Lightsaber Scabbard

[cstoehr]

Today I am going to present to the forum a costume accessory that I have been working on:  a lightsaber scabbard.  Now the first objection most of you will think is, "Why?  Lightsabers don't need scabbards, and Ultra Sabers attach directly to a covertec clip attached to your belt."  Those are completely valid observations.  Here is my response.  In the fictional Star Wars universe, lightsabers indeed do not require scabbards because there is no blade when the lightsaber is off.  In our real universe, our Ultra Sabers require a very real polycarbonate plastic blade whether the saber is on or off.  Although we have the option to attach our Ultra Sabers light saber to the covertec clip on our belt, there are times when another option, such as a scabbard, might be desirable.  It goes without saying that you would not want to be wearing a scabbard while dueling, but for costume parties, conventions, etc., a scabbard might be a desirable costume accessory.

I started working on this project when I started preparing my costume to wear to the Wizard World comic con coming to St. Louis in May.  I had just received the Malice as a raffle prize.  The Malice arrived with a 32" standard heavy grade blade, but no covertec wheel.  Emory advised me that the preferred place to mount the covertec wheel on the Malice was back by the pommel.  So that's where I put it.



The downside to that location is that most of the Malice hangs below my belt, and the blade tip is hitting the top of my shoe.  If the blade were 36", the blade tip would be dragging the floor.

The easiest way to solve the problem is to put on a shorter blade.  That solution works except that I find removing the saber from the covertec clip somewhat awkward with so little of the hilt actually above the covertec clip.  I'm also an old fashioned kind of swordsman.  I like the action of drawing my blade out of a scabbard.  Using a scabbard also allows me to use the longer blades because the hilt then is above the belt.  There are other ways to make a scabbard besides the one I am about to show you, but this way is probably the easiest and least costly way.  

I started with a 1" I.D. x 2 foot piece of standard PVC pipe.  I chose to start with a 2 foot pipe because my arm reach is a little short, and 24" blades are the easiest for me to draw from the scabbard.  The 1" O.D. Ultra Sabers blades fit very well inside the PVC pipe, and slide in and out very easily.  This 1" x 2 ft PVC pipe is readily available at The Home Depot as an off the shelf item; no custom cutting required.  To attach a covertec wheel to the PVC pipe, you will need the covertec wheel, a 1/8" drill bit, and an 8-32 thread tap.  Drill a hole about 1" from the end of the pipe, use the tap to cut the threads in the hole, and attach the covertec wheel.  Do not overtighten the metal screw or you may strip the plastic threads!  The PVC wall thickness is enough so that the screw will not stick out of the inside wall of the pipe.



Here's a picture of the pipe scabbard attached to the covertec clip.



Any Ultra Sabers lightsaber with a 24" blade inserted into this 2 foot scabbard will have about 2 inches or more of extra space inside at the bottom of the scabbard because of the 2 inches or more of the blade that is gripped in the hilt.  With standard 24" Ultra Edge Mid-Grade blades, light-weight hilts like Prophecy, Overlord, Archon, Chosen One, Graflex, and Dark Standard will be balanced enough for the hilt to stay on top.  Heavier hilts like Reaper require additional weight in the scabbard to balance the weight of the Reaper and keep the Reaper on top otherwise the Reaper will make the scabbard spin around and drop the Reaper on the floor.  There are any number of ways to add weight to the scabbard.  I had blade plugs and stainless steel BBs readily available so I used those.  First I filled the blade plug with the BBs.



Then I wrapped the filled blade plug with black electrical tape.



Don't use more than 1 layer of tape or the plug won't fit in the PVC pipe!  Despite the plug's snug fit, I drilled two 1/8" holes on opposite sides about 1 1/2" from the bottom end of the scabbard, threaded them with the 8-32 tap, and used two 8-32 x 3/16" long set screws to secure the plug in the scabbard.

Here the blade plug and set screws are partially inserted into the scabbard.


Here the blade plug and set screws are completely inserted into the scabbard.


Now with the additional weight at the bottom of the scabbard, the Reaper is well balanced and not only stays on top, but also quickly returns to the top after being rotated to a horizontal position.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for much heavier hilts like the Scorpion and Malice.  With standard 24" Ultra Edge Mid-Grade blades, both the Scorpion and Malice hilts immediately flip over and slide out.  Even 24" Heavy-Grade blades are not heavy enough to balance the weight of the Scorpion and the Malice.  Before I put the blade plug in the scabbard, the Malice was balanced as long as it had a 32" heavy grade blade.  So I made another PVC pipe scabbard 30" long for the Malice and Scorpion.  With the 30" scabbard and the 32" heavy grade blade, the Scorpion and the Malice are balanced and stay on top.

At this point any one of you who wants to make one of these can use your creativity to provide the scabbard with an exterior finish that will be compatible with your costume.  The scabbard can be painted, wrapped with leather or other fabric, or finished in whatever way you like.  I'm planning to finish at least one of mine with a black leather exterior.  I'll post more pictures after I get that done.  Also be aware, if you want to use a 30" or longer piece of PVC, you will likely have to custom cut a longer piece or have someone at the home improvement store do it for you.  It will also mean paying for the extra length of PVC that you don't want.  The only readily available lengths of PVC I could find either in-store or on-line were 2, 5, and 10 feet long.

[Drahcir]

This is certainly an interesting idea, I'd love to see a picture of it on you just to get a sense of how it looks. Also it sounds like customization of these is a necessity, when you get around to doing yours definitely post pictures.

[Nowhere]

good idea, man. points!

[cstoehr]

This is certainly an interesting idea, I'd love to see a picture of it on you just to get a sense of how it looks. Also it sounds like customization of these is a necessity, when you get around to doing yours definitely post pictures.

OK Drahcir, here's the pictures.

First, The Malice with 32" blade without the scabbard.  Observe the blade tip is located at the top of my slipper.


Next, Archon with 36" blade without the scabbard.  Observe the blade tip is touching the floor.


Next, Overlord with 24" blade inside the 24" scabbard.  Next to the lightsaber I am holding my Shinwa samurai katana.  If I had tied the katana scabbard to my belt, the katana hilt would also be positioned higher above my belt just like the lightsaber.


Next, The Malice with 32" blade inside the 32" scabbard.  


Finally, Archon with 36" blade inside the 32" scabbard.  This particular 32" scabbard is not plugged at the bottom, so a few inches of the lightsaber blade can be seen below the scabbard.  Observe that with the scabbard I can use a 36" blade without the blade dragging on the floor.

[Drahcir]

How comfortable is it with the scabbard?
I'm definitely curious to see where these go if you continue to work with them.

also point for you

[Nowhere]

you could rig up a thigh strap to keep it from flipping with the malice in it.

[cstoehr]

you could rig up a thigh strap to keep it from flipping with the malice in it.

Don't need any kind of thigh strap to keep it from flipping.  The combined weight of the blade and scabbard are more than the weight of the hilt.

How comfortable is it with the scabbard?
I'm definitely curious to see where these go if you continue to work with them.

also point for you

It's actually quite comfortable.

[Nowhere]

oh, okay, i thought i read above that the malice felt off balance or something to that effect.

i'm stoked to see the final product, man.

[cstoehr]

oh, okay, i thought i read above that the malice felt off balance or something to that effect.

i'm stoked to see the final product, man.

The Malice hilt is too heavy if you use any blade other than heavy-grade 32" or longer.

[Nowhere]

gotcha, i miss-read

[cstoehr]

I am now going to present to the forum the final part of my scabbard project:  covering the scabbard with leather.

The leather supplies and tools were the most expensive part of the project costing me a little over $300 U.S. at Tandy Leather.  I had originally planned to save money by gluing the leather to the pipe, but was advised by Tandy Leather that gluing might not hold the leather to the PVC with any durability.

Because Tandy Leather does not custom cut the leather to specifications, I had to buy a very large piece of leather and cut it myself.  Before cutting the leather, I laid the leather flat, upside down on my table and carefully drew my cut lines.



The solid lines are the cut lines.  The dashed lines mark the location to punch holes for the stitches.  I'm making four leather covered scabbards:  two at 24" length and two at 30" length.  The leather strips are 11.0 cm wide with the stitch holes 1/4" in from the outside edge.  If any of you choose to follow these instructions, do not make the strip any larger than 11.0 cm.  Doing so would either leave the leather loose on the scabbard pipe or leave a "pucker" in the middle of the stitch.  Don't make the strip any smaller than about 10.8 cm because then the stitch will not be able to close the gap between the edges of the leather.

I cut the leather with a hand-held rotary disk cutter using a metal yard stick as a straight-edge to keep my cut straight.  There are different tools available for punching the stitch holes.  I used a 6 prong hole punch with a mallet and followed the dashed lines I had drawn.  To keep the spacing consisting, I put the end prong in the last hole punched before punching the new holes.  Observe that I punched the holes in the leather over a rubber pad. 



After punching the stitch holes, I used a one-hole paper hole punch to punch a larger hole 1" from the end of the leather strip and 1" from the side of the strip.



This hole in the leather was then positioned over the covertec wheel screw hole in the scabbard pipe with the edge of the leather even with the top end of the pipe. 



The covertec wheel was then reattached to the scabbard.  I wrapped the leather around the pipe and temporarily fastened it in place with a couple of large paper clips and some rubber bands.  Because this scabbard is about 30 inches long and each individual stitch is 1/2" from hole to hole, I cut about 13 feet of thread from the spool.  The thread was pulled through the first hole from the underside until about 3" remained. 



This 3" of thread were left under the tightened stitch to anchor the stitch as opposed to tying a knot in the end of the thread.  I used a stitch called "The Baseball Stitch" because Tandy Leather recommended it and it was easier to do with the leather pressed against the pipe.  This stitch comes up through the hole, over the leather to the gap, then under the leather to the bottom of the opposite hole, and up through the opposite hole.



I pulled all of the stitches tight until I got down to the last 3 inches at which point I left the stitches loose. 



I inserted the needle and thread under the loose stitches and pulled the needle and thread up between the last tight stitch and the first loose stitch.



I then pulled the loose stitches tight.



I pulled the excess thread up under the stitch and then cut the end.



I discovered a little excess leather at the bottom possibly due to stretching as I stitched it.  This excess was cut off with the scissors.

Here is the completed scabbard.

[Noctis]

Wow, this is SO COOL!!!  I wish I had some highly important technical praise to give you, but you'll just have to settle for my flailing.

[Drahcir]

That ended up coming out really nice, it looks great.

[cstoehr]

Wow, this is SO COOL!!!  I wish I had some highly important technical praise to give you, but you'll just have to settle for my flailing.

Thank you.  I'll be content with some Force points, please.  The best part is that I'm on vacation from work this week and have time to work on this project.  Before coming to check my email, I was stitching another scabbard while watching The Masters golf tournament.

[chui]

The scabbard is a beautiful piece of work.  You did a wonderful job on keeping the stitches uniform.  I see where you said you trimmed the excess at the bottom; out of curiosity, did you use any type of finishing on it?  Or did you leave the edge free?  In the picture it looks like the leather is naturally conforming to the pipe, and I'm just wondering if that is the case, or if there is something securing it.