about 4.5ft now that's a long blade). So depending on which one you go with yours is fine (unless your 3ft tall then you might get some strange looks).

Now I want to see you make a Jedi Kilt to go with your light claymore.

[ArkaiHalon]

Now I want to see you make a Jedi Kilt to go with your light claymore.

http://www.utilikilts.com/images/products/kilts/original_lg.jpg

[Hasid Lafre]

As long as we keep the fact that kits are not skirts out of this it will be great and I wont have to get highlander on you.

:P

But I think in terms of the idea a long hilt saber would be like a great saber. Would be intresting.

You could do something like what ultra did and make a light longspear. of jin ki(sp) did with his light short spear.

I wouldent mind making one myself but I want to make something like the polarms that have the flimzy blade, I forget what there called at the moment.

[chase]

I had a 13'' hilt with a 38'' blade once. It was big and nasty but the blade was a little flimsy. Still pretty fun though...I used it like the far end of a staff. I've wanted to do it again, but just don't have money to build another full saber like that. I'd say go for it, and if you don't like it- you can trim the blade down 2 inches and have "movie accurate" size and a huge hilt. You can fix that too :D

[Mi Gin Gonn]

Anyone elses saber longer than the norm?
what is "the norm" exactly? this it the CUSTOM saber shop after all

[Hasid Lafre]

I think the general length of sabers that folks here build are in the 12 to 13 inch range, then theres some that are in the 9 to 10 inch range. The smallest mhs Ive seen is one that xwing did. Its in the mhs gallery somewhere. I think it came out to be about 8 or so inches long.

Me I like to try to keep a design no more than 12" long. 12.5" is prolly the max I will build a saber.

I wouldent mind having a light spear but IMO thats not really a saber its a different weapon type.

ITs what ever length you feel comfertable with and how you want to do with it. do you want to duel? what style of dueling would you want to do.

[chase]

He was talking about doing a claymore style size sword....so he will most likely be out in a battlefield taking out hundreds of people.

My sabers are usually at the 11'' mark. That's a good size for me. Not too long, not too short.

[Ashron]

I agree with Bantha it is more of a personal preference. My saber is a bit long by most standards. The hilt is 12.5 inches with a 39.5 inch blade (i measured to the top of the shouldered tip. I am use to fighting with hand and half or two handed swords so it works great for me.

I have kicked around an idea for a Warb Null saber, the hilt on that would be about 18 inches with a 45 to 50 inch blade.

[chase]

Now where could you get a 45 to 50 inch blade? I've thought about doing a staff like huge saber (picture holding the far end of a staff like Raiden from MK) with a 20in hilt and like....45-50 in blade too....

[Hasid Lafre]

you would have to order the tubing from some plastics company like tap. Or you could ask tim to get you say a 50" section.

[ArkaiHalon]

Now where could you get a 45 to 50 inch blade? I've thought about doing a staff like huge saber (picture holding the far end of a staff like Raiden from MK) with a 20in hilt and like....45-50 in blade too....


http://www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/2b2.cfm

[Ashron]

Awesome site. I was going to go the route of checking with Tim to get one. The only problem I can forsee is diffusing a blade that long so it looks even.

[chase]

Thats a problem....diffusing. A LuxV might be able to do it... Maybe Tim can custom make a 45in with a 45in diffuser? Maybe? Long time down the road before I ask about that though.

[TheCheeker]

a good size hilt for me is between 11 and 12.5 inches. It can be tough, though, to make a saber that's smaller than the 11.5" range because of the hassle when cramming electronics in it. what a pain in the butt that is...

[Corbin_Das]

Hi guys
I made a 48" long blade before. It was actually 50" with 48" visable if I remember right. It might have been 48 with 46 visable. I don't recall, but anyway, you definitely will have a brighter base and a dimmer area towards the last section of the blade. There are precautions you can do to minimize the effect, but the nature of Luxeon blades generally dictates that areas closer to the light source will be brighter.

Using a larger reflective surface on the base of the tip will help a little. I don't recommend it if the blade is under 38" though. It tends to make "tip flare" then. I'd also combine this with 5 degree optics. In shorter blades, the tighter beam angle doesn't make a ton of difference with most diffuser methods. There are exceptions, but for most of the common styled blades you can buy, a 10 degree works fine, so long as thr blade doesn't get too long. Most people wouldn't see a difference in lens degree in blades 3 foot long. 4 foot long, you probably would.

The other thing you might want to do is put some reflective film inside the base of the blade with the reflective side facing inward. The film will be hidden inside the blade socket, so you won't see it with the blade installed.

Something you might want to experiment with is using thin walled polycarb, unless you're planning on doing heavy dueling with it. The added space inside the tubing will help get more light up the blade.

Lastly, if you want a fairly even blade and don't mind the added weight, you could look into sideglow fiber optic cable. It's not as bright as a regular Lux blade, but it's fairly even, so long as you use the right stuff. Unfortunately, the "right stuff" is hard to come by and expensive. I got a few pieces of the stuff for both the 1" and 3/4" blades. Eventually, I'll makes some blades with them.

Corbin

[Phiily Manyaan]

Haha I had forgotten I made this thread. I really should post pics of mine, I think it looks really good. I'm gonna try and get it wired up tomorrow night. It will utilize the most dynamic sound available...the human voice box. Yeah, no sound in the saber so I'll have to make sounds with my mouth. I can't remember which lens I got, hopefully the 5 degree, if not I can order one, there are a few things I need to get anyways.

[Phiily Manyaan]

Here it is:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh281/PhiilyManyaan/NYXmasFourth102.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh281/PhiilyManyaan/NYXmasFourth103.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh281/PhiilyManyaan/NYXmasFourth101.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh281/PhiilyManyaan/NYXmasFourth100.jpg

[chase]

That even looks huge. How does it handle? Is the blade wobbly?

[Phiily Manyaan]

No, its very sturdy actually. The only problem is it is blade-heavy, which is awkward at first but once you start swingin' you don't notice it so much. As you can see in the one pic, it is very dim near the middlish top, and I do have a 5 degree lens, that's the only real issue I have have with the long blade. But hey, thats the beauty of MHS, I can always swap it later!

[Sethski]

http://www.utilikilts.com/images/products/kilts/original_lg.jpg

Nice one ArkaiHalon. I'm also a proud Utilikilt wearer - I think they rock!

Just not the ideal thing for dueling on windy places like, say, Cloud City, Bespin :mrgreen: (especially if you're a Scottish Jedi)