Hi YouTube, my name’s Geoff and I’m the VegOilGuy.
The other day I was on my way to my Garage Workshop…
Hmm hmm hmmmm Is that you next doors cat?
Get away from my sand.
Swine cat…
Where’s that light switch… ah…
What’s this?
Oh…
Let’s open it up.
Ah… here’s a note.
Thanks Bigstack I think I will…
what’s this…
Nice…
I’ll have to try that later.
So inspired by my Aussie mate and fellow YouTuber BigstackD, I decided to have a go at making
Mehrune’s Razor from Skyrim.
To start with I needed a nice image to work from and I was able to find this fantastic
drawing by Andrew Big on Deviant Art.
For purists out there, it’s important to note that I didn’t stick to this drawing.
I adjusted the proportions to make something a little more suitable for my needs.
I’m sure the artist will understand.
I’m having no luck with Lost Wax Casting at the moment, but Lost Foam has always worked
well for me, so I got out the old hot-wire foam cutter and got cutting.
It was then just a case of cutting out the shapes and gluing them to some foam.
Then the hot-wire cutter was used to cut out the shapes.
You know your cutter is up to the task when you can cut away pieces as thin as this…
The various pieces of foam get glued together and the beauty of extruded foam it that it
can be sanded and shaped with ease.
It’s best not to overdo the shaping with material this thin.
Better to grind away the metal.
I included a few basic mortice and tenon joints in my pieces to help with gluing.
The handle was very easy.
I pushed a long thin bolt through a length of foam and spun this in my drill press.
Then it was just a case of very gently touching the foam with sandpaper and shaping things.
Extruded foam shapes really well in this fashion, but you’ll want to wear a dust mask.
A small file helped carve in some details.
Then everything got glued together and I had something that looked a little bit like Mehrunes
Razor.
But the tricky bit was going to be in casting it.
This was the longest thing I’d cast to date and I needed to knock together a new flask.
If you’re wondering what the large corner blocks are for, it’s simple.
I didn’t think I had enough sand for the job – damn next doors cat – and I was
right, so this turned out to be a good idea.
I’m starting with the cope here, the upper flask, and right now it’s upside down.
I’ll empty it in a minute, but for the moment I just want to achieve a nice flat surface.
Here’s the drag, the bottom flask, and as you can see that’s the very underside of
the flask you’re looking at.
Because the foam is so weak, compacting sand on top of it will distort the pattern.
These pieces of foam were cut to support the underside to the pattern to compensate for
this.
Once I was confident the pattern was well supported, I began sieving on the sand, and
I wanted a nice depth.
Once I’d got a good couple of inches of sieved sand on top, I began to gently press
the sand, aiming not to crush the pattern, but to ease the sand into the details and
importantly all around it.
Ramming will just break the foam and your fingers are amazingly clever in this situations.
You can feel the shape of the pattern and the compression of the sand.
Begin gently and press more firmly as the sand settles in place, but don’t rush things.
More sand was sieved on top and more finger pressure was used.
Sand was then trowelled in to fill the drag.
Here I’m beginning to ram the sand, but you can see I’m not going mad.
No heavy-handed treatment is necessary.
It’s just a case of letting the sand firm up.
The sand is topped up again and now I’m using a little more ramming force.
Look, there’s my sand bucket.
I told you I didn’t have a lot of sand.
I only just had enough.
I’m being a little more energetic here to fully fill the drag and level it firmly.
We don’t want the sand falling out.
Now comes the fun part, flipping the flask over.
Finally everything is the correct way up.
The top is removed and the sand is knocked out into my bucket and refreshed.
Here you can see the support pieces that held the pattern in place.
These need to be removed.
I’ve got to add vents and a feeder so I brushed and scraped away the sand in places.
The pattern is pretty firmly held in place, but it’s best not to disturb it if possible.
I’m going to be using one of my plaster feeders and this shaped piece of foam will
connect it.
The screw holds it in place until the sand can take over from the screw.
The cope was then added and I screwed this in place to prevent it moving.
Now these are new for me.
They’re wooden dowels with a fine point carved into them.
They’re used to create vents.
The spike pierces the foam and helps the dowel stay in place.
Again sand is sifted on, trying not to disturb the dowels.
Once I reached the height of the screw, I began to press the sand down with my fingertips,
paying special attention to the dowels.
More sand and more pressing.
At this point I could ram with more confidence, knowing that I couldn’t damage the foam
pattern beneath.
The screw was removed and here’s the plaster feeder.
If you’re wondering what all the tape is for, this recycled.
The upper section survived a previous pour, so I’ll use it again here.
More sand was trowelled in and pushed down.
At this point I realised I’d forgotten a paper cover for the feeder – to keep the
sand out.
So I clumsily taped one in place – it’ll do.
The cope was then fully filled and roughly levelled.
At this point I began to fear that the feeder wasn’t very well secured, so I grabbed an
old food can and pushed this on for support.
But I needn’t have bothered.
This really wasn’t necessary.
With everything firmed down, I used a fine spoke to poke a number of vent holes.
Remember, the spoke should not come into contact with the pattern but should ideally get pretty
close, maybe with half an inch if you’re brave enough.
And these spoke vents really work, so they’re worth doing.
The dowels are then carefully twisted then pulled slowly and carefully upwards, trying
not to dislodge the sand.
The metal was nice and hot, glowing pink.
I poured it in and it went wrong.
You can see the vents pulsating with gas, which is good, but you can’t see the vent
at the other end…
nothing was coming out.
You can just see it at this angle.
As you can see, nothing coming out.
Metal was spilling on the floor, but nothing coming out the end vent.
It was a fail.
I took a gamble and splashed some molten metal into the fine vent hole.
It was such a clumsy pour I couldn’t see what was happening.
Then bizarrely I decided to top up the feeder.
As I expected, the vents had already frozen, but the feeder bubbled with gas.
The volume level dropped slightly, so I topped it up some more, refreshing the temperature
of the metal and allowing more bubbling to take place.
I sulkily stomped out of the room to get away from the smoke, swearing at a wasted opportunity.
I’d made a mistake.
I’d forgotten one of my own rules.
Minimise the amount of extruded foam.
It’s great stuff and shapes well, but it’s hard work on the metal.
I should have incorporated as many air voids as possible and built in expanded foam, which
is easier on the metal.
When I returned about fifteen minutes later, I wasn’t expecting a success.
That’s often a mistake with this method as it’s so forgiving.
So my camerawork was half-hearted as I knocked away the sand.
On the blade section, where the metal had failed to run, the metal was badly pitted,
but is was mostly formed.
I’d left material there specifically to grind away, so there was potential.
Could I grind something nice from this mess?
Well make your own mind up – here’s the result.
It’s been grinded and painted and it’s certainly not perfect, but it’s not too
bad.
There’s still a tiny bit of pitting evident on the blade, but for my first attempt at
this sort of thing, I was quite pleased.
It’s not an exact replica of Mehrune’s Razor.
I’ve been cheeky with the proportions, the length of the handle and especially the pommel,
which lacks some spikes, but it’s a reasonable replica of something from a great game.
I’m not sure what these bits would be called – but I painted these a darker silver.
For me the two tone effect was a little bland and making this slight variation pleased my
eye, but I know it’s not to everyone’s tastes.
Plus, and here’s the sly confession, one of these section held a nasty flaw, so it’s
been covered over with a slither of cardboard and paint.
I’ll let you try and work out which one it is.
I certainly haven’t sharpened the edges, and this was a choice.
I wanted to make something that we could show to granny when she came visiting, not something
that granny could use to go rampaging around the local supermarket with.
So it is what it is – a replica.
But all in all this was an enjoyable and fun project, surprisingly easy to do with green
sand and lost foam.
I think the vents let things down and I should have incorporated voids or expanded foam,
but that’s something to think on for another day.
I hope you enjoyed this one guys, and if you did please like it.
If you’d like to see me do similar things in the future, why not drop me a line and
tell me what you’re thinking.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already and above all, take care and thanks
for watching.