Some planning and stenciling

Well, so today is a layout day! I have the rough cut triangles and the loftwing stenciled, so now to start putting it together and planning out the rim and thorn-work on the face.  I will need to know general shape and size to fit this particular shield so it all fits together well. I began by planning out the accents in the rim which are basically pentagons of various proportions.  I will have a 1" band around the perimeter of the face and when you combine that with placement of the triangle and the loftwing it starts to show how the thornwork will fit in.  This is good because now I have the dimensions of those pieces and can do more cutting!

Only needing one side as I will mirror the pieces for the other side. Here is where we are:

You can start to see how the design will shape up on the face of the shield.  The thorns are rough sketch with the accents being more precisely lined. I'll clean up the thorns and use a French curve set to ensure the curves are aesthetically pleasing.

The pentagons will be made from either 1/8" or 3/16" mild steel plate (I haven't decided which yet). The banding itself will be 16ga sheet. The thorns will be 3/16" mild steel but will be hollow ground as in the design such that it will have a spine that flows with the lines.

You can see also where I will be hiding the bolts for the grip straps to hide the unsightly mounts. The bottom part of the straps will be built into two of the accent pentagons and the top ones will be built into the larger thorns.

On the reverse side, I have the loftwing (bird) lined in and ready to emboss into the steel.

Not too shabby, I say!

Until next time!

Some interesting press...

Hey all! I noticed since designing the greatest of Master Swords and having Brendan bring my concept to reality, it's gotten some notice!

Here are some articles (the KoH one grabbed some quotes from me to write) that spotlight the most combat ready Master Sword to exist to date:

Knights of Hyrule (http://www.knightsofhyrule.org/2013/10/realistic-master-sword-keeps-knights-line-true/)

Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/do-you-have-a-real-master-sword-this-guy-does-1451138869/all)

RipItUp (http://www.ripitup.co.nz/gaming/youre-probably-not-as-big-a-zelda-fan-as-this-guy/)

It's cool to see the sword get some notice. I cannot express how well balanced and beautiful it is! It slices through bamboo and rolled newspaper, foam and other common cutting targets like a hot knife through butter!

When at rest, it has a treasured place on my wall:

A triforce has been minted

Hi all! Well I have the brass cut for the triforce on the face of the shield! Taking a total of 5 hours of cutting with an extremely fine kerf diamond carbide blade saw, the three triangles are rough cut.  They now need to be slightly bent to match the curvature of the shield, beveled and polished.  I then will form the framing from 1/8" diameter iron.  And then I can begin embossing the Loftwing (the Phoenix looking bird on the face) into the steel.  I have laid the triangles on the face to give you all an idea...

It's coming slowly, but good things are worth the wait!

Down to brass tacks

Wow, it has been a while since I posted! Loving the sword, and at this point the costume for Link itself is done except the distressing (I will cover that when I get to it). Today let's talk about the shield.  It is going slow, but I do have the basic 16ga. steel blank which will serve as my foundation of the shield prepped and ready.  Good heater shield shape.

I also have gotten as far as the triforce stencil made and the first set of triangles cut from the 3/16" brass plate.  Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to cut 3/16" thick 260 machine brass by hand? Wow.

So it'll be a short update today but progress is being made! Once the triangles are all cut I will begin the beveling and polishing process...