What blade is best?

[Darth Cruor]

What blade is best? Thick walled or thin walled? 1" or 3/4"? And how many wraps of TCSS film should I use?

[Vardarac]

I recommend thin-walled polycarbonate. It's certainly lighter than thick-walled and is already strong enough for dueling on its own.

1" or 3/4" is really a matter of preference, though I think that 1" already makes for a thin-ish blade. 3/4" would be downright anorexic in my opinion :P

[Tom Starkiller]

I recommend thin-walled polycarbonate. It's certainly lighter than thick-walled and is already strong enough for dueling on its own.

1" or 3/4" is really a matter of preference, though I think that 1" already makes for a thin-ish blade. 3/4" would be downright anorexic in my opinion :P

3/4" is what the blades are in Star Wars.

[jamesjeffh]

They looked a lot thicker than that in ROTS.In certain shots the blade looks as thick as the saber(Yoda & Mace).And lets not even get started on clone wars those things look like baseball bats ........ hmmmmmm baseball bat lightsabers.

[JasonEuc]

I just went with a 34" thick walled 1" blade. Very heavy!

If I had it to do over again, I'd go with 32" thin wall. My kids have the JoeJedi kit, which is about a 28"-30" thin blade and it is much more maneuverable.

[Sohryu76]

3/4" is what the blades are in Star Wars.

do you mean the dueling rods used?

there is no way to measure the actual blade of a lightsaber as they do not exist for anyone to hold a ruler to..

[Tom Starkiller]

Yes, and that is what was rotoed over. They're 3/4".

[Malaki Skywalker]

The rods were 3/4", in some cases 7/8", but with the rotoscoping they must be making 1" or over

[Corbin_Das]

What blade is best? Thick walled or thin walled? 1" or 3/4"? And how many wraps of TCSS film should I use?

Hi guys.

This is really a matter of opinion, and I suspect there's already another thread discussing it, though I'm not positive. Anyway, as a person that's been involved with Luxeon sabers for some time now, I can definitely say that the absolute best blade, bar none and regardless of what anyone else says, is.......


IT DEPENDS!!!!

It really IS a matter of personal taste. A lot of what you're going to use the blade for will determine what setup works best for you.

If you're wanting something to carry around at a convention, and not something you're going to be dueling with every day, then a thin walled blade would be much lighter and plenty durable.

If you're wanting to just beat the crap out of these things, the increased durability of the thick walled blades will probably win out.

I personally like the 1" blades over the 3/4" ones, since they tend to be a bit brighter. The Luxeon 3/4" blades are almost always going to be thin walled, to allow as much light up into the blade. The only exception to this is the fiber optic cable blades, which are really rare. If you're working with a design that requires a really thin neck section (or modifying an EL saber to a Lux), sometimes it's easier to go with a 3/4" blade.

You can't beat a thin walled 3/4" Luxeon blade for lightness of weight though. That's for sure.

As far as how many wraps of film to use, again, it's a personal thing. I often prefer a quad wrap of film inside a thick walled blade, if I'm going to be dueling. If I'm wanting something really bright and even, then a dual wrap of my film with about 4 feet of clear celophane film all rolled up in there as well. Again, this is MY personal choice and you might like something else.


I hope this helps


Corbin Das

[Novastar]

Since the question itself wreaks of asking for people's opinions--since there is rarely such a thing as "the best" with almost anything (except with swimmer Michael Phelps it appears!!!)...

My vote is for thin-walled 1" OD.

It's very durable.
Light is unquestionably very nice compared to a 3/4".
Tim's stock has a stronger thickness than the MRs, so... don't compare the two and think they are the same!
Lightweight.

It's true that you cannot likely strike them with 100% of your might on solid things and expect them to survive long... but in the 24,000+ hits each of the Flange III saber blades have gone through--no breaks yet!

I'm sure they WILL break someday... but I seriously do not know anyone who has crossed blades 24,000 in less time than we did when preparing for and filming the "250 Battle"... and so I'm eager to hear about anyone who has broken a thin-walled blade after... let's say... 1000 hits or less.

I'm not counting pitting a thin-walled VERSUS a thick-walled... that would be sort of silly. Plus, it would probably dent or CREASE the thin-walled prior to breaking it. Don't "mix and match" blades when dueling!