Miniature Final Fantasy Inspired Buster Sword

Swords are fascinating. People just seem to love them. From Bilbo's tiny sword, Sting, to Arbiter’s energy blade in the Halo games, to some truly massive blades wielded by the likes of Optimus Prime and Voltron; swords pop up everywhere: in our books, movies, T.V. shows, and, of course, video games. One of the biggest, baddest, and most iconic of them all is the buster sword from the Final Fantasy games. It’s a truly massive hunk of steel. When people have made full size replicas, they have measured in at around 6 feet and weighed in at over a hundred pounds. That’s way too heavy for a sword and way too big to be used for anything other than the world's biggest paperweight. The blade is cool, though so we can certainly forgive people for wanting to own one.

In this guide, instead of showing you how to build a full size version, I’m going to show you how to build this iconically gigantic blade in one of the smallest ways possible so you can always have a little bit of awesome to carry around in your pocket.

To build our mini buster, we’re going to need a few materials and a few tools.

Materials:

- Steel: I am using 1” x 1/8” flat stock from my leftovers pile but it was originally bought at Lowe’s for a few dollars. I'm also using a thicker (1/4” or so) leftover piece of steel for the guard (also available at Lowe's for a few dollars).

- Leather Cord: my specific cord is deer skin lace from Hobby Lobby for another few dollars. I like it because it holds up well and looks good but any kind of leather strip should work.


Tools:

- Cut Off Wheel: for cutting out the basic shape of the blade. This could probably be replaced by a metal saw like a hacksaw or jigsaw, but I prefer the wheel

- Files: one or more large files for shaping and some smaller, needle files for detail work

- Drill and Drill Bits: for detail work and for starting the holes in the hand guard

- Dremel with Brass Brush Wheel: for adding the gold color details to the steel. Technically, any brass brush should work, but this works particularly well and everybody needs a Dremel anyway

- Blowtorch: for heating the steel for brass detail work (more on this later)

- Belt Sander: optional but it will make your life so much simpler. This could probably be replaced by a bench grinder if you can use one well, or lots of sandpaper if you're incredibly patient

- Bench Vise: technically optional, but it will also make your life so much simpler. And, again, everybody needs a bench vise

- Marker: for marking cuts

- Epoxy: for gluing pieces together. Another adhesive would probably work, but this is what I always use

- Rags: for cleaning stuff up

- Water Container: for cooling off hot pieces of metal

- Scissors: For cutting leather

- Sandpaper: for final polishing on the steel

That's it! Let's get started!

Given that a lot of my Instructables have to do with shaping hot, sharp metal, I feel obligated to put in a little safety disclaimer page most of the time. That said, please be careful working with hot, sharp metal. It can cut and/or burn you. Be sure to also wear a pair of safety goggles and a mask to keep metal shards and dust out of your eyes and lungs. Pay attention, be alert, and have fun.

The first thing we need to do is create the rough shape of our sword. Using your marker, draw the basic outline of the sword's shape. Make sure to leave a good bit of material on the handle section as we'll be filing it away later to create the shape of the handle.

After you’ve drawn your outline, clamp your piece of steel in the bench vise. Use the angle grinder or other cutting tool to cut along the outline and remove the excess material from the tip. Then, flip the piece of steel around, clamp it again, and carefully cut out the shape of the handle.

Once you have the basic shape of your sword established, mark spots, side by side, for two holes on the blade. Clamp the blank in the vise again, and use the drill to put the holes in place. This can also be done later, but it’s easiest to do it now before grinding.

You should now have a roughly sword-shaped object to work with.

To transform our rough blank into a nice, clean sword, we need to grind, file, and polish it. For starters, we need to establish what's called a profile. Profile is just a fancy way of saying: "The shape that your sword is." The buster sword is, luckily, a really simple shape with really simple angles. Just run the blank over the sanding belt along its thin edges to get it clean and even.

Once you're happy with the profile, we need to establish a bevel. The bevel is the part of the sword where the blade stops being flat and starts angling toward the edge. You may want what’s called a “false edge” (meaning a grind that doesn’t go all the way to a sharp edge), or you may want to do a full grind. Either way, hold your blade blank at a slight angle to the belt sander and press firmly into the surface to start grinding in the angle. The steel will heat up due to the friction so be careful not to burn your fingers. As the steel heats up, dip it periodically into some water to cool it off before continuing. Work down both sides of the blank to establish even, straight lines, then work on grinding the tip the same way. If you’ve never ground knife edges before then this will likely take some practice but given a little time, you’ll get the hang of it.

Once you have established your bevels, polish the flat parts of your blade by laying it flat on the belt sander and pressing firmly into the surface. Again, this will cause the steel to heat up, so be careful and dip the blade in the water often. Once you're happy with the bevel and the flats, it's time for the next step.

Next we need to get the hand guard cut out and shaped up. Determine how much you want to cut off by comparing the size of your blade next to the steel for the handguard. The handguard on this sword sits pretty much even with the blade itself so plan accordingly. Mark the thicker piece of steel with a marker and then cut off a small rectangle. For proportions sake and to polish up the steel, you may want to run it over the sander like you did with the blade. Watch your fingers, this is a tiny piece of steel we're working with.

Once you have a rectangle cut and shaped to the proportions that you want, put it in the bench vise. Mark a slot that is roughly in the middle of the guard and then use your drill to carefully make two holes side by side. Be sure to choose a drill bit that is the same diameter as the thickness of your blade (in my case, a 1/8" drillbit). Once you have two holes, rock the drill back and forth to cut a slot between them. You should eventually have one long, oval-shaped hole. Once you do, you're ready for file work.

Once you're satisfied with the overall shape of your two pieces, it’s time to do some filing. Clamp your sword blank into the vise again. You may want to put it between two pieces of wood to protect the finish. Use the marker to mark out a handle section, making sure to leave space for a handguard and a pommel ("pommel" is a fancy term for the back end of a sword) back end of the sword). Once you’ve set those lines, it’s time to start filing away. Move the file back and forth, rocking it as you go to make the handle section round. Work one side, then flip it over and work the other. Switch sides back and forth until you are happy with the shape of your handle.

You may also want to add some decorative lines above the holes we drilled earlier. These aren't, strictly speaking, necessary, but they do add a bit of pizzazz. Take one of your needle files (probably either the square one or the triangular one) and run it back and forth to cut a groove in the steel.

Once you’re satisfied with the overall look of your blade, it’s time to move on to the hand guard. We want to take the oval shaped hole that we made before and make it rectangular instead. Use the needle files to grind away material from the corners and sides until the slot is just big enough for your sword's handle to fit through. We want the handguard to slip over the handle, but also be snug, so don't go too crazy with the files.

This is easily the most tedious and time consuming part of this build. I recommend finding some good tunes or a good podcast, putting in some earbuds, and just filing away until you're done. It takes a while, but the results are worth it.

Next up: Brass.

The last step before final assembly is to apply brass to our steel surfaces. You could add it anywhere you want, but I just like to put it on the guard and the pommel.

First, make sure that your steel surfaces are clean with no rust, dirt, or excess oils on them. Use your torch to flash a flame across the steel. It doesn’t need to get terribly hot and, in fact, if it gets too hot it will discolor, so be careful.

Once the steel is hot, use your Dremel with the brass wire wheel to brush brass onto the surface. If it doesn’t go on very well, heat the steel and brush it again until you get the desired color.

This is actually a really neat process and super handy for a lot of different applications. The way I understand it, copper molecules are naturally attracted to iron molecules, so the copper in the brass and the iron in the steel "want" to bond together. When heat is introduced, the zinc in the brass acts like a bonding agent and the two types of molecules are able to stick together like a metallic love story for the ages. It's all very fascinating metallurgical stuff, but we're not here for a science lecture, we're here to build an awesome mini sword, so let's get on with it!

To fit the two pieces together, we need to get some glue mixed up. Squirt some epoxy or other adhesive onto a clean surface. If you're using epoxy, mix it as per the directions and apply it to the upper part of your sword's handle. We don't want a ton of it on there because it will just get pushed off when we put the guard on, but we do want enough to hold the guard in place.

Once you've applied the glue, slide the guard over the handle and press it into place. wipe off any excess glue and then put the whole thing, point down, in your bench vise one more time to dry. Wait half an hour or so and the epoxy should be pretty well set.

Last but not least, we need some finishing touches. I like to add a little leather handle wrap by using some more epoxy, sticking the leather strip to the handle, wrapping it tightly, and then cutting off the excess.

Last but not least, take some fine grain sandpaper and run it over your blade to polish it and remove any excess glue, blemishes, minor rust spots, or dirt.

This little blade is a really fun, fairly simple metal working project that can be done with just a few tools, a few materials, and a little bit of time. It's a great project for learning some basic metalworking skills and the result is an awesome, custom video game miniature that fits right in your pocket or on your keychain. It's obviously not a perfect one to one replica, but the unique shape makes it unmistakable as a buster sword and the individual touches that you add make it a completely one of a kind piece.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the Instructable and I hope you enjoy your new mini buster sword!