Ninja Gaiden: Real Dragon Sword

So I've been a Ninja Gaiden fan since Ninja Gaiden Black came out, and I always thought it would be neat to have a replica of the Dragon Sword. I've seen some replicas for sale online but all of them were pretty sad and definitely not functional. Then I had the idea to take one of those replicas and salvage what I could to make a functional sword. Here I'll show you what I came up with and how I did it.

 

For starters here's some pics of the sword from the game. 

 

And here's what I have to work with. On the right we have a cheap Dragon Sword Replica. There are parts I can salvage from this including the tsuba (guard) and some metal fittings from the sheath. On the left we have a pretty basic entry level katana by Musha, which will supply the blade and wood tsuka (hilt).

Now before any internet ninjas jump down my throat saying that I need to have some priceless folded steel tamahagane whackmaster 5000 let me explain. For one I don't want to risk messing up an expensive sword with a DIY project. Secondly these things are actually pretty good for an entry level katana. I own several and have cut many different targets including 2x4s and they hold up. Both Musha and Musashi make decent entry level cutters, and if you don't believe me check out the extensive reviews on Sword Buyers Guide.

The first order of business was getting the tsuba off the replica. The thing was glued together pretty well so I had to break the blade off to remove it. You can see how poor the quality was on the replica; I simply bent the blade with my bare hands until it snapped off. Yeah. This is why I'm making a better one.

Here's the other sword disassembled. It has a nice full tang and comes apart with no fuss.

With the tsuba free, I tape it up to protect against scratches and set to work filing out the hole to fit the new sword. The tsuba is actually pretty nice, and is the entire reason I bought the cheap replica. After that I check the fit to see if I'll need to sand the wood tsuka to fit the tsuba. I'm in luck as it fits perfectly. 

 

Here I've ground the end of the kashira (pommel) flat so that I can attach the dragon eye later. Next I painted the iron fittings from the new sword gold.

After fitting all the hardware back together it was time to wrap the hilt. All the places I found that sold red sageo for wrapping the hilt were coming from China and I didn't want to wait a month to get it, so instead I decided to make my own. I used red marine vinyl (the kind used to make boat seats) and cut it into long strips with a box cutter and metal ruler. In the bottom photo you can see how I spliced the ends together. Clear strips of plastic from some clamshell packaging proved to be quite handy for several things, including shims to make the blade fit extra snug in the tsuka.

The wrapping was probably the most difficult part, since I had to try a few times to work around hiding imperfections in the rayskin with the wrap. tradationally the wrap is started on the side of the hilt where your fingers grasp, but I had to start on the other side in order to cover an overlap of rayskin. I wish I had more pictures of this part of the process, but I needed to keep holding the wrap to keep it tight. Basically I used double sided tape to secure it on the sides and there are little cardstock triangles that are folded into the turns on the wrap. This dude does a better job of explaining it. Middle pic shows a reenactment of how I used plastic to slide the wrap through for the end knot.

Here's how I made the Dragon Eye. I took a block of clear acrylic, and ground it to shape, then I painted it with fingernail polish. The jewel is depicted as different colors even within the same game, so I just went with the one I liked the best.

 

Once I took out the goofy plastic spacer on the replica saya (sheath) I found that it actually fit the new sword quite well. I had originally planned to make a new saya, but I'll hold off on that for now and just use this. I found a better looking metal throat from another sword and painted it gold.

 

While I'm at it I'll make a stand to display it on. I went with a dark wood stain on the finished stand. It's a two sword stand because I prefer to keep the sword in it's original saya when not in use to keep moisture out, but I still want to display the replica saya with it. 

Cool story bro tell it again. Without further ado here's the finished sword. 

So there you have it. If you enjoyed this then like, subscribe, share, and marry to see me make more stuffs. I'm currently working on two European swords.