Warhammer 40K Assassins Sword

I was asked by a member of the Dark Heresy LARP to modify his Bokken to give it a more 40K Imperial feel for his Assassin character to wear at the LARP.  He wanted a new handle extension, bound in the same manor as a Japanese Katana and turn the body of the sword in the scabbard.  A guard to be added in the shape of the Imperial two head eagle and power field generator to show what type of weapon it was.  The main point that I was told about the modification was that it had to be black.

The new handle would extend the length of the sword by two foot and curve the in opposite direction of the blade.  The end of the Bokken was cut into to makes a slot for the extension and three pieces of 1/2inch MDF were glued together to make the new handle.  Then it was just the simple matter of slotting the two together and screwing them in place.  I then sanded down the handle till it matched the curve and shape of the rest of the Bokken.

 

Luckily about a week before I got this commission I came across a diagram showing how the old masters created the weaves on the handles of Katanas.  So I had a rough idea as to what I was doing.  I started by wrapping the length of the handle in 2mm rope as a base for the grip.  This need to be tight as sin and also had to be done in two section as I bought out all the rope from the fabric store, which wasn't enough to do the hold length, and had to wait a week for them to get in more.

The Second layer of binding was done with black ribbon.  Starting at the bottom a twisting around the body of the handle to make this distinct cross pattern you see on Japanese swords.  I learned this method from a very helpful YouTube video.  I also, sadly, broken one of my clamps that I used to hold the ribbon in place during each twist.

The next step was the guard.  This was cut and carved from 1/2inch MDF.  getting the hold shape from the Bokken to fit through was the hardest part and required a few hours of sanding.  The rest of the wing detail was simple dremeled out.  I had to have this put on before I started the handle detail as I needed it for a starting point.  The second piece is the "power field generator".  It was just MDF cut and sanded to fit the curve of the sword.

Once the glue had dried is was a simple matter of added some extra details to turn it from a block of wood into something that came from the 40K Universe.  Which means skulls.  This was also painted black then D ringed clasps where added for the strap.

This was a fun build which was a great extra costume piece for the character.  Granted he only gets to wear is at cons but that is the time you really want to be showing off you best wears.  Of course I am not 100% happy with it.  The binding I'm quite proud of but I know the guard could have been better but that is the problem when working on a short deadline and also having a college project to hand it at the same time.  But I learn and move on and make the next build better.

-M