Saber Forum

This is my 2ch Emerald Shock LE one of my favourite lightsabers.  I always admired the silver Shock and it's actually the one I like the most out of the finishes available.  So I was talking with some friends(you know who you are!) about what I could do to get one.  Instead of buying a silver one and owning two, I decided to buckle down and make this my own.

I stripped away the gold anodizing leaving a knurled pattern; and by stripped I mean ground away.  I then buffed the surface and then polished the once gold parts, and it looked so shiny I buffed the whole thing with some Mothers metal polish.  I like that it's now unique and silver!  If I wanted a factory smooth finish it would prob take me A LOT longer to grind/sand down the small individual sections that were gold anodized - but I like this so I'm going to keep it as is.


Here it was before, the pommel is the standard silver one as well as the covertec wheel.  Though obviously pictured here with the Archon pommel ::)

(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/652BF701-7142-4601-A5FD-DDD5840C84EA.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/652BF701-7142-4601-A5FD-DDD5840C84EA.jpg.html)




And the final results - all polished up.

(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/29FDB430-6623-4B63-9D29-BB0D24B70017.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/29FDB430-6623-4B63-9D29-BB0D24B70017.jpg.html)

(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/6F2A3BA1-AD42-43E3-81CA-08BBA243A84E.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/6F2A3BA1-AD42-43E3-81CA-08BBA243A84E.jpg.html)

(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/5D2080E6-9418-457A-A40A-3135D602251C.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/5D2080E6-9418-457A-A40A-3135D602251C.jpg.html)

(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/F7C368F2-38B3-4947-A748-ACBF3271A250.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/F7C368F2-38B3-4947-A748-ACBF3271A250.jpg.html)



(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/C35C6615-1391-4A89-8787-C8C175139F93.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/C35C6615-1391-4A89-8787-C8C175139F93.jpg.html)

(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/F28E5481-AE76-4182-869F-D10DBB3CBEFA.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/F28E5481-AE76-4182-869F-D10DBB3CBEFA.jpg.html)

Looks great, I've used that mother's metal polish too - it really works wonders on metal.
Polished Shock is best Shock

 :o   Wow Haz I am so proud of you and your wife's good suggestions.  Looks so much better with the texturizing in the groove and raised ring areas when compared to a standard silver Shock.  The buffing came out so strikingly rich.  The Shock pommel really belongs on this saber now.  Well done and enjoy this clean shiny beauty.  ;)   Jaina Solo would be envious and I'd like to see this with a purple blade.  +1 for you.   8)

Wonderful!
Shock reloaded!

Very cool!  That's one dramatic finish you've achieved- great work.  Works well with the texture in the grooves.  Point awarded.

I'm blinded by how shiny your Shock is now  8)

It looks great though. The contrast the grooves add really brings out the character of the saber! I have to admit I thought you were crazy at the start of this thread, but after I saw how it looks I have nothing bad to say! +1  :)

Well done!  +1


Polished is best?  Who hacked into Drahcir's account?

You can still give mild weathering to a polished hilt.
 ;)

WOW, I really like it . . . great solution, and great lateral thinking Haz . . . +1 :)

I do have 1 question tho . . . why is the blade BLUE ? ? ? Hmmm ? ? ?  :P



hehe . . . I thought the same thing . . . When has Mr Saber Sadist EVER used POLISH ?  :P

You'd be surprised.
 ;)

I am surprised . . . any photographic proof, lol . . .

My Graflex gets regular polishing.
 :P

Thanks for checking in everyone, I appreciate the critiques and comments :)


@Jed ... The blade is blue because I was showing some interest in what my son likes ... And that's a blue blade lol, his favourite. So I had to make the parental sacrifice to have it blue for a while ::)


But D7 threw down a blade request and thus it shall be changed ... Pics to come.


Edit: I KNEW I was gonna get busted for that blue hehe... ;D

very cool Haz . . . and, the way of the Jedi  ;) . . . +1 for you and your son :)


Look forward to your purple blade Shock pics also . . .


And while we're talking blade colours and sacrifice, my Emerald Archon is currently in BR (shocking I know  :o, but I'm practicing for when I can get a Shock in BR, lol). . . but as Logos says, the Archon in BR actually looks REALLY good . . .  8)


EDIT :


All in good fun  ;)

Yeah.  I bet it does.

VA :


(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/C2E75E62-0073-459E-A5BB-CC36525E644C.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/C2E75E62-0073-459E-A5BB-CC36525E644C.jpg.html)


(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/C97846C9-D32E-4BDD-A75C-7958F4E3DEAE.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/C97846C9-D32E-4BDD-A75C-7958F4E3DEAE.jpg.html)


(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/MoniqueWillms/Shock%20LE/D1A7111B-615A-4D66-842C-7D733756898E.jpg) (http://s1082.photobucket.com/user/MoniqueWillms/media/Shock%20LE/D1A7111B-615A-4D66-842C-7D733756898E.jpg.html)



Btw I agree that BR does look amazing on the Archon ...  8)

That's a mighty nice looking Shock you have there, hazard.  Looks better without the gold on it IMO.

+1

Wow that VA makes all the difference.  Am sending a Force suggestion to you in a non-Menacing way.  ;)  +1  shmexy  8)

Very nice...I think it looked great in blue, but I guess VA is good too  ;)

Sed... you and your dyslexia, I understand what you really meant to say.   ;)

^ Hah ... Point!  ;D

Haha, don't get me wrong, it looks great in VA. But I didn't get quite the same reaction from seeing it as I did when it was in GB  ;D

Regardless, you did an awesome job on the hilt hazard!  :D  Have another point +1

No need to apologize, dude.  Blue is the best blade color.  ;)

(Well - and Red too.  Tie.)

Impressive! What did you use to strip back the anodisation? I'd be intrigued if it was something I could do myself without ruining the rest of the hilt :D

@Sed ... you may not know this about me but I have an aversion to blue lightsaber blades ::)  That's why I jabbed you when D7 gave a you a hard time ;D.  I'm into the greens, reds and ambers :)


@JC ... I used a dremel for everything.  Initially I was going to use various grits of sand paper, but because the gold was in such tight spots I would've bruised the areas around it pretty bad.  They just don't make sandpaper small enough for this.

So I used a much more invasive method and used a small cutting wheel meant for cutting/grinding through metal.  But on an angle with a light grazing pressure it skimmed the gold off, and I was able to articulate into the very tight curves.  

The wheel ended up leaving a bunch of micro ridges impossible to avoid because of how hard the wheel was, which is what you can see in the pics.  That and that gold was really on there.

I then used a steel brush wheel, then a brass one, and finally a bristle brush to bring the surface to a smooth touch.  The only real threat is letting the tool run away on you and scarring the parts you want left untouched.  

It's certainly doable and maybe to greater effect if you can get at the work area with fine grit sandpaper to really smooth out the finish.  80-120 grit sandpaper will eat away anodizing really fast too.

Drain cleaner (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=29118.0) is faster. ;)

It's ok, I forgive you  ;)  Hopefully I can change your mind with my next project  :P

Great touch, The polish job makes it Pop !! the small textures in the grooves from what i can tell, adds to the luster . Good work

Thank you Bulvoy!