Lurking for long enough, now I will reveal myself to the community!

Hey everyone, TLDR; at the bottom.

I joined the forum a couple years ago, but have been lurking a little longer. Lifetime fan of the fantasy genre started when dad gave me his original Conan books to read as a kid. I loved Star Wars OT, but then Episode I came out during my childhood...(I am a HUGE Maul fan). As my own son has grown older and showed interest in it, I have grown to cherish it more as well, especially after the untold number of sticks (ala "lightsabers" or "swords") he insisted on keeping in the house, left on the floor, in the back of the car or carefully propped in the corner of the garage or patio. He still has a knack for finding damn good ones too!

Eventually I purchased a couple premade sabers from elsewhere...first thing I did was take it apart (AFTER my son slept soundly, worn out from countless saber battles of course!)...and well...it may help if you understand a little bit about me...

I love taking things apart almost as much as I love designing and building them from scratch and salvage. There is a scene from the movie "The Watchmen" where Dr. Manhattan has a device telepathically separated, all of the parts moving as they should, basically and "exploded view"...this is basically how I view structures and mechanical devices in real life. I have only every been limited by my work space and access to some of the more specialized tools, which led to my interest in the drafting. You see, I grew up learning fine woodworking and general contracting and tromping around the wilderness (hunting, fishing, shooting, survival). By profession I have been a general aviation mechanic for about 16 years, and I have personal interests in woodworking, metal fabrication/blacksmithing, reloading and long range shooting and traditional drafting ( yes pencil/pen and paper). It is fair to say I have a very big appreciation for quality, ingenuity and I find beauty in precision.

The first sabers I purchased from "the other guys" aren't terrible sabers, solid pieces and serve their purpose...but I wasn't happy with them and ultimately I became disappointed with the lack of precision and variety/variability and what to me felt like an overall poor execution.

Within two months I purchased everything I needed to build two sabers for my son and I from TCSS. I looked over each piece, and YES! I even measured everything with a micrometer...everything measured either dead on what the site listed or within thousandths (0.001) or 10-thousandths! (0.0001)! For those who may not realize how cool this is, a big majority of the parts installed in cars or airplanes aren't even close to this kind of tolerance. I was sold...

I have been saving, scheming and drafting ever since, to build new ones, better ones. The stuff I see ALL OF YOU building, from first builds to the resident Master smiths, you all have made amazing sabers...Yea we may swing them around and whack the crap out of them, these acts do not take away from the fact the hilt you hold in your hand, hang from your belt or on the wall if a work of art which you made!

I look forward to learning, sharing, and troubleshooting with all of you!



TLDR; My son finds the best sticks for roleplay, I build/take things apart and see machines floating, TCSS' parts are quality and super precise, precision and quality is awesome, the community here makes art! Go Maul!

Awesome post...my entry a year go was very similar...fair warning, I did the same thing with fine savers from others as well. Now just over a year in I am 20 builds in, and gutted those first ones and installed far superior parts and boards from this store. I also went in looking to do all custom hilts and have moved over to props fro the movies (many of which you can get good deals on here!)

Excellent post. So you like Episode 1 (me too) and have been 'lurking' here like a...Phantom Menace? (couldn't resist). Seriously, I'm impressed with your CV - it seems you already have a lot of useful skills to go very far in sabersmithing and will likely pick up the rest quickly. Yes indeed Acerocket keeps excellent machining tolerances which is why TCSS genuine MHS parts has been the 'gold standard' of quality from the beginning of the saber hobby. I like your description of sabers as wearable works of art that we can make. So true; over the years I've seen amazing saber-art masterpieces that Madcow, Vaders Vault and others have made out of the same MHS parts we can buy here, so the only limit is your imagination. And it sounds like you've got that well covered so I look forward to seeing what you build in the future. Welcome aboard and MTFBWY.

I posted just a few hours before you, and I'm in the same boat. I've got three sabers from other saber shops that just never satisfied fully. Super excited to be finally crafting my first Crystal Focus saber, though I must admit I'm a tad bit wary that I might fall into a rabbit-hole my wallet can't survive ;). Just gotta bear through the waiting for my parts to arrive!