Making

I considered what materials I could use to construct the prop but everything would have needed a very realistic paint job and for a closeup in a film I just don't think I'd be able to achieve a finish I would be happy with so I think I'm going to plasma cut it all out of sheet steel and test my metal working skills.

Soon after researching I made this quick template as a tester for scale, leaving 3mm all the way around the inside as the plasma cutter would rest on the edge so it balances out the size, otherwise it'd come out bigger.

I wasn't completely happy with the previous design so I made some changes and drew it on some thicker card so it would be easier to transfer it onto a sheet of MDF minus 3mm all the way round.

After transferring the design onto MDF I used the band saw in the workshop to cut it out and the sanding wheel to neaten up my edges. 

The template was clamped to the sheet steel and the plasma cutter was moved around the edge to get the shape.

 Using a hand held grinder I neatened up all the excess metal and rough surfaces. I also ground off the colouring on the sheet steel to reveal the natural steel and I ground in a false edge so it looks functional but in reality it's blunt and safe.

I used the pillar drill in the workshop to drill holes down the handle of the knife so that wooden grips could be fixed on with metal pins (nails). I used oil to lubricate the metal whilst drilling.

The metal hand guard was made using the same technique as the knife and I used the pillar drill and various hand files to cut out the small strip in the middle so it would fit over the handle. This was relatively time consuming only due to the filing.

The hand guard was welded to the knife and the excess was again removed using the hand grinder.

I found some scrap wood in the workshop and proceeded to draw and cut out this rough pair of grips to be sanded down and filed.

I drilled holes so I could assemble the whole thing whilst working on the hand grips. I removed them to run them on the belt sander and pillar sander.

Finally using a hack saw I cut down the nails to the appropriate size.

I used super glue to aid in making sure the hand guards wouldn't come off but the super glue set super quickly so my grips dried on slightly wonky so the pins didn't fit. The most crushing moment happened when I had to use a clamp to force off the wood and sand everything down again, sadly the grips were too squashed to be reusable so I quickly made some new ones from the left over spare wood.

I repeated everything and all the same techniques but this time made sure all the parts were in the correct position before applying super glue.

Here is the final prop. I ran the handle and it all through the buffer in the workshop and am currently in search of some varnish to finish the handle to a darker state and I may continue to work on it as I make the rest of the costume.