My board clamped down and ready to cut the base of the blade out
This is after cutting the base and gluing the halves together with the rod in the slot. I had to shim the rod up with wood scraps to make sure it was in the center. I've also got my pattern drawn on at this stage, it's faint because it's in pencil. I went over it with a pen before I started cutting so I could see what I was doing.
Basic shape cut out. All cuts have been done with a saber saw up to this point.
I used the electric planer again to take a little more thickness off and rough out my bevels and point, then I went in with an electric sander and low grit paper to refine the planer cuts.
Cut my cross guard out of MDF. One 3/4" piece wasn't thick enough and two were too thick so I cut a second one from a 1/4" sheet and glued them together. I'll be cutting the raised detail out of sheet styrene so that'll add a little more to the thickness.
I've still got a lot of refining to do on my blade and the cross guard needs a few coats of wood filler along the edges to even everything out. I hope to get a lot of that done and possibly drill the hole in the cross guard this weekend to mount it on the rod.
