This is an assault weapon!

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James wanted his sister Kim to make him a costume for a gaming convention he goes to every year in August. This was the character (Siegfried):

Kim wanted to give him the sword for Christmas and wanted some help with it. What follow are some pictures of it’s construction–which isn’t complete yet.


Caleb, myself, and Dad are doing some tweaking of the design I had come up with.
Photo by Kim.


I’m implementing the grip Dad had suggested (it worked well).
Photo by Kim.


Caleb inspects part of the blade.
Photo by Kim.


The handle and the piece that attach to the blade.
Photo by Kim.


Cutting the handle to the proper length.
Photo by Kim.


Kim had never seen an arc welder in use before. Dad is welding the blade to the grip attachment.
Photo by Caleb.


Caleb, myself, and Dad work on the attachment. The new tractor tires I told you about are in the background.
Photo by Kim.


The main part of the blade is made of two pieces of 16 gauge steel. These had to be clamped down on the edges and then welded.
Photo by Kim.


Near the tip we used a wood spacer to make the blade thicker along the centerline.
Photo by Kim.


Here I’m using my cousin Allen’s MIG welder on the blade edges.
Photo by Kim.


Smoothing off the edges where the tip will attach.
Photo by Kim.


Caleb and Kim clamping the tip in place prior to welding.
Photo by Joe.


The tip is welded on one side. Kim is turning it over so I can weld the other side.
Photo by Joe.


Me welding.
Photo by Caleb.


All the metal assembly is done and it’s “usable”.
Photo by Kim.


Kim is pleased.
Photo by Joe.


Caleb thinks is it pretty cool too.
Photo by Joe.


James thinks it is awesome. Now if he can just figure out how he can get it back to the Seattle area.
Photo by Xenia.

Kim and Caleb still have some work to do on it. It needs to be buffed (it will take on a mirror like finish), coated, the grip wrapped in leather, and minor other tweaks.

It is surprisingly stiff. When smoothing out the welds with his grinder Caleb said he supported it on opposite ends and used it as a bench. And that it was strong enough to sit on.

If you have the muscle for it this would be quite the “assault weapon”. It never needs to be reloaded and if it had an sharp edge it would be as deadly as any ordinary firearm.

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7 thoughts on “This is an assault weapon!”

  1. To quote a character from an old movie, “That’s not a knife, THAT’S a knife.”

    I’m not certain how you kept the two pieces of 16 ga from “flattening” when you welded their edges together. Is there an internal stiffener running down the center? And how much does the darn thing weigh?

  3. The movie was Crocodile Dundee and the lines of interest are here. Yup. That says it pretty well.

    There are two items in the center. About half the distance is the piece of wood you see sticking out the tip which was cut off before welding on the real tip. The piece that attaches to the handle runs the other half. This keeps it from flattening. But the resultant semi-flattened tube of 16 gauge steel gives it most of the strength.

  4. This is probably the coolest Christmas present I’ve ever received. Just for reference that first picture isn’t the costume I’ll be going with. The armor would just be too tough to get right. I’m going with Siegfried’s alternate costume from Soul Calibur 3 which Kim has been helping me with. Also, the technical term for this kind of sword is “zweihander” although historical zweianders are usually much thinner and not quite as tall.

  5. Caleb and I just weighed it. It is currently 31 pounds. It probably will gain a few ounces as it gets its finishing touches.

    James says this is the actual costume Kim is helping James make.

  6. No offense, because that’s one of the coolest gifts I’ve ever seen, but it appears that you’ve made it at about 125% of scale – perhaps because of the perspective effect of the manga image on which you based it.

    Judging from that image, the blade hilt should be right at armpit height on the wielder or perhaps a little lower, not a foot taller than his shoulder. The forced perspective of the image places the blade much closer to the “camera,” thus magnifying the size.

    But still, way cool!

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