Welcome to Cheapsabers, your source for affordable costuming and fan film props. Most of this site will be a gallery of sabers I have made in the past, but there will be links to custom sabers currently being made and sold.
To see my current custom saber auctions, click here.
Note: this FAQ was to my old site, so you may see references to sabers I made there. There should be pictures of them all in my Old saber galleries.
Cheapsabers hardware saber construction FAQ(part 2) Installing a blade
Written by Hugh Sullivan
Making and installing a blade is fairly easy. All you need is a drill, a blade, and a couple of screws.
First step is the making of the blade itself. The best width in my opinion is 3/4 inch diameter. That fits best in the 1 inch diameter saber hilts. If your saber is wider, you may want to find some way to pad it, like putting a 1 inch diameter piece of PVC inside.
The blade itself can be any 3/4 inch wide dowel or PVC tube. I prefer PVC myself, because it is both light, durable and most importantly, very inexpensive. A wooden dowel will cost about 3 dollars. PVC will cost about $1.50 for 10 feet.
Once you choose a blade, you will have to find some way to color it. You can either wrap it in colored tape or paint it. For my blades, I spraypainted them, then to prevent the paint from chipping, I wrap them in clear packing tape.
Then comes the actual installation. You will need to drill two holes in your saber blade, try to make them the same size as the screws you are using. Once you have the two holes running all the way through the hilt, put the blade in the hilt, and drill through the blade and hilt together. Now you can put the screws through and voila. Your saber is in the hilt, strong and steady. And you're ready to spar.
If you have flat-headed screws and you are worried about how they will affect the appearanc of your saber, you can sometimes cover the top of the screw with a button or a knob. Just be careful not to accidentally glue or epoxy the screw onto the saber, otherwise you won't be able to remove the blade.
There you have it. Very simple and quick instruction on how to install a blade into a saber. Back to the first section.
Coming soon: wiring for LED lights.
Any advice, questions, or if you want me to put a pic of your homemade saber on this page, email me at cheapsabers@stickmanltd.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
