Of course, there are going to many ways to make a 1/6 scale sword. Stand next to a moving train and slip a nail under the wheel! Bit dangerous. For our endeavor, and believe me I wing it every time, we are making a broad sword similar to the Gladiator movie.

Luckily, I have light weight aluminum printing plates handy. The flat side of an aluminum can or some aluminum flashing used for roofing will work. Cut and fold a piece about 1” wide down to 1/2”. Flatten and wrap this piece around a 3 1/2” nail placed in the center. This will give us the ‘ridge’ running along the blade. Before flattening aluminum, run some contact cement inside for bonding. Slip out nail after applying pressure. When glue is ready, fold down and place under pressure until bonded.

Next we need a handle. This can be a 3 piece process. The front that attaches to the blade, the handle and the butt end. The but end is simply and plastic bead. The front and handle (1/8 dowel) are wood. Drill a hole in the front piece to slip handle through and into blade. There will be a hole in the blade bottom to slip it into. Handle may need to be sanded slightly to fit.

Cut, wrap and glue leather around handle for detail. Paint front piece and back bead with brown. Slip, fit and glue all pieces. I used crazy glue for mine. Detail paint with gold acrylic. 

To finish mine off completely, I noticed the piece joining the blade was a bit wide and have sanded and narrowed it to more closely represent the sword of the Gladiator.

  Slice and dice!