For someone who would be building their saber from scratch, what kind of materials would you recommend?
As a part time Jedi and hardcore Star Wars fan, I will always recommend building your own lightsaber for the authentic experience. The saber will be your own and will be the only one in the world. That is as unique as it can get. And with The Custom Saber Shop, you don’t necessarily need to start from scratch like smelting your own ore or machining your own hilt from aluminium.
Not to sound elitist but there is nothing wrong with buying a pre-built lightsaber. You pay a bit more but you will have the benefit of a working ready to wield saber out of the box.
But for those who really want the authentic experience of building one from scratch, PVC pipes are a good way to start. PVC is always a cheap, durable and easy material to work with. I myself have built a few out of PVC pies for duelling and they are taking the abuse well so far. Get the grey variety and those with thicker walls for durability.
You can source most of the electronics from Jalan Pasar (switches, battery holder, LED, and lenses) although the LED won’t be the brightest possible. We still need to source from the US for the brightest LEDs, soundboard and quality speakers though.
For those with access to a lathe, aluminium will be the best choice for a hilt. Durable and light it is the most common material to build with, and with advent of technology, some have been experimenting with 3D printing a hilt. Here’s one such example of a 3D printed saber hilt:
There have not been any mass produced 3D printed sabers yet to my knowledge but it should at least be as durable as a PVC hilt and the possibilities limitless since you can pretty much print anything that you design. The sky is the limit.
