I’m still confused. The picture shows a blade… the part that cuts… I’m sure it’s not made with a tang in a separate hilt (probably just one big piece of metal!) but the blade is there. Maybe an illustration of what you mean?
The whole thing is the sword, the blade part is in this part highlighted in the image:
http://screencast.com/t/b5wmrAvQ0
Nah. The blade is the whole part above the hilt. That’s the edge.
A blade is the cutting part of an instrument, try your dictionary.
Whoah now! This isn’t a debate and I wasn’t trying to be rude with what I said. I appreciated your diagram because it helped clarify why I was missing your point. I do see what you mean; with the profile machined, it would look even more like a Buster sword.
However,
The blade is the entire piece of metal extending beyond the hilt. I don’t need a dictionary to tell me that. But on the off chance that somehow despite my years as a professional English teacher, editor, and writer, I could have missed a finer technical point in knife terminology, I looked it up.
The blade is everything above the hilt. The handle is the hilt and below. Just like I stated.
Apparently, the part you are referring to is the part of the blade called the “grind”, which leads up to the edge. I suspected “edge” might not be the truly accurate word when I used it earlier, but I knew it was closer than “blade” (which, as stated, is everything above the hilt). Now I know about the “grind,” so hey, useful exercise!
Yes, Greg, you are correct. I am a huge knife guy, so if you have any questions about knives, types of grinds, knife brands, etc., just ask me! I’ve been collecting for years, and am pretty in to the knife community.
The blade grind in Felipe’s post is a Tanto grind, of Japanese origin. But seriously, putting an edge on a blade that big could be killer. Literally!
1 Like
I actually opened up the dictionary and looked it up and it said exactly that, which is why I posted it. Now that you tell me, that makes sense, as a double edged blade would be something impossible according to my definition (which you pointed out is the grind).
The blade looks really thick, so I believe it’s fairly easy to fake the grind profile while still keeping it dull. The sword would look much more believable and that’s why I asked. Being big as it is, I’m pretty sure it can do a heck of a lot damage, even as thick as it looks.
A faux grind would make that blade look really cool, and a lot less dangerous. You could try it, but getting an even grind is a lot harder than it sounds. Even when I sharpen blades, with equipment that makes sure my blade is steady, I have trouble getting an even cutting edge. But who knows, you do have the big boy machinery!
lol, I seem to make posts that turn into long things. Oh well, I suspect that is a good sign. I never put the grind on the blade for a couple reasons. This thing is huge and it is not a simple task to do it. You have to think about how much material you would have to remove for something this size. I also didn’t have a great tool to do it easily and at the time the best option was to use a belt sander. Since the result would be determined by the skill of the operator, I left it up to the owner of the sword to do that. If he messed it up, then I couldn’t be blamed.
That being said I now have access to a face mill which would be a good tool for this job and I suppose I could take it up to the end mill and set the head at the angle I wanted and do it. But if I were to do that it would take time away from machining yoyos. 
As for the construction of the sword, it is actually made up of several parts. The blade is 1/2" aluminum bar. The hilt is a large chunk of aluminum with a groove milled in the middle for the blade to sit down into. The hilt also has a hole drilled in the center for the handle to slide through. The handle is a 1" diameter rod of stainless steel and has a 1/2" slot cut in the middle. Then the handle slides over the blade and is bolted together. The handle and blade is slide into the hilt and is bolted together under each of the bumps on the hilt. I then press fit ball bearings into the holes to cover up the screws. This was the best way I could come up with to connect the parts. The sword is really just impractical but I wanted to try and make it as tough as I could. I couldn’t weld aluminum at the time, but now I can. So maybe someday I will weld the hilt and blade together as well. The last part was the pommel. Before I assembled it all I use the manual lathe to cut threads on the bottom of the handle. Then I machined the pommel and threaded the inside.
All in all it turned out pretty decent. I have two other swords I am working on as well. A gladiator sword know as a gladius, and the mastersword from legend of zelda. Both of these are made from 5160 steel and will be full tang blades. I might even spring to have them heat treated.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the things I build. I have a lot of random things like that around.
Josh
1 Like
keeeeeeeeeeeeyblaaaaaade!! 
Legyoyo,
Commission me to build it for you and I will.
Josh
bump?
Well guys and gals, here is another update.
I was not able to get to the shop this weekend and was a little bummed out about it. My parents are buying a house and we were getting things in order to move them. I am also buying a house and should move in at the end of August. I can’t wait to unpack all my things and get all my tools out. I will have a full basement to set up my work area. I am also planning on building a big two and a half car garage which is gonna be hard work, but that is where I can set up my own machine shop one day. But none of that has to do with yoyos. At least not directly.
I went to the shop today after work. I am not sure if it was a good idea or a bad idea. I ended up spending almost 6 hours there. So I basically was working from 9am to 11 pm today. Everything turned out well, but always seems to take a lot longer than I plan for. I decided to take a break from the megatron I was machining and give another design a shot. See what I could learn from a different design. This is Yomagic’s design and he calls it ‘Gambit’ I rather like it personally and am hoping it turns out really well.
http://www.joshupdyke.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Gambit.jpg
I suggested some minor changes to make it possible for me to machine it. I think after I get a few of these prototypes done I will right up a guide for designing yoyos that are easy to machine. I am finding that I send about the same email to a new person every couple days. I am blown away with how many of you want to design your own yoyos. I hope you guys stay interested and that I get to the point where I can make them quickly and easily.
I cut up the last of my aluminum round stock into some 1.25" thick disks. I needed two for the hubs, and a third one for the fixture to hold them.
http://www.joshupdyke.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_0620.jpg
Then I started machining the catch zone side of the hubs. It takes me about 30 minutes to do the basic shape for each hub, and about 10 minutes to do the bearing seat, response groove and the axle hole. When done this is what they look like.
http://www.joshupdyke.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_0622.jpg
And here they are next to the ones I made last week for the megatron. You can see how the one hub in the back left has been tumbled and looks smoother. I plan on tumbling all of these sometime.
http://www.joshupdyke.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_0623.jpg
Then I machine the fixture. This is what will hold the yoyo upside down so I can machine the cup side.
http://www.joshupdyke.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_0621.jpg
And finally here is where I was too tired and decided to call it a night. I just placed the two hubs together so you can get an idea. They are not the same thickness because I haven’t machined the cup side. The backs are just rough stock still.
http://www.joshupdyke.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_0624.jpg
Apart from machining, I mailed the first powder coated yoyo back today. Sorry it took so long to mail. I hate that the post office is only open when I am at work. Andrew was very awesome to be the first person to let me powder coat his yoyo. I think it came out pretty good, but obviously I can learn a lot. The laser etching came out good to. I got two more yoyos to work a couple days ago from SlimJoe. He wants one powder coated and the other just tumbled to smooth out some dings in the hub. So while I was machining the Gambit, those were in the tumbler. Also, someone is sending me a SteamRoller that needs a little work and Yomagic said he is sending me a box of yoyos to work on. He wants several powder coated and some etched. He even is mailing me some powder for specific colors that he wants. So there will be more news to come guys. I hope you are enjoying the stories. Honestly, I think I would be less interested in doing this if I was not getting the messages and comments you guys write. So keep them coming.
Oh also, I wanted to say thinks to SlimJoe for sending me a yoyo to keep and Andrew sent me some strings. Until now I only had a Dark Magic 2. My first dark magic the hub cracked and I was so upset. So now I own 3 yoyos. I have been trying to practice my tricks and just learned the Kwijibo trick. Still working on it, though.
Thanks everyone.
Josh
1 Like
I suppose my question was lost in the mix in some pages ago so I’ll ask again. Are you coating the yoyo at PMT?
Sorry about that. I did read that and was planning to answer that when I answered the other questions. Yes I am coating them when they are at PMT. But I am using an infrared temperature sensor that is not really the most accurate thing. Any advice is appreciated. What do you use to mask off the bearing seats?
Thanks in advance,
Josh
So excited!
Excited for the gambit to see the gambit all finished up! Looks good so far man. Also get ready for a lot of work with that box of throws. Expect to have a couple throws to add to your collection too
1 Like
So, you need to machine something to hold the yoyos in place while your machining them?
Yes. You have to hold the material in place while you cut it. This is actually a lot more difficult then you might first think. You obviously don’t want the part to fly away, but it can’t even slip or move a tiny bit otherwise it will ruin your accuracy. Also, you can’t hold the part where you want to machine. So what part of the yoyo doesn’t get machined? The answer is none of it. You need to remove material from the entire shape. So I machine the catch zone area of the hub, then flip it over and hold the side I just machined. But you can’t just put that in a vice. It is not square or flat. So I machine a fixture which has the negative shape of the yoyo and I use the axle hole to hold it in place. This way the screw keeps it from moving, but the fixture supports it all around.
On a lathe you can machine more than half of the yoyo, but you still have to leave some for the lathe to hold on to. Then they flip it over and machine the part they held on to. Ideally, you want to machine as much as you can before you change how you hold it. Because all of that machining will be very accurate relative to each other. Once you flip it over, you have to match things up. Think about drilling a hole, but your drill is not long enough to go through the whole thing. You drill halfway, then flip the part over and drill the other half. It is not easy to make those two hole line up perfectly.
Hopefully that helps explain it a little.
Josh
1 Like
You should ask Shawn from One Drop if he has any recommendations