Blade stand ins

This may have allready been covered but I didn't see anything immediate that looked like it was about this, what do most people use for their blades stand ins until the rotoscope over them later? All the images I've seen of official Star Wars practice they're allways using some type of pipe I believe. Maybe about 3/4 - 1 inch wide. I thought aluminum at first but it seems that an aluminum pipe would get heavy, thought PVC too, but PVC bends too much. Anyway, if anyone knows what they use or if you have any suggestions I would love to know. Thanks.

Geoff

 

They use aluminum, but it's not the standard Home Depot variety. It's that super-lightweight aluminum they make stuff like crutches out of. Compared to the weight of the resin saber hilt, the blade weighs practically nothing, that's why they can swing it around like that.

The downside is that it bends easily during combat.. the advantage of a many-million dollar film budget.

 

I use 3/4 in. wooden dowels for fighting and a lightweight hollow aluminum for playing around or practicing at non-fast speeds.

 

Do you guys know where you could get such aluminum? I also thought maybe fiberglass poles (I was playing with some ski poles... yeah, using them as lightsabers... sue me) but I wouldn't know where you could get a fiberglass pole that size and I wasn't sure if they'd shatter or not.

 

The most used seems to be a 3/4" dowel, painted a bright color for rotoscoping visibility. You may also consider painting it striped with 2 contrasting colors. This way it will show up on any background. Also, make sure the 2 props are colored differently so the post production 'team' can figure out who's is who's.

Example:
Jedi: black and bright blue striped
Sith: black and bright red striped

 

PVC works good. It is excellent for practice and you could even film with it. It is very sturdy and it actually doesnt bend.

Another thing that works GREAT at least for practice is golf clubs. Just tear off the head and cut off the grip and you are good to go. They are kind of thin though, more like rapiers, but on the other hand they are very durable, light, and make a great metal on metal sound.

 

just my $.02;

I used Dowls, i have only broken 1 and we were hitting pretty hard there.
I don't really like PVC because they are heavier than dowls and they bounce off of each other.