Saber Forum

As I understand, we can talk about The Custom Saber Shop as they are not competitors of US, but have compatible parts.
If that's wrong, mods please delete this.

If this is ok, then I have some questions on the Photon blade. It looks like they sell a 40" blade without diffusion film or blade tip. They do sell the tip, but I don't see that they sell the diffusion film.
Any ideas where I can get some?

Secondary question: I've seen people use sandpaper/steel wool to scratch up the outside of the blade to add a 2nd layer of diffusion.
Is t better to go up/down so there are vertical lines down the blade, or side-to-side so there are horizontal lines?
Personally I think horizontal might catch the light better, but wanted some feedback

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In my photon blade I used craft cellophane I got at Michaels. I mostly assemble my own blade so i bought a 40" by 100' roll. Its pretty much the same as US and other saber makers roll onto theirs.

Most of those sanded blades are done up and down. One noted saber maker has stated that the more inappropriate it looks when your sanding the blade the better it should look when finished.

My Photon blade with just cellophane diffusion in my Archon 3.1 emitter on a single diode Guardiann Blue:
 (https://i.ibb.co/B3RHkHc/20171114-081943.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Gpjfmfn)

Fire, have you ever sanded any of your's?

No. I have a sanded blade from the other guys that started it but I don't like it. I don't have any Photons done like that.

I just sanded my sons' Heavy grades (non-UG) and I did a "cross-hatching" pattern by accident but it works.
I meant to go side-to-side and travel down the blade, but that made diagonal lines. When I went the other direct up the blade, it made opposing diagonal lines.

My son said it looks like the saber is not "locked in ice" which is cool
It gives the blades a bit more glow to the outer edges and also a kind of "vibration" look.  Not like a Kylo Ren unstable blade, but more of the "humming/pulsing" look of the OT sabers. So definitely a success that I would repeat on a Photon blade

About how much $ is cellophane from Michaels? How much do I need?
I plan on eventually getting the 40" Photon blade from TCCS and 2 round tips, cutting about 6-8" off the blade so I can get a 32-34" blade and a 6-8" "spear hear" So I can couple my Sentinel and my wife's Dark Apprentice and have a staff/spear

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I think about $12 for a 100 foot roll. You don't need too much but I've never measured. I do mine by feel when i have a thickness i like. I ordered my last roll from Amazon because Michael's was out from holidays.

You know the deal...pics or it didn't happen.

Oh don't worry, I have all day tomorrow off and will be taking several videos and pics.

In costume

Good work, I like it

Ok, so I pulled the trigger on a few thin walled photon blades to cut to size, sand to diffuse the outer surface and I'll get some cellophane to put inside.

I now have 2 questions:
A) Will photon blades work with TriGreen? I know it doesn't really "glow" unless you use Blue, but would they be as bright as a standard Mid-grade blade at least? I'd like to cut 2 of them to about 26" to use as Day blades for my Tri-green staff.

B) Does anyone know the processing time for TCSS right now? I didn't see anything on their site

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I don't know the answer to #1, but I ordered a day blade, a "Corbin style" show blade, and a 18650 battery holder on 2/1/2020 and I got a shipping notice Friday stating it would be here this Wednesday.  So, it seems to be a week (at least for my stuff).

Sweet thanx. Looks like they'll probably show before my late January US order then.

Gotta keep those sabers and saber accessories flowing.

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The photon blades with green look a slightly more yellowish green. Kind of like Ahsoka's second saber is The Clone Wars. How its hard to tell if its green or yellow depending on the scene.

That works for me, thanks. I ordered 3 blades, 2 of which I'll cut down to 26-27 inches for my TriGreen staff just because I want them as Day blades but also because the 24" UEHG blades I'm using now are too heavy to comfortably spin. I just want the color to be nice, green and still as bright (or brighter) than they are in the UEHG. A little yellowing won't hurt and kinda fits as my Jedi character was once a Sentinel.

The 3rd blade I'm planning on cutting ~34" with a pointed tip for my sound saber, which is VA but can be made just blue with a dark green color disc.

Eventually I'll have to get a Tri-Blue saber (or maybe Tri-Silver with a color disc?) to get the full photonic effect.  
Any recommendations? I'm torn between an Aeon/Dominix V2, Apprentice V4 or V5. I want it to be as comfortable for spinning as possible.

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Oh man that was fast! Made an order with TCSS on Sunday and it shipped Tuesday, so it might get here by next week.
I am very likely to make another order while I wait for my Sentinel V5 LE with sound. I wanna see how VA looks in a purple day blade

Guess I need to go get that roll of cellophane form Michaels to be ready when these arrive.

Quick question: What kind of glue do you recommend for the blade tips? Super glue, plastic cement or something else?

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I use E6000 for it. It is also available at Michael's, as well as many other places. It has some resiliency with it to deal with the vibrations of contact dueling. Hits to the tip will eventually break it loose but the short shouldered blade tips from TCSS generally don't break the tube so they can be just glued back in. Even with very heavy dueling I usually dont knock out tips.

E6000 is great for sooo many things!

I've work with a lot of glues, but I've never heard of E6000. I also found a YouTube video of Emory suggesting Gorilla Super glue, so if either will work, the price will determine which one I get.

So I'm undecided again on blade length I should cut the photon blades. My staff hilt is 22" or 11" each when paired. At minimum, I want the realized blade lengths to be double that. So at least 26" minus the 2.5" inserted in the blade leaves me 23.5" on each side.
That would get me to 5ft 9in for the staff, which feels comfortable as I am 5ft 10in. But don't most staffs exceed the wielders height?
Should I go with 28inches each so the total length is 6ft 1in? Or 27in each to split the difference?

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FWIW, from when I was researching staffs as I ordered my Dominicide, there are a couple of popular lengths, depending on the type of staff you're looking for.
Dreynschlag (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2_16obxOm10aWVroTxjfIw (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2_16obxOm10aWVroTxjfIw)) recommend it be around mouth height, but they're working with traditional-wielded staffs.

Shadiversity (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkmMACUKpQeIxN9D9ARli1Q (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkmMACUKpQeIxN9D9ARli1Q)) tested a double-bladed sword and went through some analysis and commentary on it (how he thought it was silly when he played D&D 3.5, but finally built one and can see its merits)  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQApbJ29QJQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQApbJ29QJQ))  he does comment on using it with a more spear-style hold than how Maul held his. 

Shad also talks about other staff-weapons.  if you're looking for a spear/pike style, those are definitely longer.  sword-staff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xIhCesfbYA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xIhCesfbYA))  and spear (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o71X08qQppI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o71X08qQppI))

Agreed, so much better than superglue

Wow thanx. That's a lot of info.
I guess this all boils down whether I want the staff to be just shorter then my height or just a bit taller.

I definitely don't want to go with 24in blades since I have the opportunity to make a unique length that doesn't come standard with a third of the ultrasabers, and I'll still use my 24in UEHGs for dueling.
26in is the minimum length that will get the 2:1 ratio of blade length to hilt length that I want and would be just under my height.
28in would exceed my height, fits nicely with the existing lengths offered (24, 28, 32, 36 & 40 all increments of 4in) and is more blade for the light to "live in" and capture attention.

My only apprehension with the 28in is that it's a but too long for the wall space I am hanging my sabers and I want these to be noticeably shorter than full length 32-36in blades. They may very well be, but I guess I'll have to cut them and see.

I guess what I should do is cut them to 28in, and before I cut the film, put them in the saber to see how it looks and feels. I can compare the length to my boys' Phantasm v2 with 32in blades. If I like it and can fit it on my wall somehow, then 28in it is. But if I feel that's too long, I'll cut them to 26in.

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Well, I ordered some bullet tips in photon green. Since these will be show blades rather than dueling blades, that will give this staff something extra apart form our other sabers.
And since they add extra length, cutting the blades to 26" will make the staff right at my height, which will also just fit on my display wall.
So it looks like 26" + bullet tip is the length I'm going with. It will give a full 24" of visible blade even inserted in the hilt

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Cut them long and shorten as needed.

That was the plan, but then I realized bullet tips would not only look cool, but also add length. And I actually do want the blades to look shorter than full sabers. That's why they are paired/coupled as a staff
Plus, if I cut 26in, it leaves ~14in of spare tube. I could do something with that, but not sure what yet

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What do you guys use to cut the blade to length? Hacksaw? Handsaw?

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I think most people get a pipe cutter, but I'm not planning to buy and expensive tool just for this project when I just recently bought a hacksaw for my PVC handles.
I know a pipe cutter with be cleaner and more even, but is feel confident I can carefully use the hacksaw and sand away any rough bits

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Im with ya, hacksaw should do just fine. Just a tad worried about making a straight cut

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I use a miter hand saw and miter box.  I use it because I had it already and a pipe can make an uneven cut if one is not careful (depending on the pipecutter style used).  The biggest issue with sawing the blade is the dust, but it isn't a big deal.

Ahhh the miter box is a good idea! May have to pick one of those up

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Good idea with the miter box

Agreed. I had to Google what a miter box was and I remembered I've used one before, but again I'm not planning on getting any more tools for this.

I plan to just use some tape to mark where I need to cut with the saw and sand any rough or uneven edges down. That's what I do with my PVC shrouds and they fit flush on my sabers.
The cut end will go into the hilt anyway, so any slight unevenness will be hidden. The tip end is where it must be even for the tip to glue flush.

Man I can't wait to get these made. Customizing my own sabers, shrouds and blades makes me feel like a true Jedi. So much fun and so addictive.
I've even ordered a purple day blade to go on my VA sound saber.

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Bet that purple is going to be intense with the VA saber!

I hope so. I got VA because of how rich and vibrant it looks in photos, but IRL it's a bit too pastel and light. I actually like the Blue and Red I've been able to get out of VA + color discs even more than the VA itself
But since my sound saber on order is also VA, I'm hoping a purple day blade will give it that richness I want.
I also ordered my wife's saber in AS with discs to have options, but she also wants a BVA, so I figure a blue disc + purple day blade might work

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So I got the blades and cellophane. I ended up just using regular super glue for the tips because when I pressure fit them without glue, I had to use tool to pop them out. Added some horizontal scratches to the inside of the tip and blade plus the super glue and they are NOT coming off.
These won't be my dueling blades so I'm ok with that

I used about 5ft of cellophane and that worked perfectly. Thanx everyone for the advice. Got 100ft of cellophane from Michael's as suggested.

And the do indeed work with my TriGreen. There's no "photon" effect like I'd get with TriBlue, but because these are thin walled, they're even brighter than my UEHG blades which is FANTASTIC. And they look great even when off in regular lighting. I went with 26in and combined with the pointed tips, the staff is both taller than my height but just shy of 6ft, which is perfect

Pictures to follow!

I don't know which 'other guy' site i was researching, but I think one sells 'raw' purple PVC on clearance right now and the note said something like "Note: light doesn't shine through well in a purple tube and your saber will be dimmer" or something along those lines...

maybe it's just that specific batch and that's why it's on clearance. :D

TCSS has a thick walled purple day blade with a similar note. It's in their bargain basement. But I ordered thin walled, so that shouldn't be an issue.

But that reminds me, I sanding the outside of the photon blades for a good affect. I don't think I'll do the same for my purple blade since it's such a dark color already but we'll see

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I think that's the one I spotted as I was looking at MHS emitters.  Good luck and look forward to your pics.

So my thin-walled purple blade arrived and I tested it out with my son's VA saber and a white 9-LED flashlight.

The color with VA is EXACTLY what I wanted: rich, vibrant and not pastel at all, so when my saber with sound arrives, I'll be quite happy. The test with the white flashlight was noticeably different too, so the Silver FoC on my sound saber shouldn't get too obscured by the purple day blade.
Can't wait until my saber arrives.

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