Jedi Lightsaber

Just a question for my fellow Jedi....has anyone ever wanted a custom built lightsaber? Whether for a collectable, or to wear when you dress up for Halloween, or to go see the New film, or just for cosplay?

I am in the process of ordering one myself, custom made just for me, with my input and ideas and was just wondering if anyone else ever wanted this? I can recommend an excellent sabersmith....

In my experience, so long as you have a steady hand, just do it yourself. It gets about as custom as your skills and tools allow for, it gets exactly how you want it without artistic input from anyone else and it costs you the least for a worthwhile product. Now, that being said, I much appreciate the work of people such as VV, LDM, JQ and madcow. Its more about the difference between a 3000$ product you can be happy you bought or a product worth perhaps 1000 at the cost of 400 but where you can say you put your blood and sweat into making it a reality

Before I went on building mine I was actually not even considering it and really thought to order instead. I don't regret the decision I ended up making for a second however. She sure isn't the work of a master of the arts, but she is unique and most importantly: She will always remain mine in more than one sense of that word, no matter how far she might travel should I ever face the misfortune of having to give her up to the market.

Cool. I would love that.

Excess attachment alert!!!! haha just kidding.

I'm slowly (like 30 years) accumulating parts of 'value'. I've only got an outer covering and one other piece LOL, I can see this thing not getting finished but I'll defer that fear to belief in some sort of law of accelerating returns!

But for me, I only see them as tools to refine one's spirit, and for that I divide it into an object to exercise mind (focal point for meditation) and space (wielding).... a sort of meditative neo-calisthenics perhaps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomotor_learning

So in the meantime I bought a plastic double bladed one.

Oh, I'd love one.

I've always wanted to create one, too, but unfortunately I haven't got the necessary manual skills.

I've never really loved the idea because I don't do cosplay or have replicas of anything else...


...but the other day it occurred to me I've never seen one with a wooden handle and brass metalwork, and I just started to fantasise a little bit.

Something like this, but with brass instead of whatever that is (plastic?):

FYI, Nicole, I started with 0 skill. It was my first and so far my last crafting project with no prior or posterior exercise. Can't say it went perfect (Murphy's Law etc), but I far from ruined it.

tzb, those are Gungi replicas from ForceRelics. The grey bits are printed plastic, and I think the actual pommel and emitter piece are matte aluminium, iirc. Anyway, they had two runs of those as to my knowledge, both just with empty hilts for DIY builders and sabersmiths, so if you're lucky you can find someone selling theirs, but expect a higher cost for it.
I also remember FR to sell custom wooden sleeve pieces for TCSS MHS parts, but those may have been runs, too, so idk if you can get any. TCSS does sell at least one type of wooden sleeve tube now, too, though it won't get you those wavy shapes - only a lathe would.

If anything its worth building your first saber yourself, if only just to gain a greater appreciation for the craftsmanship that goes into it....I've built quite a few of them myself...and plan on building one for my nephew...I have bought one too, from ultrasabers...

Btw that wood handle is beautiful....I have access to a lathe too....

Ok so I got bored and couldn't sleep so I finished my nephews saber....and it is functional...

Just curious, Riu, what lense did you use for that one? It looks like a rather wide angle although that may be because digital cameras tend to dim overly bright areas.

The luxeon and lense were both sourced from an old single led dorcy headlamp....it was brighter than pictured....when I snapped the pic with my phone I could see the auto adjust working...without the blade the light creates a 6 inch patch at 6 feet, so it's a pretty tight beam...my ultrasaber luxeon 3 isn't that tight...

Before snapping the pic the hilt was barely visible on the screen...I wasn't sure it was gonna be seen until the auto adjust did it's thing...

I built this last year. Plumbing parts, fire department ladder rung, parts from Custom Saber Shop, and other stuff.

If anyone is interested in getting one made by this master of sabers, here is his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/HamptonsHandCraftedLightsabers

I have a purchased one a friend gave me. Its Ultrasaber's nickel plated collectors replica of Luke's saber from the first movie. Hell of a gift to get for no reason at all. I treat it as my "practice" saber for all intents and look forward to crafting one with my own two hands.

I should amend that by saying I DID craft one...but its 4 solid steel plumbing pieces and a solid steel pipe for the blade, wrapped in green electrical tape. I treat it the same way one might treat a weighted bat in baseball practice. Also, will likely be my head bashing tool when the zombie apocalypse happens.

I would love to build my own lightsaber, I just don't even know where to start. I'm sure I could do it I just need to do some research on them.

Nshepler wrote: I would love to build my own lightsaber, I just don't even know where to start. I'm sure I could do it I just need to do some research on them.

Start with a sketch of what you want, then visit the hardware store (lowe's or home depot have a large selection of parts)look for parts that closely resemble what you want, then go to work...you can also visit some sabersmith sites for ideas and browse the forums here for some of the saber pics already posted...even the internal electronics are fairly simple, just requires a bit of planning beforehand so you don't wire an internal switch externally :lol:

I'd like to ask a few questions about saber construction if I could.

I'm looking to build one, I have sort of giggled about one for some time now, but had a vision/dream about constructing one. I have a basic idea, just not sure how to turn it to reality.

I'm looking at using the custom saber shop for parts for most of it however. Ideally I would like to have it so I could attach a blade and have sound at some point.

I am going to use the grips from the motorcycle we crashed as my handle piece. Well not the exact ones because those are gone but I am going to get exact copies of them.

Thanks ahead of time for any tips and or suggestions!
Roz

Jedi_Roz wrote: I'd like to ask a few questions about saber construction if I could.

I'm looking to build one, I have sort of giggled about one for some time now, but had a vision/dream about constructing one. I have a basic idea, just not sure how to turn it to reality.

Even though I shun most associations with Star Wars, I have begun to investigate the idea of having a ceremonial saber, so I can relate.

Jedi_Roz wrote: I'm looking at using the custom saber shop for parts for most of it however. Ideally I would like to have it so I could attach a blade and have sound at some point.

I highly recommend this route for anyone. Tim, who started and (afaik) runs the Custom Saber Shop, is an excellent craftsman who works hard to deliver exactly what you're looking for. CSS is expensive though and you shouldn't do what I did when I built my first saber and that was to skimp on the parts because I was cheap. Buy the parts one at a time if you have to. Attaching a blade and putting in sound are not terribly difficult. You just have to make sure your hilt has enough from for the electronics.

Jedi_Roz wrote: I am going to use the grips from the motorcycle we crashed as my handle piece. Well not the exact ones because those are gone but I am going to get exact copies of them.

I would strongly suggest researching glues for affixing the grips. I used a glue (can'tremember what now) that smeared all over my hilt and it looked terrible. I had spend a lot of time using acetone to strip the excess glue from my hilt and it was a real pain in the behind.

I found it a good time to start when you are confident but not excited. In other words, don't rush to do it too early but don't be afraid that it may not be time yet. I gathered information and drew concept art and wiring diagrams and read forums and watched videos for months before I ordered my parts. They say everything that can go wrong will go wrong, and everything did. Yet, despite having no prior crafting experience to speak of, by the time my file touched the metal there was almost nothing left to go wrong at all, because I knew about the mistakes newbies typically do and because the plan was flexible but clear. You can know what you are doing without having the experience yourself but it will be mistakes you learn from, be those yours or someone else's.
In short: Don't let the enthusiasm rush you in too soon but don't let angst hold you back once you do know what you're going for.