Looking for a scythe/ way to make one

[scarygoat]

Hi,

I am looking for a place to buy a prop scythe or a way to make one. I was looking for something similar to these
http://www.informallearning.com/arch...6-b-scythe.JPG

http://www.epicureanpantry.ca/journa...es/Scythe1.jpg

I would want it to be safe enough to use in my haunt, but a wooden handle would be fine. Like I said, I can make one too so if anybody has a description on how to do that I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks

[Jim Warfield]

They Used To Expensive

At auctions..then I guess everybody that wanted one got one and the price dropped alot. I have a bunch of them, mostly they were given to me.
The handle is the tricky part, of course if you want to get it right. For display when I was short the blade I made one out of sheet metal and from a distance nobody knew but it's not something to be walking around with, it's still metal.
I made one from 1 1/2 steel pipe. It took some notching , bending(hammering) the pipe, rewelding the notches in solid, then grinding them smooth. This is on my metal sculpture with a steel blade I made for it.
My abundance of scythes found a home in an unsual display case I made upstairs .
They are being kept virille via electrical feeds and blood tubes, always on slow idle, ready for the next conflagration.

[N2SPOOKINU]

Scareygoat,
I have a real one if you are intrested and planning on going to Transworld in St. Louis and are driving you can pick it up there. Make me an offer!

Thanks,
Greg
Fearfest
(573)881-7061

[MindWerxKMG]

http://www.dappercadaver.com/plastic...the-p-551.html

[Allen H]

Goat,
I recommend using 3/4" EMT pipe for the handle, bent to shape with a pipe bender. I then get one of the plastic Scythes from a party store and attach it to the pipe. To make the blade more realistic I heat it with a heat gun and flatten it out. That also helps make the blade look a little more hand hammered.
I took some bottle plastic (I think an empty bleach bottle) and used it to attach the blade to the handle. I melted the bottle plastic with a torch and used it like hot glue to attach them. If you want you can sand or dremel that smooth but I left it and just painted it, it added character to me looks a bit lumpy).
I wrapped the pipe in brown paper packing tape and did some stain over that. I know I used ubolts to attach the handle to the shaft but it has been a few years, Im sure there are a number of ways to do it. Get a hammer in cap for the end or it will fill up with dirt and perhaps begin to rattle.
Mine was for a stilt reaper so I did not need to cut the 10ft pipe, but you most likely will.
If i can find pics I will, but I felt a stilt reaper was not a spectacular character so I did not take pictures of him, Im sure I can find some though.
Allen H

[Jim Warfield]

So you were using your long handled reaper tool as a cane since you were on stilts?

[Allen H]

Not as a cane so much as a prop. It was for one of my walkers. They did not need it for balance but it made the character look better.
Allen H

[scarygoat]

Greg: Thanks a lot for the offer, but I was looking for a fake one.

MindWerx: I think I have seen that one before but it was more expensive than that one. That's still a little expensive for me though. I'll keep it in mind though for a back-up plan. Thanks

Allen: I might try that technique. Instead of using the plastic head though, I was thinking about taking some sheets of a foam I saw at the craft store (wasn't Styrofoam) and carving the foam to make the blade. The only thing was the foam only came in thinner sheets so I would have to take several sheets of it and glue them together to make a block then I would carve it. Then I would probably coat it in latex and paint.

What do you guys think of that idea? Any suggestions on what kind of glue to use? I would really need to get the foam to bond together well.

Thanks everyone!

[Allen H]

What do you guys think of that idea? Any suggestions on what kind of glue to use? I would really need to get the foam to bond together well.
I think it will be a little to thick bladed to be believeable, it will also be difficult to get it smooth. I carved an anvil a few years ago out of couch foam and coated it with black tube silicone caulking. That worked really well, I would recommend that over latex I think as it is thicker and will smooth out the uneven surface of the foam. To glue foam together I would use contact cement, read the instructions to get the best bond.
Allen H

[scarygoat]

Hmmmm... true. I could make it as thin as I want, but the thinner it is the more floppy it will be. The nice thing about the foam though is that it is very smooth, even where you have cut. It cuts very easily, but it is also durable, and coating it with latex ( or the silicone like you said) would make it even better. I think when I had 8 layers of it, it was pretty rigid. But of course it would be too thick. Maybe in between the layers of foam I could insert something to make it more rigid without having to have to many sheets of foam. Maybe a wire frame...?

[Allen H]

Why are you opposed to plastic?

[scarygoat]

I guess I figured with foam I could make whatever style blade I wanted and I thought it wouldn't be as difficult but now I realize it might get to be more of a hassle than doing plastic. So I think I might actually go with plastic because I don't want to get into it with foam and realize it's not going to turn out good after spending all the money on it.

Going to check my stash... thought I had an old plastic scythe in their somewhere... So would I just use Fusion Spray Paint?

Thanks

[Allen H]

Exactly, its good for plastic.

[scarygoat]

What do you suggest on the handle? I know you used brown packing tape and some kind of stain... Anything else I can use to make it more old and and not so smooth? I like the packing take idea, what kind of staining did you do? I'm working on getting the scythe head now.

Thanks

[Allen H]

Goat,
I used the brown tape to make the handle loook more like wood as opposed to pipe. I used a walnut wood stain to help that illusion. If you want it to look bumpy then just put a few wads of tape under the layers of tape you put on.
Allen H