PVC Training Khopesh (sickle Sword)

Hey everyone, today I'll be showing you a walk-through on how I made a PVC Khopesh (sickle sword), which can be used as a training weapon or prop.

Since this was my first attempt at making a training sword, I did make a couple of mistakes along the way, but hopefully you'll get some idea of the main steps in make your own Khopesh.

I'd like to say that this is not a historically accurate replica, since I took inspiration from both the traditional Egyptian Khopesh, and the Dothraki Arakh from Game Of Thrones.

So to make this I used:

MATERIALS:

• 60-70cm (24-28in) of 3/4 inch UPVC pipe
• Para-cord
• 1x 3/4 inch end-cap
• 5cm (2in) of 1 inch UPVC pipe
• Duct tape
• Insulating tape
  

TOOLS:

• Hack saw
• Sandpaper
• Heat gun or other heat source (E.G. kitchen stove)

I made two pen marks: one 15cm, and the other 25cm from one end

I then slipped the 5 cm length of pipe over the first mark, (to separate the blade from the handle), and put on the end-cap.

Note: you could use PVC primer and cement, but i decided not to since everything will be secured with tape later.

I used a gas burner to heat the PVC, bit by bit, all the way from the first pen mark to the tip, and then pressed it as flat as I could with a piece of wood. From the second mark i heated and bent the blade, first down, then across, and up, in order to achieve the curved blade. I ended up with something slightly resembling a Khopesh or Arakh. The problem I faced, was that every time i heated up the blade to form the curve, it kept on trying to widen back out into a tube, so I had to keep flattening when i should have been bending. You could probably avoid this problem by using a heat gun to heat up the desired area evenly and quickly.

I cut the tip diagonally to give it a point. I then covered the whole thing in 3 layers of duct-tape to give it more impact resistance. I wrapped the handle in 550 para-cord and wrapped the blade in 2 layers of insulating tape.

So that's it - the blade isn't as curved as I would have liked it to be but it still looks cool and could be great for cosplay or just some sword-fighting practice.

I would love to see some examples of PVC swords or other weapons people have made, so if you have one please leave a pic of it in the comments.

Anyway, i hope you liked this walk-through/tutorial, if you did please vote for me in the Duct tape, Sci-fi and Trash to Treasure contests :-)