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Thread: Aberth Cain: LotR Hardware Saber

  1. #1

    Default Aberth Cain: LotR Hardware Saber

    Hello, saberland!
    This will be a long post, but the saber on display here DOES tell the ENTIRE Lord of the Rings story from Hobbit to Return of the King (RotK).

    First, let me say that this saber is one that I hand-made entirely from scratch; only the electronics, which I assembled, and the LED heatsink are not the product of my dremel, my chop saw, and my hand drill. The hilt is solid copper, which I acid-etched in painstaking detail. The Crystal Chamber holds a lab-created diamond in a hand-made brass setting.

    Years ago I saw the Johnsons' Lord of the Rings saber, Arod Megil, and my eyes were opened to what a custom saber could be. I present my masterpiece, Aberth Cain (Welsh for "Noble Sacrifice"), a LotR-inspired custom-built hand-made saber that has taken me weeks to plan and build.

    This Saber tells the entire story of Aragorn, aka Strider, the "crownless [who] again shall be king" from Lord of the Rings.

    Aberth_ignited_Arkenstone.jpg

    The inset stones in the sink tube shroud represent the rings of power that Sauron made subject to his One Ring: green zircons for the elves (if you've read the Silmarillon, you'll know why); pearls for dwarves; and brown zirconia for the Man-kings who became the Nazgul.

    The captions of the pictures in the comments will explain each of the hilt features. So let me walk through the innards.

    NB3 for a dedicated orange blade (red-orange, amber XPE2 mix) with yellow FoC thanks to the green XPE2 die.

    The custom PVC chassis holds a 16650 KeepPower battery and features in-hilt recharge with a kill key switch: turn it on or off using a 5/32" Allen wrench, or remove the kill key to charge.

    The RP is nearest the pommel, so the 20mm speaker faces the EMITTER, not the pommel, with sound vent holes hidden in the dragon-skin pattern on the underlying hilt. Loud. As. Heck.

    A Nazgul boot sound introduces Temple Guard font, and the Balrog roar introduces Shameem's brand-new font, Cyber Assassin.

    A power level indicator underneath the sound card shines through the hilt.

    And the diamond (yes, really) in the crystal chamber is lit by a blue accent LED wired to run off the SPEAKER signal for a pulsing, living crystal effect. The Arkenstone meets the blue glow of Sting. Thanks to Erv Plecter for double-checking the wiring on that before I applied power and potentially fried the speaker amp.

    And now, story time with pictures and close-ups!
    __________________________________________________ _____________

    The story of the Ring starts with the rings of power that the three races of Middle-Earth wielded and how Sauron created One Ring to control all of them with his dark magic. The poem says:
    Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
    Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
    three, seven.jpg
    Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
    nine.jpg
    One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
    One Ring.jpg
    In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
    One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
    In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
    One Ring to Rule them all, One Ring to find them;
    One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

    [Story continues on comments due to attachment restrictions.)
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Whi-ja; 09-06-2016 at 11:11 AM.
    So certain are you; always with you it cannot be done.
    Hear you nothing that I say?


    http://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Doc...deTutorial.pdf
    http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...Hardware-Saber
    ---------------------

  2. #2

    Default

    So the war of the rings was fought, and Sauron lost; the ring was lost as well.
    Then Thorin the Dwarf wanted to recover the Arkenstone
    Arkenstone_lit_close up.jpg
    which the dragon Smaug protected (dragon scales cover the underlying saber hilt under the shroud and decorations).
    Gandalf gave advice (some of his wiser words are inscribed here) to Thorin...
    Gandalf's Words_all_bed.jpg
    ... that he take a Hobbit. So Bilbo was chosen and recieved for the journey a shirt of elven Mithril mail. Mithril.jpg
    During the adventure, Bilbo recovered the Ring, and after they'd defeated Smaug...
    Dragon_lit.jpg
    ...and recovered the Arkenstone, Bilbo retired and passed the ring and the Mithril to Frodo, his nephew.

    When Gandalf saw the stirring of the Nine Riders and feared the presence of Sauron...
    Eye of Sauron.jpg
    ... in the events, he told Frodo to set out with him and sent him to a certain inn...
    Attached Images Attached Images

  3. #3

    Default

    At the inn, Gandalf quoted a two-verse poetic prophecy now known as the Riddle of Strider, seen here on the emitter...
    Emitter_Riddle_bed.jpg
    ... with the second verse on the pommel. So when Strider quotes the last two lines of the first verse to Frodo, Frodo takes it on faith that he has found the right person. The Riddle is thus:
    All that is gold does not glitter,
    Not all those who wander are lost;
    The old that is strong does not wither,
    Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

    From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
    A light from the shadows shall spring;
    Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
    The crownless again shall be king.

    And so they form a Fellowship to destroy the one Ring. The nine members are represented by cubic zirconia (or in one case acrylic imitation pearl) under the shroud, surrounding words in Welsh language using Aurabesh script to describe the King of Gondor, "In his heart a hearth of burning fire." The nine members are (clockwise from far left):
    Fellowship Close-up bed.jpg
    Gandalf the White
    The two ring-bearers (in yellow, the heraldric color for creativity, perseverance, and cowardice, all apt for Hobbits) Frodo and Sam
    Their two loyal (blue, heraldric colors) friend Merry and Pippin
    Gollum (red zircon), who followed the group hoping for the ring himself
    Boromir, who fell behind the group, tempted by the Ring (in orange)
    Gimli the Dwarf (pearl, as Dwarves valued pearls above all other gems, having mo access to them in the sea)
    Legolas the Elf (green zircon)
    and Aragorn called Strider (black stone, the color of Gondor).

    And off they went to face Sauron...
    Eye of Sauron.jpg
    ... during which Merry and Pippin were caught, and they left a silver elven brooch as a sign of life to their companions.
    silver leaf_car.jpg

    They defeated Sauron, and Aragorn was made king of Gondor again...
    Emitter_Gondor_car.jpg
    with his wife, the elf Arwen...
    Last edited by Whi-ja; 09-06-2016 at 11:10 AM.

  4. #4

    Default

    ... who gave up immortality in the Western Lands to live with her one true love, Aragorn, whom she gave a necklace as a symbol of her love (seen above the ouroboros here:
    Pommel Core bed.jpg

    And they all lived happily ever after. The end.
    __________________________________________

    The fully removable PVC chassis has a kill key switch that one can turn on or off using a 5/64" hex wrench:

    Kill Switch on.jpgChassis_bottom_PLI.jpgChassis_top.jpg

  5. #5

    Default

    The saber is fully functional for heavy dueling...
    functional.jpg
    ...and for blocking blasters from rogue Stormtrooper cosplayers.
    functional_blaster block.jpg

    It has also seen use by Adam "Jayne Cobb" Baldwin...
    Baldwin.jpg
    ... as well as someone who, as far as I could tell, was ACTUALLY an elf
    James_Elf with Aberth Cain.jpg

    And the copper hilt was especially popular among the little-known sect of Steampunk Jedi:
    Steampunk.jpg

  6. #6
    Jedi Padawan
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    Cire Yeldarb's Avatar
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    Default

    Epic...

    That's all I can say here

  7. #7

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    Very cool.

    http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...0Saber%20Hilts

    From Wikipedia: "Internet Explorer slows down GIFs if the framerate is 20 frames per second or higher and Microsoft reports that Google Chrome and Safari also slow down some GIF animations."

  8. #8

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    Obviously a labor of love and a truly worthy addition to pantheon of masterworks displayed on this board.

  9. #9
    Sith Warrior darth_chasm's Avatar
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    Nice!
    末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末末 末末末末

  10. #10

    Default

    Thanks for the kind words, y'all.
    So certain are you; always with you it cannot be done.
    Hear you nothing that I say?


    http://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Doc...deTutorial.pdf
    http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...Hardware-Saber
    ---------------------

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