Tutorial Making the SnK (Attack on Titan) swords

So I'm currently making a 3DMG cosplay set to be a cool kid at local conventions. One thing that really bothered me was how hard it is to make the sword handles.

If you don't remember what I'm talking about, here's a pic of the retarded Mikasa sheathing in her left sword:



The swords are extremely specific and look like nothing I've seen before:

-> They have 2 triggers, 1 lever, and 1 button.
-> The triggers are used to extend/retract the hook
-> The lever is used to fire the hook
-> The button operates the blade locking mechanism
-> They are connected to the hook launchers using gas tubes which themselves contain three gas tubes each
-> They look cool

Of course, like everything comprising the 3DMG, the anime version looks a lot different from the manga version. The anime one looks wowmazing so I'll focus on this one.

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Materials required

- a 5mm (0.19685 inches for you Americans) thick wood sheet. I used a 40cm * 80cm (15.748 in * 31.4961 in)
- Traditional woodworking tools.
- Glue. Prefer wood glue.
- A bike brake lever, with a stainless steel look
- Stainless-steel-look spray paint & traditional black acrylic paint. The black paint will be applied using a brush.
- Around 100ml of acetone. Be careful when using Acetone.
- Tissues to dip in the acetone.

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We'll start with the basics: the sword will be comprised of 3 "layers". Layers are just wood parts glued on top of each other. The layer technique, while a bit hard to apprehend, is definitely the best way. Carving the handle out of wood requires both time, money, and experience. When adding a layer to the bottom, we will add the same layer to the top of the handle. Given that we're adding 2 layers on top of the middle one, we will be adding the same two layers to the bottom, which leads us to a total of 5 layers, which translated to a 2.5 cm thick sword handle.

The middle layer will contain the mechanism to lock the blades inside. This "mechanism" is in fact just a hole shaped like the blade plug, while featuring the triggers and the button. The next layer will cover the middle one, but without the triggers (to give the illusion that there are actual 5mm thick triggers on the handle). The last layer will feature the "top part" which has two safety locks on the top layer as well as a gas tube connector on the bottom one. The same layer will also have a leather-looking thing to handle the swords correctly without them slipping out of their hands.

This leads us to a total of 7 pieces of wood per handle.

Here is a pic of the parts, printed, cut, and laid out on a wood sheet:



And here is a pic I found of the handles. Print it out:





You will have to carve a hole in the middle layer shaped like the blade plug. Here is my version of the blade plug:



Carve it a bit more: the blade has to to be inserted properly, and therefore be a bit loose while locked inside the handle.




The last pic shows the different parts. Please note this was the mark one, do not apply the paint right now. Please. Also, I completely failed at getting the locking mechanism right, and most parts are cut like garbage. Also, I forgot to cut out the triggers on this one.


This one shows a bit more what it is supposed to look like. The orange part is part of the third layer though.

I have to go sorry, part II will be coming soon.

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