Hunter - Buster Ninjato Hybrid - 3.0

Sadi here. I made yet another sword. Yehahhayay. I made an I'ble that explains the methods I used to make this weapon and many others, by the way.

In one of my attempts to not do "everything" to a sword (I'm talking about this one), I decided to think of a specific theme and try to replicate that in a sword - something that works about fifty percent of the time. Lucky for me, I had already made a dagger of a rather unique (well, different than my other weapons) look, and so I decided to replicate that. Also, I was looking for a bit of a break from the ultra-complicated-room-looks-like-junkyard-for-days experience that often ends up happening when I make a sword. This one was nice and easy, particularly because I didn't make the edge sharp, so it suited my needs. Apart from having Macduff use it with the matching dagger for the last fight scene in Macbeth, I'll probably start using this one as my "demonstration" weapon (read: what I grab to casually pretend to slice someone in half), replacing my first-ever-decent-sword that would be this.

The sword does not have a "sharp" blade like my other 3.0 sword Alt Z. A sharp blade is always nice, but because I wanted the tang to come from the middle of the blade this would have been a long and laborious task that involves precise woodwork and I don't have any tools (and yeah I suck at woodwork.. I'll admit it). The upside of not having a sharp blade is that it's harder to damage. At 28" (from guard to tip) I think it's also fairly long for having a ninjato-style blade. I like long blades, because sometimes (especially when people hit hard) it's nice to just poke enemies off from a distance. The handle is shorter than usual (aka not crazy long), because I don't think a super long handle would match this sword too well, but I still kept it pretty long because I always like to have the option of two hands or a lot of space with one. If you want to know more about the "model number thing", look at this instructable. It's got a pretty good explanation and I don't really want to copy it here because it's fairly long.

As always, feedback is good. Suggestions are even better. If there's anything you want to know, say so and I'll try my best to help. Ratings are useful feedback no matter what number of stars you choose because they let me know if there's something better out there, and if there is, I most certainly want to see it. My main goal is to help other people find ideas - and maybe even help me improve my own swords.

Materials:
A flat wooden rod [the thinner the rod, the weaker, the thicker, the thicker the blade. I used one that was five millimeters thick and a half an inch wide]
5mm thick craft foam
Craft foam to decorate with [I used black sparkly craft foam. I just like that stuff for some reason. I tend to add it to everything. BEWARE: it tends to add itself to everything else. The bane of sparkly things... they get everywhere] OR silver duct tape [Generally I would suggest Foil Tape, but it doesn't tend to work as well on foam as it does on cardboard - it tends to crumple up. It might be better on this because it has a dull blade, but I still suggest silver duct tape.]
Masking tape
Double sided tape [The stronger, the better]
Foam Glue [or any glue, really]
Needle and friendship-bracelet thread
Thin craft foam [as in, not 5mm thick. Preferably this is not the stick on kind, either.]