Custom Cleavers

Here are the Cleavers (aka 菜刀) you see at my EMGY Dropcloth posting. Never thought I will be making something like this in 1:6 scale until I see ThreeA's Hatchery TK and Slaughterhouse DC and how popular these 2 were, and the price they fetch at eBay. This cleaver must have had its charm and I too feel it gave a psychotic feel to the figure when used on it. Well if you are interested, scroll down to see my step by step tutorial on how to get it done.

STEP 1 : Finding the right material

First of all, draw out the shape on a piece of cardboard until you have a satisfied shape. Cut the shape out and traced out the outline on a 0.8" thick plastic card, which I got from Artfriend. 

STEP 2 : Separate the parts.

Since the material is so thick, using a penknife, or any manual cutting tool, will take ages to separate the 2 pcs. So I used my trusty, but dangerous, Minicraft rotating tool. Mount up a round 2cm cutter and it makes the work of cutting a breeze. There you go, the siamese-twin cleavers were separated ;)
NOTE : ALWAYS put on a safety goggle before you power on the tool. Rule of thumb!

STEP 3 : Grind to shape.

Switched out a grinding stone and proceed to fine tune it to the outline. Steady hands are require here as the stone can cut a good amount of material if excess force were applied. And hold firmly to the part while doing the cutting / grinding for the sake of a better finish and the safety of your hand.

STEP 4 : Hand file and Sand paper

Put the power tool aside now cuz it is now time to do some really fine detailing work. First of all, use a small file to smooth out those rough edges created by the rotating cutter. Then slowly work on the cutting edge with the file. Once you achieve a good chamfer, use a small grain sandpaper to further smooth out the details and get everything together. The hole on the blade were made with a 3.0mm pin vice while the one on the handle are with a 1.4mm.

STEP 5 : Applying the paint

I am only using Tamiya Acrylic paint here .A mixture of Metallic Grey (85%) + Black (15%). Dilute the mixture with about 10% of water and apply several coat over them until all traces of the original white plastic is covered up totally. The cutting edge were painted in Chrome Silver. A layer of Matt Clear were sprayed over to set the paint. Next, a wash, with Flat Black were done. Finally, diluted Red Brown to create the rust weathering. Still no good at doing rust... needs more practice.

STEP 6 : The finishing touch

Black electrical tapes were used for wrapping up the handle. This is the ultimately laziest method to select but guess I am too anxious to call it complete. Anyway, can always do an update in the future for a more astute furniture handle. A strip of approx 30cm electrical tape were split into 3 strips from its width. wrap all 3 around a single handle. Leather string were used for the restraining string... bought it like for ages and finally some use for it ;)

STEP 7 : Trial fitting

Trial fitting can be done anytime but preferably do one before even Step 1 - more of to gauge the size should be in ratio. Well for this last part, mostly is to see if the part can be grip well and to trial out some of the pose in my mind, all the time, when creating these cutters :)