What kind of blade should I go with for DEEP RED??

Hey guys. Im about to start the construction of my first saber, and havent gotten a blade yet (have everything else) because I didnt think everything would ship so damn fast. My question is, I will be running a deep red rebel star (single die), and am confused at which blade/wrap/whatever to go with. I keep hearing things about trans white/trans being better, then comes talk about media/sanded/corbin/cellophane, thickwall/thinwall and so on and so forth. Maybe someone more experienced can help. This is what I want: I'm planning to run a length out of the hilt of about 30 inches. I want the blade to be as bright and even as possible, but dont neccesarily want to worry about getting lint inbetween layers of wrap/cellophane. I also do not want to dilute the color of the deep red rebel (I hear it looks awesome) more than absolutely neccesary. I would like to have a "coring effect" (like in the movies, white core, red "aura"), but if the blade is bright enough, I dont care that much honestly. Im not planning to do harcore dueling with it, and I understand that thin wall is very strong and brighter than thick. Also going with bullet tip, but I have some mylar to use for the tip (I hear the reflective disks suck).
If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it!! ;)

I have an old Corbin-style blade with the core effect. I have also purchased a couple trans-white blades lately. I run somewhat shorter blades too, about 34", and my personal saber is running a LEDEngin deep red (run in series, two dies at a time. Haven't run all four at once yet... saber's not done yet).

IMHO, the trans-white blades are AMAZING. I have been running thin-walls with the bullet tip and a single layer of mylar on the tip. I haven't tried wrap yet, but the color is amazingly bright and consistent. I notice when I look down the length of the blade I can see some distortion or reflection around the tip. It doesn't happen when looking at the blade from the side, just a shallow angle from the end. Not sure, but I think wrap would resolve this issue (if you would even consider it an issue; I don't).

I go thin-walled to prevent loss of brightness and since I only duel a little with my 4 year old. For the price of $10, if one breaks I will just order another.

The Corbin-style blade I have is... lacking when compared to the trans-white. Granted it's old and maybe they are made different now, but on the same sabers it doesn't light up to the tip, and the color isn't as brilliant.

So, for me personally, it's trans-white all the way.

I used the trans white with some cellophane wrap in my Luke saber. The results were amazing. Even with the 3/4 inch blade, which sometimes is a little...inconsistent with "even-ness" in a regular Polycarbonate blade. I say go with the trans-white, AND use some cellophane wrap. You almost don't need it, because the milky white color captures light well by itself, but adding cellphane increases the even-ness of the blade even further.

http://i1068.photobucket.com/albums/...2/165d2945.jpg Here is the blade with the trans white blade, and a green rebel. I'm gonna be making a saber with a purple blade soon, and plan on using the transwhite. Good luck!
====Darth Jared

Thanks guys!! You both rock. Looks like the trans-white is the way to go! I think I'll order several blades from TCSS and play around with sanding, media blasting (I'm lucky enough to own one), and wrapping. I keep hearing about the cellophane wrap, but forgot to ask, how is this done? Do you just crinkle up a bunch and shove it down the blade to fill the hole? Lol.

And beautiful saber BTW darth Jared! I'll be posting pics of my first build soon, should be done this weekend. Nothing could have prepared me for how GORGEOUS the MHS parts were. It looks amazing all together. Mine is a graflex-meets-obi-wan looking hilt, I think it's pretty sweet, but I love the look of the OT obi and Luke hilts.

I would go for a trans-white thin walled.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7276/7...71cf0b12_c.jpg


there is a great tutorial by Jay-gon, but i cant find it right now.
simply, as far as "crumpling" up the cellophane, don't, you need to roll it on to a 3/4" dowel and slide it
into the tube. it needs to be as smooth as possible for the best results.

Haha! Thanks! The Luke ROTJ is my favorite cannon hilt, so of course I had to make one. Very proud of the way it turned out.
Weird. I even made a quick little hyperspace jump over to FX sabers and can't find Jay Gon's blade making tutorial. Oh well. I think I can give you the jist. Based on your posts, I would say that you are planning on going with the 1 inch thin walled blade. If you are going to be ordering several blades, I would recommend spending the extra 6$ on a 3/4 inch blade. That's the best tool I've found to get cellophane wrap inside a 1'' polycarbonate blade. The cellophane itself is easy to find. Any hobby store sells it (Hobby Lobby, etc.). Simply cut the cellophane to length (not as easy as it sounds, trust me, the stuff rips VERY easily, so take your time), with just a few inches to spare. If you are using a 3/4 inch blade at any time, a thin dowel rod will do the trick. If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to answer. Good luck!

BTW, Elim, that saber is an AWESOME red color. Great work!
====Darth Jared

Wicked hilt!

Dang, that sounds like a PITA. How is the trans white without the cellophane? I'm gunna run 30" inches out of the hilt with a bullet tip and maybe some Mylar instead of the reflective disk... I imagine that would still be pretty bright with a 700ma deep red rebel right?

It's OK at best without the cellophane. If you are using the transwhite, you only need a minimal amount of cellophane to make it a very even coloring. That should be plenty bright. I've never used the Deep red rebel myself, but I hear that it rivals the green. The comparison is hard to make, because they are two different colors, but if it's true, the deep red will work well for you. The most annoying thing I ran into without the cellophane in the trans white is that when the saber is turned on, there are spots in the blade that you can see through. Maybe it's just me, cause I'm OCD with my sabers, but it is kind of an annoying trait, in my opinion.
====Darth Jared

Here is the link to the tutorial,

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...t-how-I-do-it)

@jared, thanks. It is a rebel deep red with a thin trans white.

Elim, I assume that was a deep red in white trans that you posted above? It looks awesome brother! And thanks for the link BTW. I get the blade, tip, and plug tomorrow via UPS, and was going to put it all together Saturday, until I chatted with Erv from Plecter labs and was told to ONLY use an ESD safe soldering STATION. I have a grounded (three pins) iron, but I hear it's not very safe to use. That makes me really nervous cuz I've picked up the PC board a few times and inspected it, and I really hope I didn't fry it just touching it if it's so static-sensitive... Bummer. Now I have to wait for the station that I just ordered, probably another week, before I can fire the badboy up. Sad face ;(