constructing your very own sword display case

Copyright Paul J.O'Brien 2012 www.way-of-the-samurai.com

Constructing Your Very Own Sword Display Case

For Under $50.00

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


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 weren’t suitable, they already contained a mounted sword and

wouldn’t 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 wasn’t 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 I’m Ireland and don’t qualify for super

shipper saving in Ireland. ;-( Oh well.


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 $570…plus shipping. That’s a no

too I’m afraid.

And then I remembered…I could just build it myself….


Who Am I and Why did I think I could do this…and why do I think I

have any right to show you?

Hi There. I’m Paul J. "Batman" O’Brien and I’m a sword enthusiast. I’m actually a few things. I’m an

acupuncturist by trade, with a private practice in Dublin. When I’m not in there I also happen to be a

personal trainer and I’ve 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 I’m 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 I’ve 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. Couldn’t find them…so I spent 3 months apprenticed

to a picture framer and learnt how to make them myself.

And the thought began…instead 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 did…and here’s how.


What You’ll Need

Materials and Parts list:

Foam board – I love this stuff. It’s 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 doesn’t 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 1”x1” 90 degree L skirting. It’s about 1 cm think. Thickness here matters

somewhat. I went with the 1 cm thickness, that’s the thinnest I’d 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 I’ve 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 – priceless…or whatever you paid. ;-)

Total material cost – $56.90 (to be fair, I didn’t 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


The Construction Process

This is a multi part project and I’ve 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

You’ll 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 you’ll need. That requires your sword.

For this project I’d 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.

That’s 46 inches. It would require a depth of 6 inches, a height of 16 inches to accommodate the

sword and saya.

And remember this is 3 dimensional so it’s even longer and wider than this suggests. The image

below will explain what I mean.


Total Dimensions then are a sheet of foam board 28" Wide x 58" Long

The largest I can get is A1 size (33.2”h x 23.5”w) 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 you’re 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. ;-) you’ll see this later.)

Get your pencil and your ruler and measure the whole thing out. Then measure again. Then do it

again.

Once it’s 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 I’m a precise guy and don’t like mistakes, so I measure a final

time before cutting. (Same in Iaido). Make sure your right angles are precise. That’s what the

triangles for.

Take your scalpel and lightly score (about a ½ cm depth) into the lines marked in GREEN. These you

will fold. That doesn’t 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.


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, you’ll 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.


After this you choose to paint it using a matt based paint, or leave it. I used black foam board for this

project and didn’t feel the need to paint it. Before painting, for additional strength, if it’s a VERY

heavy sword you can now wrap the entire box in overlapping masking tape for additional strength.

In this project I again didn’t feel that was necessary.


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 cm’s 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 can’t add on.

Sand down the rough edges and smooth them out.


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

fitting test.


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. ;-)

That’s 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!


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 won’t

fit once you fold the sides down (they’ll 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.


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 tsuaka’s 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.


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 saya’s 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 don’t 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.


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 haven’t finished your frame, do so with the instructions above.

It’s 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!


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

http://www.japanese-sword-arts.com/

http://www.isometric-training.com/

http://www.strong-in-7-seconds.com/

http://www.body-of-the-dragon.com/

http://www.dublinacu.com/

constructing your very own sword display case

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