Constructing Your Very Own Sword Display Case For Under $50.

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By Paul J.O'Brien B.A., N.C.E.H.S., Dip. Acu., Adv. Dip. OBB, Cert Clin. Med. M.AFPA, M.ETCMA, M.C.Th.A.

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Hi and welcome to my simple and effective guide to building your own professional sword display case. This project began as a result of my desire to construct my own sword cases after seeing the absolute over-priced crap out there that is available on the market. When I went looking for a case to display my swords I found only 3 options: 1) eBay 2) Amazon 3) Custom Made On eBay I found the sword cases werent suitable, they already contained a mounted sword and wouldnt fit the length or type I had in mind. The same problem occurred with Amazon. I was stuck with cheap wood cases, which looked tacky and had poor imitation cavalry sabres in them. It wasnt what I was looking for in either the style or substance departments. The dimensions, appearance and most importantly price were wrong. Speaking of prices they were ridiculous. On eBay the most expensive, without shipping was $495.00. The average price was about $180 and with shipping ($125.00!!!!) I was looking at a BARGAIN price of $305.00 wow. No. Not happening.

Amazon was a bit better at an average price of $89.95, but Im Ireland and dont qualify for super shipper saving in Ireland. ;-( Oh well.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Finally, there was the custom option. Now these were beautiful, fairly hard to find though, but beautiful. And beauty costs. A lot. The average quote I received was $570plus shipping. Thats a no too Im afraid. And then I rememberedI could just build it myself.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Who Am I and Why did I think I could do thisand why do I think I have any right to show you?
Hi There. Im Paul J. "Batman" OBrien and Im a sword enthusiast. Im actually a few things. Im an acupuncturist by trade, with a private practice in Dublin. When Im not in there I also happen to be a personal trainer and Ive written a number of books on the subject of developing great strength with just seconds of exercise and getting ripped to shreds real fast. But the reason I am both these things is because Im a sword enthusiast and dedicated martial artist. My love of acupuncture and East Asian Medicine developed from my martial arts training, as did my interest in physical fitness. With that came an interest in other East Asian arts and as a martial artist a student of the budo I strived to master other disciplines such as the calligraphy, tea, ikebana and my personal love, origami. Which is how, in a roundabout way this all got started. Over the years Ive created a number of origami art works and as many of your paper can be fragile, particularly some of my more delicate creations. In order to protect them I went looking for shadow boxes, 3d picture frames that I could put my origami in. Couldnt find themso I spent 3 months apprenticed to a picture framer and learnt how to make them myself. And the thought beganinstead of paying a small fortune for a big display case for my swords. Could I not just build a giant shadow box instead? So I didand heres how.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

What Youll Need

Materials and Parts list:

Foam board I love this stuff. Its easy and cheap to procure, very light and VERY cheap. I used A1 sheets (the biggest I could find) that were 1 cm thick. The thickness doesnt hugely matter. I used 2 sheets for the box, and one sheet for the interior. $3.99 per sheet (Total $11.97) Wooden Skirting Available in all good home depots and DIY stores, this will be your frame. This was basic 1x1 90 degree L skirting. Its about 1 cm think. Thickness here matters somewhat. I went with the 1 cm thickness, thats the thinnest Id go. You also have to be careful with getting too thick a wood, this would create too much weight. I bought 2 rows 7 feet. $3.99 per 7 foot. (Total $7.98) Small steal nails I used 1.0x14mm These are to keep the frame together ($2.99) Wood Glue to glue the frame (I like being sure of myself) ($2.99) Wood Stain choose your won finish. For this project I went with black. For others Ive used a clear finish. I used Ronseal Matt Black, a small tin will suffice. ($7.99) Masking Tape - (I like to be triple sure) ($1.99) Silk (optional but worth it) I picked this up in a home furnishings fabric store (Hickeys here in Ireland). You can get a bolts in a range of colours and I choose deep red for this project. 1m costs less than $2.00 ($2.00) Glass cut to size (mine cost $18.99) Your Sword pricelessor whatever you paid. ;-)

Total material cost $56.90 (to be fair, I didnt have to buy the wood glue, nails or masking tape, I already had them and my total costs $48.93)

Tools
A hammer A mathematical triangle A small hacksaw A pencil A scalpel

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

The Construction Process

This is a multi part project and Ive divided the construction process into different sections, which is how I approached the project myself. I divided it as follows: The Box The Frame/Lid The Inner Display Stand Finishing Touches

Youll find detailed step by steps on each section below in order of construction.

Building Your Box

The first order of business is to establish the dimensions youll need. That requires your sword. For this project Id be displaying my Ziest Armouries Highlander Katana. Measuring my sword I found it was about 3 feet long. It wanted it a few inches longer either side so that it would be framed well. Thats 46 inches. It would require a depth of 6 inches, a height of 16 inches to accom modate the sword and saya. And remember this is 3 dimensional so its even longer and wider than this suggests. The image below will explain what I mean.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Total Dimensions then are a sheet of foam board 28" Wide x 58" Long The largest I can get is A1 size (33.2h x 23.5w) so I bought 2 of them and stuck them long edge together with glue and tape creating a 33.2x47 sheet. (Still not long enough and youre right. Of course you could go and buy another sheet, but one of my goals for this was to do it as cheap as possible. So rather than buying another sheet I cut the first two in such a way so I could use the off cuts to make up the missing length. ;-) youll see this later.) Get your pencil and your ruler and measure the whole thing out. Then measure again. Then do it again. Once its measured you must then add in additional length to account for the foam board thickness along one axis of the plan. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! I choose to make the long side panels slightly longer by 1cm, each side to make sure they would square up with the other side later on. This is clearer in the following pics. Measure twice, cut once is fine, but Im a precise guy and dont like mistakes, so I measure a final time before cutting. (Same in Iaido). Make sure your right angles are precise. Thats what the triangles for. Take your scalpel and lightly score (about a cm depth) into the lines marked in GREEN. These you will fold. That doesnt make sense yet but it will. Cut completely though the lines marked in RED.

Note in the picture above that the RED line against the side panel DOES not match the GREEN line. It is to make the side panel slightly longer to account for the width of the foam board.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Remove the off cuts. You can also see in the image below where I attached (measuring and cutting) one of the off-cuts to create additional length giving me 58 inches (sword length of 46 plus 6 depth for side panels either side)

Fold the scored panels away from the cut side creating your box. If you fold inwards they snap off and the box will have little structural integrity. Tape these sides with your masking tape or clear tape. If you remembered to make the additional length earlier on one axis then the sides should meet up smoothly. If not, youll have a 1cm right angle missing from every corner and the box loses its integrity. This is your box. Pretty easy so far. It should take less than 30 minutes to do this.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

After this you choose to paint it using a matt based paint, or leave it. I used black foam board for this project and didnt feel the need to paint it. Before painting, for additional strength, if its a VERY heavy sword you can now wrap the entire box in overlapping masking tape for additional strength. In this project I again didnt feel that was necessary.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Building the Frame

Measure the dimensions of the box. Then do it again. (And again ;-D ) Measure the length of the frame on the skirting. Now measure the thickness of the wood. Double that and add it on to the length (again you need to account for the thickness of the wood or the lid will be a few cms to small). THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! Draw a 45 degree line from the seam of the wood (where it forms the 90 degree) and draw this will be your frame edge. The other side of the wood should be kept straight as in this test off cut made from foam board.

Do note that the edge of the flat side should follow the 45 degree angle too. Measure again. Saw away. Do the same for the other three sides. Remember to add extra length to account for the wood lip thickness. Give yourself a little extra, you can easily sand down later, you cant add on. Sand down the rough edges and smooth them out.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

At this stage you can, as I have below tape the wood frame together with masking tape and do a fitting test.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Remove the tape and stain the wood. I used 3 coats, 4 hours apart and a light sanding before the final coat was applied. Remember to stain the edges as well. ;-) Thats your frame nearly done. You can do the other stuff next while the stain is drying. To finish simply line up the edges, glue and tap in two nails along one directional axis. I recommend putting them through the short sides in to the long sides. Your frame is now done!

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

The Inner Display Stand

You have a number of options for this. You can use simple hooks attached to the backing, but I prefer to distribute the weight of the sword along the entire structure so I decided on a card insert that would take the swords full weight. Measure the inside of the box length and width (do this 3 times ;-D) Taking an A1 sheet of foam board (white in my example) measure the length and with necessary including additional width to account for the depth I choose mine, midway at 3 inches. Now BEFORE you score, again account for the thickness of the board and DEDUCT this from the width as it wont fit once you fold the sides down (theyll be the thickness of the board out. I repeat deduct the thickness of the foam board from each long side before the line you make for the depth fold. Refer to diagram below. The GREEN LINE is where I score. The BLUE LINE is where he actual insert width is.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Score and fold as previous. Your basic insert.

Now we must fashion the sword rest. Place you sword and saya in the position you want them. Mark these positions. Mark the highest and lowest point of the tsuka or handle and width and length of the tsuba. Draw a rectangle emanating from these points to the start and end of the tsuakas length. Draw a line dividing this length in the middle. Score along the GREEN line and cut the RED lines. Fold the sides in and take an off cut piece and tape it in place. You now have a tsuka shelf. Cut out the complete tsuba section. See the image below for clarification.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

The handle should sit nice and snug in the hollowed rest for it. If you want to additionally pin it in place you can use a clear rope tie twisted behind the board or through the tsuka. Mark the highest and lowest points of the saya. Draw a rectangle emanating from these points to the start and end of the sayas length. Draw a line dividing this length in the middle. Score along the green line and cut the red lines. Fold the sides in and take a an off cut piece and tape it in place You now have a saya shelf. Try a test fit

Finally take the silk cloth and drape it over the mounting card. Make sure you dont pull it too tight as it must yield to accommodate the resting tsuka and saya. Tape or staple this in place. I just used masking tape.

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

If the blade is particularly heavy you can reinforce the mount with small stands made from off cuts and attach them to weak points on the underside of the mount. I did this before and after the tsuba. Place the katana and saya on the finished mount and place this inside your box. If you havent finished your frame, do so with the instructions above. Its now nearly finished. In fact I left mine life this for two weeks. The last step is to get the glass.

Finishing Touches
I measured the inside of the frame and got a glass cutter to cut it to size while I waited. It took about 1 minute. It cost $15. Take your frame and place it face down. Tape the insides with masking tape. Glue the edges and place the glass down on top. You can apply a layer of masking tape to the inside of the glass to the frame if you want added security. This will pretty much act like a box lid. Simply place the lid on top of the box. You now have a finished display case and take just take the top off anytime you want access to the blade. You obviously can glue the frame onto the box if you want to for a permanent display.

Your Finished Custom Sword Display!

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Finally you screw to hook to the short sides and thread some strong picture wire through them and hang your finished display up on the wall. Hope that helps. Any feedback and comments are appreciated! Enjoy! Paul www.way-of-the-samurai.com www.isometric-training.com www.strong-in-7-seconds.com www.body-of-the-dragon.com www.dublinacu.com

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012

www.way-of-the-samurai.com