Quote Originally Posted by Colovion
did you make your swords? Me and a friend were discussing the kind of wood to use for swords and what the best way would be to produce them would be. Any suggestions or did you buy them?
Nothing fancy, but the trick is to get and use a single block of wood for the entire sword. At first I tried a simple dowel attached via a small steel rod and glue to a grip/handguard, but wood joins are just too weak to handle the punishment.

The very simplest, longest-lasting, and great fun for NOTHING is to just get a reasonably-sized 100 cm (about 3 feet) long dowel. These last forever, can be easily carved into a nice blade shape, and are very inexpensive. You can find them in any craft store.

Second is using a larger piece of wood, like a 4 cm x 10 cm x 100 cm slab, and carving one. I did this once -- it took me three months at a few minutes a day, and lasted for something like three weeks. Dreadful waste it was, looked very nice while it lasted though!

Let me know if I can help out with more detail. It really is great fun.