Bo-Shuriken With Sheath

Intro: Bo-Shuriken With Sheath

UPDATE!!! I WILL BE RE-WRITING THIS 'IBLE SOMETIME IN THE NOT-SO-DISTANT FUTURE. SINCE IT'S PUBLICATION, I HAVE LEARNED A BETTER WAY TO MAKE THESE.


Here is my Instructible on the making of Bo-Shuriken.  Traditionally, they were made of anything readily available;  nails, needles, or rods of metal.  I'll be showing you how to make them out of nails.  


Materials are as follows:

Large nail(s).
Bench or angle grinder.
Cup of water.
Dremel.
Propane torch(or other gas).
Pliers.
Safety goggles.
If you like to hear things, wear earplugs
Pipe cutter.
Pen barrel

STEP 1: Cut Off the Head

Begin by cutting or grinding the head off the nail.  If you cut it off, grind what's left smooth.

STEP 2: Sharpen the Tip

Grind the tip to a needle point.  Make the angle fairly steep.  Dunk it in the water every few seconds.  Don't burn your fingers.   

STEP 3: Harden the Tip

This part is optional but recommended.  Take your torch and crank it up high.  
Using the pliers, stick the tip of the nail into the flame.  Hold it there until it is a bright orange color.  Immediately stick the tip into the water and pull it back out again.  Do this over and over again until it stops hissing.

STEP 4: Blacken the Whole Thing

Again this is optional but it does make the shuriken look cool.  Do the same as step 3 this time only heat it enough to blacken it along the length.  Once you're happy with the finish,  drop it in the water.  When it is cool enough to handle, you are done with the making.

STEP 5: Throwing Your Toy

First off, NO throwing at animals, private property, or little brothers.  PERIOD!  It is hard to properly explain the movements needed for throwing bo-shuriken.  The best I can do is say that you move your hand like you are karate choping the air.  See the pictures for help.  if you still need help, go to www.secrets-of-shuriken.com.au.  If you need a target, tape 3 or 4 layers of cardboard together and paint or draw a target symbol on the cardboard.  Or if you have an ugly old shed you could throw at that.  Now go toss that toy!

STEP 6: The Sheath...And Done!

It isn't very usefull without a sheath, is it!  Almost forgot!  The sheath is really simple.  Take the pipe cutter and cut the pen barrel so about 1/2 inch of the shuriken sticks out.  Now you're done at last.  Teach your friends to make them.  Be careful.   And most of all have fun! 

Comments

[RecurveNinja]

Woah there, if the nails are galvenized, do NOT go burning it, it will release toxic chemicals into the air, possibly killing you. Always check if they're galvenized.

And trying to temper (harden) nails that were already tempered isn't a good idea.
Nails are supposed to be hard, so the factory workers harden them before shipment.

Anyways, i'm not trying to put you down or anything, just making sure people don't get caught up in the hospital.

[steam_cannon]

RecurveNinja, sorry but you are wrong.

Nails are galvanized with zinc which is a very safe metal you'll find in your multivitamins and cold remedies. It's true that heavy zinc fumes can cause a temporary sickness called "metal fume fever". So regarding if it's possible to poison yourself from heating up nails? That's very unlikely. Dropping a hot nail on your foot is a more real danger.

Here's what Wiki has to say, Quote:
"Exposure to zinc oxide fumes can lead to a sickness named "metal fume fever". This condition rarely lasts longer than 24 hours, but is still unpleasant. Not unlike common influenza, fevers, chills, nausea, cough, and fatigue are common effects of high zinc oxide exposure."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxy-fuel_welding_and_cutting

So rule of thumb when working with fire and metals, do so in a well ventilated area. However regarding your comment about "toxic chemicals into the air, possibly killing you", no that's not how it works. This project is very low risk.

[weaponsmaster18]

being a blacksmith and having known a few we don't work with anything galvinised for the very reason (metal fume fever) but it can if done enough can cause fluid in the lungs to build up and you could die but the fumes will not do any immediate harm yes it is more likely to drop the hot nail on your foot than dieing from these fumes directly and by the way wiki is one of the most unreliable info websites out there it is open sourced and not all nails are galvanized plus they can tend to be cheaper with out being galvanized so we can pretty much declare this subject mute along with even if your scared of these fumes just do this in a well ventilated area and you'll be fine

[black hole]

Thanks for the tip. The nails I used were not galvanized, but it's good information to pass along.

[sdfgeoff]

Just to clarify, the "Do this over and over again" is referring to dunking in the water, not reheating it.

[black hole]

Yeah, that's right.