Saber Forum

This is going to become number 2 in my series of planet sabers. This will be a step by step build thread again because last time it was really helpful to see people's comments as I worked. It inspired me not to just shelve the idea. So hopefully I get my cheer squad back again lol


Little bit of backstory on why this hilt: I gutted the liberator to steal the AS led when I made The Mustafar and it's been sitting without a light in it ever since. The Warglaive emitter was going to be used on something else, but wasn't in the end and now it needs a home. I tried it out as a pommel on all my sabers and was almost certain that I was about to turn my GB Apprentice LE V4 into a twin bladed single hilt saber. I was going to use the hilt as it already was with a 24" blade from the standard emitter, tap a second GB LED into the switch circuit (stealing it from my Aeon grab bag) and putting the LED in the bottom of the hilt under the batteries, installing the WG emitter on top of it and having an 8" blade out the bottom. Would have looked pretty bad ass for sure.

But I love my Apprentice too much to F with it. So I thought, well the Lib is gutted, maybe transfer the SRD into the Apprentice and put the two GBs into the lib and make it double ended. So I got about piecing it together and seeing how it looked. And as soon as I had that WG emitter on there and realized it works SO WELL as an upside down hilt a planet idea came into my head. I am going to use the SRD LED, but I may put a green filter in it to make it more green to suit the planet I have in mind.

You can all guess the planet as much as you want. But I won't confirm or deny anything until the finished photos are posted  :P

So anyways - here is the Warberator/Libglaive/Warliberglaive or whatever you want to call this spiky-ass Frankenstein-esque creation  :D


The partially gutted hilt and the silver guarded switch I'm going to put in instead of the red one.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215343_zpsni6uogad.jpg)

Some spikes

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215353_zps3uy4b2ip.jpg)

BUT... how deep does the battery pack go? Can I get a light in on top of it?

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215419_zpshjzshdbl.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215451_zpsfnp4xdzi.jpg)

SCORE! So does the emitter fit with a light crammed in there?

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215523_zpsnt54pytq.jpg)

Awwwww yissss! And that covertech wheel will still be out of the way if I leave it up the top. It also lines up between two spikes which lets me still get it on the belt clip. The small victories are often the best :)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215536_zpsnvmct1r3.jpg)

Yep, not in my grip area at all!  ;D

Also comfortable to hole at the old emitter end

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215546_zpshugubbkd.jpg)

But how to cap off that end? Well I guess I could build something out of leftover blade. Or... maybe use one of the blade plugs I'm never going to use in a saber.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215606_zps9gwppscg.jpg)

Or maybe... maybe if it was black it could poke out a bit and give it a little bit of an electrical look. Like it's maybe a charge port or something...

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215702_zpsflpd5iwi.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215636_zps3ai5f21u.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170217_215707_zpsr8lfnavj.jpg)


I think this one will be a challenge, but it should be fun too. Stay tuned. As always, I will update whenever I manage to get some work done :)

Nice!

One thing I noticed was that the position of the switch was changed from Liberator V2 to V3! It took me only several years to see it ;) :
(http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/ah54/Greywolf225/Liberators/liberator_v2_zpsao4yxm82.jpg~original)
On the V2 the switch is before the choke, not on it.

SWEET! I have been waiting for your next planet hilt. And I'm still giving you points for The Mustafar. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

That's really cool, dude.  It's interesting how cool of a pommel the Liberator emitter makes.  You could put a light in there and make it even cooler.  ;)

I'm looking forward to seeing this progress.  Just for the fun of guessing planets, for green I'm guessing Endor.  Not technically a planet, but it is very green.

I'm looking forward to seeing this progress too . . . have a point to start you off . . . I'll just be down the front of the mosh pit  ;)


LED's in a pommel - er - emitter - blade plug, lol, abso-freakin-lutely . . . . some may have guessed I'd say that . . . . and a short pommel blade would be cool too . . .

(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah119/JediXIX/507CB920-261F-467A-A383-D8B8B3D469CA_zpsieh69phg.jpg) (http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/JediXIX/media/507CB920-261F-467A-A383-D8B8B3D469CA_zpsieh69phg.jpg.html)

(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah119/JediXIX/0CA2F45C-A208-4BFF-9543-2A1E441385A0_zpsauljjkd6.jpg) (http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/JediXIX/media/0CA2F45C-A208-4BFF-9543-2A1E441385A0_zpsauljjkd6.jpg.html)

Those are great! I always liked the liberator. Very wicked version of it!

I also wanted a renegade for a very similar build lol. Great mashup mods folks!

Very cool idea Isola :).  Look forward to watching these planet series unfold!  Excellent caliber of work.  I like your style man :). 

Been busy as a mofo of late, but finally got a few minutes to make a little more progress on this today.

First thing I had to do was take the 12mm switch hole out to 16mm for the recharge port idea that I'm going to incorporate into this build. I'm using a single cell 5V usb power pack again, but I want a port outside the saber I can plug in to this this instead of having to remove the pommel like on the Mustafar.

I thought I had a 16mm drill bit... but I don't. So I had to mill it out with the Dremmel.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_180450_zpseeucl2wp.jpg)

Then to scuff up the surface with a very course grit sandpaper to provide as much texture as I can... or the next part won't work!

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_181044_zpsvjef2tzr.jpg)

This involved a lot of weeping and many apologies to the hilt. It felt like taking a pen knife to the Mona Lisa... The Liberator is such an underrated hilt and I felt so bad for scratching the hell out of such a beautiful piece :(

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_181551_zpslkrgevfm.jpg)

Heartbreaking stuff... But I have decided that seeing as this Liberator has been such a trooper to become the donor for this build. I am going to replace it with a full sound equipped version down the track. I still want a nice stock liberator in the collection :)

You can see in this photo that the hilt has been sanded in multiple directions to make sure the surface is very scuffed

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_181751_zpsrv45t7jq.jpg)

Because I am going to need to use this stuff

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_181824_zps80i1o4ba.jpg)

Because of these two reasons

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_181849_zpszihytowt.jpg)

That's right. I'm going to cover this sucker in WOOD! I've seen other people do leather, and car wraps and contact. But I didn't want a cheap looking imitation wood grain. I want actual natural material. So I have taken the bark from a melaleuca tree (also known as a paper bark tree) and am going to attempt to wrap the hilt with it.

So... apply glue liberally to both surfaces

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_181942_zpsxswmaqen.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_182029_zpshsrpyjgp.jpg)

Wait for it to start to go tacky and then

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_182102_zpspeuxazfq.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_182119_zps9r1lqxt8.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_182256_zpsg9qhsweh.jpg)

You can sort of get an idea how thick the layer of bark is from those photos and these

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_182333_zpscsw0zjdy.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_182344_zpszubwurso.jpg)

The idea is to let the glue dry, and then hand sand the bark down to 1. Get rid of the flaky layers so it actually has a smooth finish, almost like a staff, and 2. Try to bring the shape of the hilt back into the design. At the moment the bark is about 1/8" thick. But I should be able to take that down to 1/32" and still have a good coverage that will show the natural grains and direction of the wood patterns in the layers. If I accidentally go too thin, then I'll glue another piece on to patch it and keep sanding until it's back to where it needs to be.  Adding patches or extra pieces will actually help add more depth to it and I will probably wind up doing that even if I don't screw it up the first time. I imagine that I will stuff it up at least once though as I have never tried this before. I'm not even sure if it will work  ;D :D :P

I have also ordered a yari extension that will be getting the same treatment when it arrives.

That's all the update I have for you guys for now. I haven't done any work on the other two builds as yet.

Now to watch the glue dry...

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170308_191828_zpsnxotfang.jpg)

Interesting concept, I like it! Very interested to see if you can pull this off!

I might know which planet you are dedicating this one too, but I will be interested to see if I am correct. There are so many planets out there after all. Anyways, great job. I think I'll start on the points now so that I am not giving them out for the next two months like I did with the Mustafar. Great work so far.

Holy sweet awesomeness. Can't wait to see how this goes.

I hope no spiders were harmed in obtaining that paperbark ?  :P


+1  8)

If there were any I would have run away screaming and would have no bark to bark with  :P

Step one was to use a wire brush to take off some of the bigger flakes

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_184342_zpsaqxkrklv.jpg)

I trimmed the end bits down some, and you can see how much it took off

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_185146_zpstfskisys.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_185150_zps8q6jxirb.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_185152_zpspe6jttwz.jpg)

Those parts where the metal was exposed again, I just glued some more bark on top and brushed them again. You can also see on the ground how the bark just shaved off using the wire brush

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_185435_zpslcrtrcie.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_185728_zpsexakvhdg.jpg)

Then I used some 40 grit sandpaper (the really course stuff) so that I could get that Liberator shape back into the project

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_185336_zpsxz4f3l3g.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_185338_zpsg2bs4eed.jpg)

But as you can also see from the photos I ran out of sunlight. So this is what I have for now

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_191318_zpsrnrg6vbu.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_191325_zpsmb0h3nmh.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_191333_zpsgk1sxrcc.jpg)


And the center choke is still noticeably thinner which is great  ;D

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170309_191043_zpswthocs6y.jpg)



Will work my way through to 1200 grit sandpaper next, and continue to glue extra bits on if I expose any more metal in the process.

Amazing! Really looking forward to seeing this develop - it's an amazing project :)

Can I ask how you're going to locate the switch hole when the time comes?

I haven't decided where the switch is going yet, so once the yari and coupler are here and I have the whole wooden hilt... thing... together. Then I will work out where looks the best. That existing hole for the recharge port, I will poke through the hole (from the inside of the hilt) with a sharp pokey thing to locate it, then just cut out the part of the bark I need gone. That section will then be covered by whatever I work in to be the retainer for the usb port.

This is really interesting so far.  I'm intrigued by your plan to use actual bark on the saber.  You certainly like to take the road less traveled with your mods, making your sabers more unique.  :)

I'm thinking Kashyyk for the planet.

Poking the hole out from the inside makes sense, because I was wondering the same thing as James Casey:

I am just wowwed by this build... as SFD said, the road less traveled seems to be your thing, and it is awesome to watch!

Like everyone else said, you are doing amazing work on this one. Really interested to see how it turns out.

Took it down to the 1200 today but photobucket is being a total c***block at the moment so I'll put the pics up when it's working again.

Now I really can't do anything until the Yari gets here (hopefully Tuesday) and get it covered. From there I can show y'all where I'm headed with this one.

In these shots you can see the bark is getting much smoother and much thinner and everything is looking much more "Liberator". I also included a shot so James and SFD can see the hole is easy to locate from the inside.


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170310_184735_zps7s1aoay4.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170310_184746_zpsgi4lgla1.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170310_184743_zpsi044wyae.jpg)



(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170310_184754_zpsblaoz4ld.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator/20170310_184817_zpsgkgpm8qc.jpg)

Now that's impressive, a double bladed single hilt (like Maul's in rebels) and a bark hilt. Will be following for sure

Actually... More accurately, it will be a single bladed double bark hilt with crystal and claws ;) but with a couple of cool features

I understand all of that except for the double bark hilt  ;D

Still an absolutely beautiful build. Some day I'd like to do a wooden hilt, and that bark wrap is such a good idea.

Double bark hilt because it will be a liberator hilt, and a yari extension with an emitter to make a second hilt. The Yari and the Lib will be the hilt, the coupler will be the crystal chamber between them and the claws will go on top of the Yari and act as the emitter to hold the blade. The hilt will be roughly 28" in length and the blade length is yet to be decided. The LED will be mounted in the extreme base of the emitter so it can't move unless I can come up with a good mounting idea for IN the yari.

It is of course possible to simply turn out a wooden hilt on a lathe, but I wanted mine to be modified Ultra Sabers hilts so this was the best way I could think of to "make" them wood :)

That'll be quite the staff for sure ;D

So what's the progress on this? I'm really liking it sofar.

Waiting on my Yari to arrive so I can lay out my switch location. Once I have the Yari wood wrapped I can see if I want to wrap the emitter as well or leave it metal. It should be here today unless the delivery from FedEX was US time instead of AU. Otherwise it will be here tomorrow.

Once it's here I can update further.

Update:


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/20170314_100507_zpsi04p6ref.jpg)


Yari is here.

Sweet! Is there a Arbiter in there too?

Yeah. Can't wait to see the rest. So far it's looking amazing.

Yeah probably. Desire to open it is next to none to be quite honest. I'll have a look when I get home and see if I got a $400 donor or fluked a useable one.

Really only care about the Yari at this point lol

All I have to say is Lord Bladewraith made his look pretty cool after he changed out some parts. Other then that ya.

He did indeed, 'tis a fine looking blade.

But yeah.

Very cool so far Isola!  I like the idea of a wood saber- there was a neat rendition of the little wookie padawans from that episode of clone wars by force relics a while back that, odd but cool.  I've been wanting to make a wooden katana saber. 

I like that you're keeping the Libby taper :).  Ever think about woodburning that thing?  You could brand some sweet etching into it. 

Thanks Rev!

I haven't seen that episode (I'm only up to the first episode of season 3 so far) or the sabers, I'll have to check them out.

Gotta keep the taper! Especially seeing as that's going to be one of the choke points for a near two and a half foot hilt!





So this pic is kind of where I'm heading.


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170314_174828_zpspbwds5na.jpg)



The Yari will be wood covered, the coupler will stay metal as that will be the crystal chamber for this build. I am going to widen the windows and try to build a mini chassis as I will need to run wires through the coupler and I don't want them seen. So the wires will be fed through tubes that I will build the chassis out of.

At this point I have planned to wood cover the emitter as well, but leave the claws metal. I want this to be a nice mix of natural and man made components instead of all just wood. Kind of like the metal was forged for the parts that needed to be metal, and the wood was carved specifically to fit those metal pieces.

To be honest I got this idea from watching a lot of Blacksmithing videos recently. So that's the sort of vibe I want it to have when I'm done.

The switch will most probably be located in the Liberator hilt. I'm not sure what sort of switch to use yet but I do know it will be press button as I don't want to do a sliding switch on every single hilt. Need to change things up now and then or they get boring.

I meant to reply to this too and totally spaced. Woodburning is also on the cards again from the blacksmithing stuff I've been watching. Not so much etching, but just to age it and add some depth. I will have to try it out on some scrap pieces first though because I'm not sure how flammable this bark will be under a blow torch.

Nice!  The idea of a sort of fusion of organic and metallic/ forged stuff is really cool.  I always love chassis experimentation :).  Look forward to seeing, been wanting to use the coupler in a chassis as well. 

Ya that's coming up later in clone wars from what I remember- wicked couple episodes- some of the best minutes of SW for saber nuts lol- the focus is largely on the sabers for once, and you get to see a lot of them- the ol' floating cloud of exploded parts converging/ assembling etc.  The wood one is really neat. 

Sounds cool, I'll keep an eye out for it :D

Looks like we're going to have rain all week, so the bark is probably going to have to wait for now. I think I only have enough left to do the emitter. I guess this week will be focusing on the man-made part of the saber :) So I might make a trip to the hardware store and pick up some brass tubing, and break out the trusty rotary tool to get those windows opened up and make a start on the crystal chamber this week. I still have to shape my crystal to fit and then will have to find a decent sized LED to illuminate it.

I really like where you're going with this. Can't wait to see the end product.

I think the the episode RR is talking about is in Season 4, so you should get there soon. The arc that it's in starts with an episode called The Gathering.

Point to you

You're a real son of a bitch, you know that? I was outside trying to get some more paperbark this afternoon, and you had me all Panakin Skywalker worrying about spiders doin' me a frighten. All I could think about was this post.  >:(

But I think I managed to take enough bark off some trees to wrap the Yari. Had to take a little bit here and there so as not to take too much off the one tree. Apparently taking too much bark off a Paperbark tree can kill it.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/The%20More%20You%20Know_zpskjyculh9.jpg)


Anyway, today I made a start on wrapping the Warglaive emitter.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170315_172149_zpsqidr6bji.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170315_172932_zpslqsdpyvo.jpg)

Pretty much the same deal as the hilt so I won't bore you too much with repeating myself. The main difference with this part though is to cover the inside as well. I want the emitter to look as though it's carved from wood.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170315_172940_zpsr09gzfce.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170315_174213_zpsrzvbci8z.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170315_174220_zpsa5oztqug.jpg)

So once these layers dry and I can scrape them back some, I will then add layers to the top edge and inside all the windows. My plan is to use a wire wheel on the Dremel to take the bark away from the mounting pegs for the claws. The claws will be weathered. Only the Crystal chamber will be shiny metal. Any other metal will appear worn or tarnished

hehe . . . . sorry man . . . . lets just say I had an experience when I was a youngling, with a paperbark tree and those creepy eight legged monsters, lol . . . but glad you came out alive  ;)

I hate those disgusting demon spawn  >:(

Some more woodenizing today.

Such a pretty, shiny Yari.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170316_171314_zpsrue5iyfp.jpg)


RIP

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170316_172210_zpseos1rxwy.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170316_172217_zpsfunansra.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170316_173014_zpswewiapws.jpg)





"Post something that's not just sanded metal and wood, Isola FFS"

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/1li63z_zpsccxa0ube.jpg)

Turned a brand new, shiny coupler into the base for the crystal chamber

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/PhotoGrid_1490177424592_zps6q2qrqla.jpg)

Basic run down of how the crystal chamber will look/function. Apologies for the crudeness. I have yet to glue everything into place and cut the crystal down to the correct height.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/PhotoGrid_1490192469757_zpseqxj83oo.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/PhotoGrid_1490192496856_zpswzndofbm.jpg)

Looks sweet mate! Can't wait to see it in place!

Awesome work on the crystal thingamabob.  :)

Oooh pretty. A nice bright crystal to power your saber. Looks good, and that poor coupler now looks like it has a good job. Point to you (when I can).

Looking good Isola!  The chamber is wicked! 

Haha!  No love for spiders eh?!  I don't mind them cause they eat all the other gross bugs lol.  But if I lived where they had spiders like your guys' I'd prob hate them too lol! 

Now that's cool!  Are you hooking that led up to a battery in your picture? I'm finding it a little more difficult myself attaching it to the saber and running it in parallel without blowing the led. Time for a resistor. Now I got another week before I can get a resistor and finish my Last Arbiter.

Connected to the 4AAA pack and resistor out of the saber :)

Oh I see, different setup.

How are you wiring yours up? Blowing LEDs sounds hardcore. What kind of LEDs are you trying to use?

Started shaping the claw for this one. Shown next to an unmodified claw so you can see the difference.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/PhotoGrid_1490342585236_zpsxmpcbsp2.jpg)

Wow, thats going to be a wicked looking beast!

Trying to hook up an accent led off the Obsidian board. I couldn't figure out how much energy was coming off. I need to get a meter. Reds blow pretty easy. RGB's  are my favorite leds because you get three tries. 😁

Does Obsidian have accent terminals? Wouldn't you use a 20ma dynaohm resistor for an accent either way?

No it doesn't, and yes that's the easy way to solve it.

I'm totally watching this build, just haven't posted until now...

Great work Isola. You're so creative, and have excellent vision. :)

Looking forward to seeing the end result.

+1

Here's a couple of update pics to try and show the overall length of the saber

Hand held

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170327_232740_zpst02yuam1.jpg)


Next to an US "X" plug for size reference

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170327_232646_zpspze7myza.jpg)

That's pretty crazy looking, dude.  I like it.  :)

Wow... quite the beast! loving it!

Wow, that thing is gorgeous. I really can't wait to see the finished product now.

Just adding a bit of weathering and depth

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170328_171757_zpsivqxooaz.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170328_173150_zpsxklna12o.jpg)



I may fall short with progress pics on this bad boy. I'm trying to make as much headway on it as I can before next week, because I have to go interstate for work and I won't be able to work on it. So I'm working into the dark of night and then it becomes hard to gets pics. But at the moment a clear coat is drying over the burnt surface of the wood to keep that soot and ash locked in to the wood. And the couple/chamber has started to be glued together with some JB Weld and is curing at the moment. Once everything is dry I can put it all together and mark out the hole for the switch and recharge port and start the install!

That's not at all a fire hazard ::) ;)

No, it looks really good. I hope you can make some good progress on it before you have to leave. It's looking great so far.

Point to you

10th coat of clear coat. You can see how heavy I am putting this on from how shiny it currently is. I say currently because it's a matte/satin clear, it's just shiny because it's wet and THICK.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170329_170157_zpsuembmd7k.jpg)

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170329_170232_zps2pgq1pqb.jpg)

I need it to be this thick because there was no real way to seal this wood before painting it, so I have to use the clear to also seal the wood. It would have been easier if I just built a wooden hilt (but that wouldn't be a modified Ultra Saber ;) ), but the bark is pretty soft and unforgiving, so I need to do it the way it wants me to, or I'll be starting all over again!

I dare say I will be painting this with clear coats all this week, and then giving it all of next week while I am away to dry fully.

Wow, that thing looks more and more awesome with each step! With that many coats that thing should be solid as a rock!

Looking good Isola. Really starting to come together.

More points to you

Wood and fire in a project. Guaranteed awesomeness.

Thanks guys!

I'll get back after it once this horrendous weather goes away!

What? You're not going for a weathered look this time? ;)

HAH! *Badoom- TISH*

Don't worry, it will look like some of this lightning hit it ;)

ROTF!!!

+1 for the sounds!!

Late to this party, I have been away but I am following this thread. Your work is simply amazing.

Thanks BatMike90!

I'm hoping to have it finished up soon for you guys to see the finished version that I have in my head :)

Awesome mod, Isola! It's looking utterly amazing! I especially like the the crystal chamber! Just an awesome concept, and the wood looks sooooo cool, points!!!!

Cheers, CK :D

Yeah, can't go wrong with sounds.

Man, Isola, that is turning into something I'm sure no one around these parts ever thought was possible. What an incredible adventure you're having with this project, and thanks for taking us asking with ya!  :D definitely have me hooked on this thread just waiting to see what happens next and to see what this idea looks like in your head.  It's truly going to be a kickin' one-of-a-kind saber. Impressive work, guy.  Point for the progress pics. I've got a bunch more coming you're way.  👊

Hope the weather spared you any damage to your home and/or persons.  😬

Right, so this IS still going. It's just been weeks of applying clear coats to make sure the wood can't chip or peel.

Now that that is all good I have started piecing the other parts together. So at the moment there is a bit of JB Weld curing for the crystal chamber rods, an accent led housing, and the claw.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170417_230737_zps06lonnvv.jpg)

And a look at the other two parts of the hilt that go with the emitter and the chamber

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170417_231527_zpsmlyeiqko.jpg)

The Liberator hilt, which on its own makes a kick-ass wooden hilt and I may have to make another just as a "normal" liberator without all the burn marks and such. The accent LED is going to go in the old switch hole which WAS going to be a recharge port... but I kind of broke the power bank by dropping it down the stairs on to the concrete  ::) so now I'm just going to go with the original battery pack and wire everything up in parallel circuits because I CBF ordering and waiting for another one this close to being finished.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170417_233843_zpss4kmy0pt.jpg)

And the Yari main body of the build which has the LED wired up and waiting to be connected once the rest is ready. The JB Weld will have cured and be ready by tomorrow after work. Then I can wire up and insert the crystal LED, wire in the accent LED and test it out. At the moment I'm still deciding on what switch to use. I'm torn between a couple that I have lying around.

That's looking really awesome with the paint applied.  ;D

Beautiful look. I'm considering making a similar hilt using a bored out 1.5" wooden dowel and a steel tube core.

Do you mean the clear coats? Because all the black was from fire  ;D




Thanks man :) that sounds cool, be sure and post pics if you do it!  :D

Yeah, probably if I'd bothered reading through the thread, that would have been apparent to me.  :-[  Either way, it's awesome work, as we've come to expect from you.

wow, this is looking more and more amazing as you go. Looking forward to it all being together again.

Any wood going on the crystal chamber part, or staying bare metal?

The chamber is staying bare metal and when I type out the "origins" story you'll see why :)

Woot woot! Isola, looking incredible so far. You are fearlessly dedicated to your projects, and that's so admirable. You're building a legacy there, "Isola's Originals". At some point you should create a display for them. Point for more awesome work and thanks for reporting in on your progress. It's truly fascinating watching this evolve.  8)

That woods looking pretty cool looking, can't wait till it's done.

I've been waiting for your next post here, and you didn't disappoint. Great job.

Wicked!! 

This is shaping up incredibly!  Great work so far man, i can't wait to see this completed :).  The amount of work into this so far really shows.

I finally got some free time to wire this up which means it's now much closer to completion.

Here's a couple of shots of it as an update

The switch in the bottom is to turn on the accent light and the crystal chamber

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170509_171247_zpskvzxyrvv.jpg)

The switch near the emitter is to turn on the blade, but this switch led died 2 minutes after I wired it up so now I have to buy a new one and redo it.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170509_180711_zps7ajit0fu.jpg)

Getting this wood covering to only semi cover the emitter windows was probably to most fiddly part of this entire build so far. I wanted it to look like the heat from the blade was what caused the window burn holes to open up.

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170510_232524_zpshq1xbhmx.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170509_180730_zpsj6dyvvnc.jpg)


Still left to go:

- Replace blade switch
- Leather wraps
- A couple of weathered hilt decoration pieces

- Possible strap. I'm still working on this part it may or may not happen depending on if I like the look of it or not.

This is uber creative and the details and thought put in to everything is fantastic.  My only hesitation is that nice claw.  Perhaps it's the photos... but for the length of the staff it seems a tad small.  Is it on the undersize or opposite to the illuminated switch ?  And the exposed speaker... but you know what you are doing so I'm learning and admiring.  8)

Looking forward to the finish.  :)

Yes the claw is on the back of the emitter. The blade switch will be the "top" or "front" so the claw will be on the back of the saber.

It's not a speaker, it's the switch for the accent light and crystal light :)

Even more awesome !

Looks great, definitely gonna try something similar with a 1.5" W x 5" L wooden dowel I have

Looks like you got some serious wood there.  Nice job!

Again with the phallic references Lord C... :P

Yes, Isola, a true "pointed stick", if ever there were such a thing. :)

+1

Maybe your mind is just in the gutter.   :P

It's a cool idea.  :)

Whoa! You've made some serious progress on this, Isola. Love the gritty direction this has gone. It's truly one-of-a-kind.  ;)  :)

Points, of course!  8)

Hehe, it is coming together. Great job.

Points to you

That first pic looked like you sprayed it gold, for a split second I was in shock  :o . . . really like the crystal chamber . . . more points bro  :)


The only problem, it needs a few o-rings  ;)

Dude, that's hot.  Bummer about the switch, but those things happen.

Get out of my thread

 :D ;D

Looking good mate! Still itching to read that backstory... ;)

Got my new switch and installed it and put on the leather. Now just waiting for the final coat of clear on the emitter to dry and then put on the last couple little bits and take some finished photos :D

(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170514_170121_zpsp4d4gkh0.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170514_170145_zps3esrhk2n.jpg)

Sweet.  That's a cool switch.

I honestly have zero motivation to do finished photos like my other threads, sorry guys my heart's just not in it anymore. So here is a look at the completed saber anyway. I decided I didn't like the blue led once I had it lit up. Green, red and blue was too much. So I scrapped the blue accent and added little control knob greeblies instead.

This saber is The Kashyyk.

During the execution of order 66 a young Wookie, Kusthrruk watched helplessly from restraints as his two Jedi parents were burned alive in their hut. When the Clone Troopers left, Kusthrruk broke free of his restraints and made his way to the smoldering remains of his home. He was able to salvage very little except for parts of each of his parents' lightsabers. Not being a force sensitive being himself he decided to use the remains of his parents weapons to form a weapon he knew he could wield expertly, a spear. Using sections of charred wood from his former home and pieces from the two sabers (the crystal activation chamber from his mother's saber, and a sharp claw forged out of the metal from the remains of his father's hilt along with its circuitry), Kusthrruk crafted a lightspear and left Kashyyk to begin his journey of vengeance.



(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170515_215822_zpsmbpz8ssy.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170515_215855_zpstlyeidjx.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170515_215911_zpsbnletarb.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170515_220156_zpsogxdnxmy.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170515_220102_zpsc3xd5g7t.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170515_220205_zps62a0fdgj.jpg)


(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/815imagery/Personal/Liberator2/20170515_220220_zpsobk7bh0s.jpg)

You did really awesome work as usual, bro.  :)

That is the coolest spear ever ! 

The backstory fits perfectly. If only I could tap into a % of your imagination, creative motivation and skills.

And that circuit board, crystal chamber and claw... just wow.

Hope that you are aware of how much your heartfelt contributions are appreciated.  :)

thanks for sharing and awesomeness point  8)

Alright Isola!
Love how this came together, and the backstory is just phenomenal. you've had me going on that explanation for a while, and I wasnt even close!

Nice work my friend, nice work indeed!

It looks great. Really portrays the feeling of a Wookie war spear. Great job.

Hopefully that claw makes more sense now :)

The circuit board activation box idea came from another saber project that I'm using circuit boards on which didn't fit with an activation box. Gives it a slightly different look from the bubble or gold strips :)

Thanks everyone! It was a fun project and I think I will definitely wood wrap another hilt down the track :)

Brilliant, Isola^^  While the organic saber isn't my speed, I can nevertheless appreciate what a truly wonderful work of art it is  :)


Lol, I actually think that the circuit board works BETTER in this instance; I figure it reflects the overall motif: exposed mechanics within the organic shroud.  Again: brilliant  8)

Wow Isola aweome job!  Such a cool build :).  Love the circuit board and accent combo, the taper in the wood preserving the libby lines, and the emitter 'leaks' of plasma.  Wicked!

Thanks, Dutch and Rev!

Cool, it looks like a saber that a Wookie Jedi might wield. Point to you.

YES; that's EXACTLY what I thought Mav!  :D