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Description
One of the 21 Great Grade Swords, Shuusui.

I've noticed everyone and their dog was making katanas you can take apart and I decided I wanted to make one. Originally it was going to be a Bleach zanpakutou but I dropped plans on cosplaying Bleach so I made it into Shuusui.

Everything on the sword itself is made of poplar. The blade was cut out with a jigsaw and then shaped with a belt sander. The habaki, was 2 pieces of wood carved out with a dremel, glued together and then shaped. The guard I designed in Adobe Illustrator before cutting it out. The endcap on the handle was probably about 7 pieces of 1/4 inch wood glued together and then shaped with a dremel and palm sander. The mekugi pegs were cut from a 1/4 inch poplar dowel.

The sheath itself was made of entirely of pine. I hollowed out 2 pieces of 3/4 inch wood with a router and then lined it with some fabric that I had leftover after making my Goku boots[link] , then glued them together. After that I used a planer and a belt sander to get it down to about 3/4 of an inch thick. Then I shaped it with a palm sander. Some areas I took off too much and it was weak so I used some bondo which solved the problem nicely. The endcap was 2 half inch pieces of wood glued together, carved out and shaped with a dremel. The throat is the same. I glued some of the same fabric to line that after everything else and because of that, it keeps the habaki nice and snug.

The sword was completely painted with spraypaints, nothing was handpainted. I followed ~fixinman 's guide on painting a tempered edge[link] . I applied the same thing when painting the symbols on the sheath. It was a pain cutting them out. Took about 3 hours just to trace and cut out the stencils. After that I wetsanded and varnished everything. Also, having a katana that you can take apart makes it a hell of alot easier to paint.

Hmm what else can I say? Oh yeah, the tsumaki is simply half inch bias tape ironed down to 3/8 of an inch. I couldn't find the right coloured shoelaces>_<.

You should also check out ~piratecaptain 's page. Without his guides I wouldn't have been able to make this sword the way I did.

Description
One of the 21 Great Grade Swords, Shuusui.

I've noticed everyone and their dog was making katanas you can take apart and I decided I wanted to make one. Originally it was going to be a Bleach zanpakutou but I dropped plans on cosplaying Bleach so I made it into Shuusui.

Everything on the sword itself is made of poplar. The blade was cut out with a jigsaw and then shaped with a belt sander. The habaki, was 2 pieces of wood carved out with a dremel, glued together and then shaped. The guard I designed in Adobe Illustrator before cutting it out. The endcap on the handle was probably about 7 pieces of 1/4 inch wood glued together and then shaped with a dremel and palm sander. The mekugi pegs were cut from a 1/4 inch poplar dowel.

The sheath itself was made of entirely of pine. I hollowed out 2 pieces of 3/4 inch wood with a router and then lined it with some fabric that I had leftover after making my Goku boots[link] , then glued them together. After that I used a planer and a belt sander to get it down to about 3/4 of an inch thick. Then I shaped it with a palm sander. Some areas I took off too much and it was weak so I used some bondo which solved the problem nicely. The endcap was 2 half inch pieces of wood glued together, carved out and shaped with a dremel. The throat is the same. I glued some of the same fabric to line that after everything else and because of that, it keeps the habaki nice and snug.

The sword was completely painted with spraypaints, nothing was handpainted. I followed ~fixinman 's guide on painting a tempered edge[link] . I applied the same thing when painting the symbols on the sheath. It was a pain cutting them out. Took about 3 hours just to trace and cut out the stencils. After that I wetsanded and varnished everything. Also, having a katana that you can take apart makes it a hell of alot easier to paint.

Hmm what else can I say? Oh yeah, the tsumaki is simply half inch bias tape ironed down to 3/8 of an inch. I couldn't find the right coloured shoelaces>_<.

You should also check out ~piratecaptain 's page. Without his guides I wouldn't have been able to make this sword the way I did.