Fig. 144.
Wooden Swords, Knives, and Daggers.—Before beginning work, read Marking, Knife, Whittling, Paring, Rounding Sticks, Rasp, File, and Sandpaper, and look up any other references. The construction of those shown in Fig. 144 is too obvious to require special description. First cut the general outline as shown, then round or pare or shave to the thickness required. If you have a bow-saw or scroll-saw, it will save much time in shaping the outlines, or you can have them sawed at the mill. If you stain these weapons with various colours, as red, black, yellow, etc., and in various patterns, and shellac them neatly (see Finishing), you can turn out quite a formidable array of awe-inspiring weapons. They should be made of some straight-grained and easily whittled wood. Nothing is better than white pine.
Fig. 145.
To make a sword like that shown in Fig. 145, first select a piece of straight-grained wood (ash or any strong wood) about 2½' in length, 3/16" thick, and 1" wide. About 4" from one end make a mark. From this mark taper the edges to the other end. Do not taper the stick too gradually. Then draw a line along the centre of each side and taper from this centre line to the edges, leaving the edges about 1/16" thick. Next get out two pieces of wood 1/8" thick and 4" long (some dark-coloured wood can be used for contrast). Nail one of these pieces with brads on each side of the 4" space left for the handle. Next get a piece 4" long, ¼" thick, and ¾" wide (see Fig. 145). Mark it as shown, making the marks for the holes (3/16") so the outside edge of one will be just 1" from the outside edge of the other. Then bore these holes carefully (see Boring) and cut out the wood between them with a knife or chisel (being careful about splitting) and shape the outside as marked. Slip the blade through the hole in the guard you have just made up to the handle and nail the guard to the blade.
Fig. 146.