These are instructions on how to make your own wood sword for under a dollar . We went through a pirate “kick” for a few weeks where all my kids wanted to do was be a pirate, everything became a “pirate ship”.
That big box we got? Yeah.
The couch? Yup.
Their mattresses, the bushy corner of the backyard, the playground, we were obsessing in our pretend play!
Make a Sword:
You will need wood trim – thank you Lowes – love the creative ideas for the assistance of your sales staff. The plank of trim was about an inch thick, two inches wide and eight feet long. We got a wood screw that was 2 1/4″ long. We also got a tube of wood glue. After making several swords we discovered that with repeated banging the handle starts to wobble, glue prevents that.
Tools we used to make the sword:
Drill – hubs drilled the hole and my son assembled the screw/bolt. Saw – or you can have the fella at Lowes cut the wood for you. Sander – you can use regular sandpaper, but we LOVE our electric sander – we can make half a dozen swords in mere minuets with the help of the sander.
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Instructions:
Cut the strips into 1-2 feet lengths (depending on how long your kids want them – longer is more unstable and harder to maneuver in battles). Cut another two 4-5 inch segments per sword. After you sand all the wood to remove splinters, drill a hole the width of your bolt through the three boards, one sword and two handle segments. Add a bead of glue where the handle meets the sword and thread the bolt through the hole, adding the nut to the end. If you want to have fewer bruised knuckles (but a greater risk of splintering the sword during battle) you can counter sink the bolt and nut so they are flush with the sword.Final Touch on Becoming a Pirate:
The eye patch. We cut the black “portion” out of felt. We cut two slits on the sides of the “patch” and threaded elastic through them, knotting the ends. Viola.
Fabulous, this would have come in handy at our boys pirate party a few months ago.
Mari