Irregardless of the type of sword that you build, it may be part of your costume and needs to go where you go. If this is so then you will need a safe alternative.
This sword is made from pine slats , it is not sharp but still looks real from a distance.

You will need a Drum/Belt sander. (quick shaping, hand shaping will take a relatively long time.)
Pine Slats. (local HD sells for $12 for 25)
Spray Paint, Primer, silver, gold
Electrical tape, I used red

The total build not counting the drying time was less than an hour.

Step 1: Shape the Wood

The Slat chosen was from HD. It is 1.5 inches wide, .25 inches thick and 48 inches long.

shape the slat on a belt sander. This is the quickest way.

Step 2: Make the Hilt

The hilt is from the same type of slats as the blade.

Cut and glue several pieces together, Clamp the pieces for the best results.

The hilt is three sections of slat material thick with a space in the middle for the blade slat to go through.

Normally I would use a wood glue but time was short.

The hilt is then roughly shaped on the sander.

Step 3: Make the Pommel

The hand grip and pommel are also a laminated slat. I glued and clamped 3 pieces together then shaped on the sander.

Step 4: Prime and Paint

Due to imperfections in the wood it is a good idea to fill the holes with a wood filler. Again time was short and I had some drywall filler which worked.

Begin with a rough sand then progress down to a fine grit sanding paper. the smoother the wood the better the finish

I chose to primer the wood with a white primer to show imperfections. These were filled then sanded.

I primed the blade again with a gray primer then used a top coat of metallic silver.Hang to dry.

The bare hilt was sanded smooth then primed and a top coat of metallic gold was applied (not shown).

The pommel was also painted gold.

Step 5: Assemble

The hilt is slid over the blade to the desired position then the handle is slid over the tang (unfinished lower part) of the blade.

The handle was attached using red electrical tape. I final wrapping of black is needed to give the red diamond pattern of grip colour which is not shown here,