Making waster ... help

[James_Knowles]

Anybody know good on-line references about woodworking? I'm attempting to build my first waster. I'm a complete doofus that shouldn't be within ten metres of power tools. <img src="/forum/images/icons/blush.gif" alt="" />

While not bad for a first go IMHO, I've got wavy places in the blade, the two cross pieces don't match 100%, and the handle is similarly uneven. I don't have a clue how to refine this at all.

Pictures and details of my sad tale may be had by clicking here

Any help appreciated!

[Ryan Ricks]

it looks like you did a pretty good job, actually. as long as your waster holds up, i think it would be fine.

one thing you may consider doing to make your waster less blade heavy is give it either a distal (thickness) taper or a width taper.

if you have a planer (preferrably a power planer/joiner) you can taper your blade depending on what kind of sword you want. if you want more of a cutting/war sword, you can shave down the thickness of the blade so that it gets thinner as you get towards the point. my waster starts out at 3/4" thick at the hilt, then tapers down to about 3/8ths " thick at the tip. it's also got a slight width taper. as long as you leave enough wood along the strong of the blade where you parry there should be no problems with breakage.

if you want more of a tapered bastard/thrusting sword, you can leave the thickness more or less the same, and taper the width down to a point. the bastard waster i made for my friend starts out 3" wide at the ricasso, and comes to a point with about the diameter of a penny.

if done correctly, each one of these should have a balance similar to what a real sword would, without having to fill the pommel with lead.

you can probably do this with a simple planer, but i imagine it'd take a while. i tried taking pictures of my wasters, but they came out too dark.

ryan

[JeffGentry]

Well have recently made 2 wooden waster's so i am still refining my design but i just used a 6 foot 1inx2in ( it actualy is 3/4inc thick by an 1 3/4inch's wide) oak board 6 foot long cut it to 48 inch's went up from one end ten inch's for the handle took 8 inch's that i cut off and used it for the cross gaurd i chisled it out to fit and pegged it with a dowel, then i rounded the square edge's off the blade and round the tip to a slight point but not to sharp with a sheet sander but you could use a wood rasp will take more time and effort and then just round the handle a bit so it is not square in your hand not to hard to do and real no power tool's necessary it might take a little longer take's me about an hour and a half, i used mine today for the first time it was not bad work fairly well.

[Shane Smith]

The best way to keep your waster blades and handles straight is to NOT use the jigsaw for rough cutting. The short length of the jigsaw blades cross-section will allow it to walk all over your layout lines(they are actually used most often to cut radiuses and fine detail work).To get a straight cut,use a saw with a great deal of blade contact with the waster blank. A skilsaw works wonderfully in my experience.The 7" blade will actually make it difficult for you to cut a crooked line as it has so much surface area within the cut.You would literally have to twist the blade in the wood to get a really awfull cut. I agree with the above comment that a bit of taper in the blades length probably wouldn't hurt.The 3/8" wide edge you put on the blade may be more prone to splintering and/or cracking than a beefier edge profile as well. Keep us posted on that please.

For the two-piece crossguard, I would put one dowel through the crosses center and the waster blank and then one all the way through the crossguard on each end(all glued with wood glue of course). That said,I do believe a one-piece cross pinned only in the center through the blank to be more easily made and perhaps more durable.

Also,have look at Jeff's thread on this very issue here http://www.thearma.org/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=openresearch&amp;Number=6940&amp;page=1&amp;view=collapsed&amp;sb=5&amp;o=&amp;fpart=1 There are alot of interesting ideas there in all of the posts. <img src="/forum/images/icons/cool.gif" alt="" />

[Jared L. Cass]

Hey there, James! Here's an old thread from last year where I describe how I make my wasters...and with out power tools.

http://www.thearma.org/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=openresearch&amp;Number=1470&amp;page=42&amp;view=collapsed&amp;sb=5&amp;o=&amp;fpart=2&amp;vc=1

The whole thread is worth a read as this subject has come up before. I think there are some more waster related threads back around the time of this older one...like at and after page 41 of this forum.

Good luck with what ever method you go with...they really aren't too hard to make <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

And I agree, that waster looks fine to me! So long as it holds up in drills and is at least reasonably close to a decent weight/balance...that's all that matters. Looks should be a secondary consideration IMO <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Jared L. Cass, ARMA Associate, Wisconsin

[James_Knowles]

The waster turned out pretty good. Thanks for the advice!

I did some half-speed sparring with it today for about 20 minutes. I'm very pleased with it.

While not "perfect," it's much better tuned to my liking than my Wooden Weapons waster. I like that one, and it's been one heck of a resilient waster, but I like to tinker and wanted to try tuning the design to my tastes.

If anybody's curious, I updated my web page detailing what I did.

[Shane Smith]

That came out pretty nice James! Let us know how the filled pommel holds up once you've cracked a fencing mask or two with it in a historically-accurate manner.If that pommel holds,you are good to go! <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />

[Matthew_Anderson]

Pretty nice. I don't recommend shaping the edges like that however. It makes the edges too thin and more prone to chipping and splitting. It also makes it more painful to get hit with. I generally just round the edges, leaving them the full thickness of the stock. When making wasters, you have to resist the temptation to make them look like real swords, functionality and durability are more important.

[James_Knowles]

I don't recommend shaping the edges like that however. It makes the edges too thin and more prone to chipping and splitting.

That's what I'm worried about. It's more an experiment than anything else. I wanted to see how it affected balance, since I don't have an easy way to create a fuller. I'm quite shocked at the positive effect, really.

functionality and durability are more important

I don't know how it'll weather abuse, but I learn through trial and error -- emphasis on "error."

I appreciate the feedback!

[James_Knowles]

Let us know how the filled pommel holds up

I'm following the lead of a fellow study group member, who's had good luck with it. I'm kind of sceptical, but I'll try almost anything a time or two. <img src="/forum/images/icons/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the feedback!