Weathering a saber.

[Tom Tilmon]

So....

I haven't posted a thread about it yet; however, I am building a Nihilus (esque) hilt from MHS parts/Shrouds. The build is for a Garrison mate of mine, and once he saw the hilt, he said, "I'm gonna kill that shine and make it look nasty." That also seems to be the trend nowadays, and I know many of the OT sabers were a tad nasty and weathered....like the V2 or shared stunt saber.

Nihilus lived in some volatile times, and lots of infighting amongst the sith. So, I took a tip from Shameem (Darthmario), and tried some shattered weathering with a dremel. It killed me to cut on the brand new shiny stuff I just put together! But, I did it. I did my best to make the saber look "nasty", as it had been hit with force lightning. It does indeed look nasty.

My next step is Aluminum Black. This will be the first time I have ever used the stuff. I haven't installed the hilt yet, its still empty metal. Any tips on the Aluminum black? I don't want to over-do it, but I want it to look "nasty". I don't want him to have to do anything to the saber once I'm done delivering it to him. I just want him to be in awe. Help a brother out!

Tom

[darth_chasm]

Aluminum forms an oxide layer that you’ll need to remove prior to treatment, aluminum black doesn’t work well otherwise. The oxide forms a new layer almost instantly so you should do it immediately before. Aluminum black is easy to lighten or also totally remove with sanding or fine steel wool so you have some wiggle room to correct things if you don’t like them.

[Darth Nurse]

I did a thorough walk through of weathering my Holocron Nihilus on my Instagram.

I have learned as Darth Chasm stated to do the weathering immediately after etching the shatter marks. I do not leave mine as heavily black as Shameem, but that is personal preference.

[rlobrecht]

Unmasked etching is another way of pitting and scarring the surface of your saber hilt.

[Darth Nurse]

Unmasked etching is another way of pitting and scarring the surface of your saber hilt.

I really need to get in to etching. So much cool stuff to be done. I have seen some just incredible pitting being done via etch that is very different than mechanical pitting.

[Darth Nurse]

Another technique in the saber above is what I have just now titled "dirty clear". I came upon it on accident, but it really works for a nice permanent grime layer.

You do the following:

1. Get your AB weathering where you want it
2. Spray the piece with a satin or matte clear coat
3. BEFORE it dries, start sanding with your dirty scour pad (from when you were taking down your AB). Go over the whole thing lightly, then go harder harder on high wear spots (all they way through the initial clear coat). You have a very narrow window of time to do this right. If it dries to much, the grime from your pad will not embed in the clear. If you go to early, it will be a mess.
4. Apply another coat of cleat and let dry
5. Done.

[Tom Tilmon]

Its looking awesome boys! I can't wait to post pics, but the saber is slightly low profile at the moment. All I can say, is that between my shroud work, hilt design, and TCSS parts....this thing is pretty awesome. I have a crystal chamber going in it, and I have thought to put a damaged hole all the way through over the crystal to make it look even more nasty, but I have to get permission from the saber owner first. Thank you all for all these great ideas and photos.

Also, the TCSS shroud material seems to have some coating on it (besides just the normal aluminum oxide). You have to sand off the coating to get the AB to do its thing. I finally got the shroud taking AB. there was a thread earlier this summer where the guy was really frustrated that the AB wasn't working at all, and I'm thinking it was on shroud pieces. If he reads this, sand the coating off the shrouds first.

I also watched a Obi-Shane video where he heated the hilt until it was almost too hot to handle with a heat gun, and then applied the AB. I really dreaded damaging this beautiful hilt and all my shroud work; however, the results are incredible. This is NIHILUS' saber! It really is. I'm pretty proud of it, and I can't wait to install it next week! Its gonna be absolutely sick. The owner wanted NBIV in it, and I'm really thinking this saber deserves more than that, but I can always upgrade it later I reckon.

TOm