Whether to weather, or not--Old Republic-style hilt

[Matt Thorn]

Inspired by the new MHS blade holder, I made a hilt based roughly on the first saber you get in the Old Republic game, and which our own sloth furnace had a hand in bringing to life. I've always felt those sabers were designed with exaggerated parts in order to make them look distinctive on the small screen, so I decided to forgo the massive red button and use a standard activation box with a lighted anti-vandal switch. But the leather is real. I used a traditional method to make the grip. Soak the leather in warm water for 20 minutes, pat off the extra water with a towel, apply ordinary glue where it's needed, then tightly wrap the whole thing with string and let it dry overnight. (I put double-sided tape on the aluminum hilt in order for the leather to have something to hang on to.) The string leaves a permanent pattern on the leather. I then applied beeswax to the leather. (Here's a demonstration by a traditional sword maker for anyone who's interested: http://www.yeoldegaffers.com/project_grip_2.asp)

From the beginning, I was thinking about weathering this. It's an Old Republic saber, after all. Also, it's hard to give an MHS hilt a distinctive look without doing something to it. But I have never weather a saber before, and frankly it goes against my somewhat anal retentive nature. The idea of taking a perfectly good hilt and tossing it down a stony hill is pretty horrifying. But I think it's probably the best thing for this hilt.

I don't want to overdo it, though. I want to make it seem like an old but well-cared for saber. I am literally thinking of rolling it down a stony hill a couple of times, as well as using a dremel with a metal brush to soften the edges, and then using Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black in the crevices and lightly polishing the surfaces that would get a lot of handling.

Anyway, here's the "Before." The top image is after I removed the string, the second is after I applied the beeswax. Obviously, there are no electronics in the hilt yet (unless you count the switches). I'll put the electronics in after weathering.
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[Noyl Wendor]

Hey buddy
I say don't weather it. If you think about it an "Old Republic" Jedi would have gone a long way to keep his saber nice. Althogh during times of war, maybe that was not an option. I personally like to think of an Old Republic saber this way. Some one dug it up or found it in a cave hundreds of years after the fact. So yeah, it would definately show signs of age.
On the other hand (my alternitive) it could be that the hilt in question is new (ish) and well taken care of. Really comes down to how adventerous I'm feeling
But to give you a good idea of how adventerous I'm feeling lately...


I fell for that BH as well. This is the unprocessed hilt of mine. Its had a few design changes since I had the lightbulb pop on. Last one will be a shorter main body fluted and cut for a single (gold) short Av switch.
BTW, I like your idea for leather New way of doing that I can file in the ole vault. I usually go with a thin layer of black grip tape, (glue sticks to that really well) that sticks to the bare aluminum. Then a pretty thin strip of lambskin, glued to the tape. Saddle soap, and a coat of leather protector. Works pretty good
I do like your hilt design, sorry I forgot to mention that last.
Hey, we may be the first two to put this BH up on hilts we're building, pretty cool.

[Lucien Kane]

I always just "naturally" weather my hilts... I.E. I carry my lightsaber everywhere, and I'm always dueling with them... So they get lots of nicks and scratches and scuffs, and dents in some case. My sabers see a lot of use and abuse though. I say leave it natural, and see what adventures you get into with it.

[Jhadious Aran]

i'd have to say dont weather it, but im not a big fan of weathering, sure it can look good on some sabers but to me its just meh. think about this, anakins saber that obi-wan kept for luke til he showed up had 0 age to it, and it was just kept in a trunk on tatooine, not exactly the perfect weather planet heh

[TuxedoCartman]

i'd have to say dont weather it, but im not a big fan of weathering, sure it can look good on some sabers but to me its just meh. think about this, anakins saber that obi-wan kept for luke til he showed up had 0 age to it, and it was just kept in a trunk on tatooine, not exactly the perfect weather planet heh

I agree with the general statement that you're making: that statement being that weathering doesn't do much for me, either. *Some* sabers, yes, but they're very, very rare, and the artist must have exceptional talent and restraint in the weathering process.

However... I did want to offer a rebuttal to your movie reference. Sure, Anakin's saber looked great after 17 years sitting in a trunk... but did you see Obi-Wan's?! When he left Mustafar, it was all chrome and brass and copper... shiny. Fast forward 17 years, and it's all dirty black with a little bit of grey steel around the emitter and pommel. Looked like he'd been using it for landspeeder repair for some time.

[brett]

Aahh, the old question, firstly, love the hilt. That new style BH is very nice, and Noyl Wendor, also really nice. As far as weathering goes, I know there is a natural reflex when even reading the words 'Old Republic' that you think , naturally, 'Old'. Therefore, deterioration, vintage, relic etc. And.., it was Star Wars that introduced (at least to the mainstream) the concept of a 'used universe'. So of course the obvious thing to do is make props look used, worn,from a few weeks old to on their last legs. I personally love seeing people spend hundreds on new materials, then beat the jollies out of their precious possessions. It makes us in the real world feel a little better that our car is not 'factory fresh', has a few scratches. That the new phone is scuffed, and hey, it might even look better for it. Just like Star Wars! It certainly helped me bring my imperfect universe to some reconciliation. It is OK to have a bit of dust on your display, and a few scratches on your prized saber.

[Noyl Wendor]

Aahh, the old question, firstly, love the hilt. That new style BH is very nice, and Noyl Wendor, also really nice. As far as weathering goes, I know there is a natural reflex when even reading the words 'Old Republic' that you think , naturally, 'Old'. Therefore, deterioration, vintage, relic etc. And.., it was Star Wars that introduced (at least to the mainstream) the concept of a 'used universe'. So of course the obvious thing to do is make props look used, worn,from a few weeks old to on their last legs. I personally love seeing people spend hundreds on new materials, then beat the jollies out of their precious possessions. It makes us in the real world feel a little better that our car is not 'factory fresh', has a few scratches. That the new phone is scuffed, and hey, it might even look better for it. Just like Star Wars! It certainly helped me bring my imperfect universe to some reconciliation. It is OK to have a bit of dust on your display, and a few scratches on your prized saber.

I have to agree with you on that Brett. The "used universe" concept adds quite a bit to the asthetic that goes with building any thing that may look old or having been combat oriented. So yeah the "used" look is good (more often than not to me )
The only thing aobut this medium (saber parts, aluminum) is that more often than not we have to make the piece seem used. Wich could throw people off after spending a couple hundred on the parts. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say, and takeing shinny to older and worn can be a bit befuddeling at times. I guess I would say that it really comes down to "artist interpretation". If you really sit and think on it, really this is an "art" and a hobby , and there is no prescribed formula for what makes a saber hilt a saber hilt, or what makes it look old or new.
So when some one does ask to weather or not to, I'll always go with do what your instincts tell you

[Vlad Doon]

IMO, weathering it will give its distinctive look and make the difference. If you're a bit afraid by "destroying" your saber, just sand it a bit, black paint it, oven and sand it again a bit. Not too agressive technique and good results...

[Jhadious Aran]

I agree with the general statement that you're making: that statement being that weathering doesn't do much for me, either. *Some* sabers, yes, but they're very, very rare, and the artist must have exceptional talent and restraint in the weathering process.

However... I did want to offer a rebuttal to your movie reference. Sure, Anakin's saber looked great after 17 years sitting in a trunk... but did you see Obi-Wan's?! When he left Mustafar, it was all chrome and brass and copper... shiny. Fast forward 17 years, and it's all dirty black with a little bit of grey steel around the emitter and pommel. Looked like he'd been using it for landspeeder repair for some time.

haha yeah his was quite worn, and maybe he was using it for speeder repair! dont hate on the old man and his crazy speeder repairing ways. but yeah i thought that if his was that worn, anakins should have looked the same if not worse

[Matt Thorn]

Thanks to all for the feedback and suggestions. They all really helped me decide how to do this. So here it is. Very subtle "weathering" (if it can be called that) that I think would pass muster in Lucasfilm's "used universe." I used aluminum black, did some mild sanding and dinging, finishing up with a half-hearted polishing. What do you think? I'm pretty happy with it, and like it much better than when it was pristine.