Custom designed, acid etched Bat'leth

I like Star Trek, a lot.  Star wars, Zombie Nation, Robotech ( you probably don't remember that one), etc ad infinitum, and I spend the better part of my life working and playing video games.  So when I was asked to build something as epic as a Klingon Bat'leth I responded the way I always do.  "Sure I can do that!"  But what I really meant was "OMG I want to do that, and if you don't hire me for it I'm going to do it anyway because; AWESOME!"
The client had a custom design drawn up and insisted that the work all be done by hand, so no CAD plasma cutters.

The first part of the project was making a computer model out of the hand sketches I was given to work with.

Since I was only building a display piece the steel used could just be structural or stainless. This is a simple piece of A36 structural.

In order to get perfect curves I tack welded steel bar to the plate then bent it by hand to get a natural curvature.

The first rough cut came out well and I was ready to move on to the next one.

The point in the center of Bat'leth took some thought, but a bend in my guide rod solved the problem.

After the second cut you can see the shape beginning to emerge.

Perfectly matching all the radius of the curves for the cut outs to the rest of the Bat'leth is a trade secret!

This is the guide used to cute each of the hand grips out.

After brushing and polishing the final product it looks amazing, but it's too shiny for the final product.

3 square feet of real leather was cut into strips and used for the handles. Electro-acid etching was used to engrave Klingon lettering into the blade.

This is what it looks you look like when you get handed the Bat'leth from your imagination!

Everyone should own at least one fictional weapon :D