Introduction: Wolverine Claws

By jonathanelwell.com
About: I'm an IT professional in Philadelphia - but thats just my day job. I love to repurpose things, and since I grew up not having much (if any) money, I'm all about making cool stuff out of free or inexpensive ma…

Want to make some super amazing Wolverine claws on the cheap?
I made some for 5 dollars!
Tools I used:
Acetylene Cutting Torch (dremel or grinder would work)
Bench Grinder
Welder (I used an arc welder, but any type is fine)
Dremel with grinding wheel for fine tuning

Materials:
3 pairs of ice skates (as close to the same size as possible) - $1.75 a pair at thrift shop
A few 20d nails - free
2 1/4 bolts (or any metal rod) - free

So here we go...

Step 1: Making the Blades Pt 1

So I needed some metal bars for the blades, and instead of buying metal bar stock I opted for using ice skate blades - cheap from the thrift store, and they're temper steel - so solid stuff

I used my friends torch to cut the blades from the shoe, which generally involved catching the shoe on fire...
Kinda fun, though it made the entire garage smoked out....

Once they were cut off I starting on the shaping process...

Step 2: Making the Blades Pt 2 - Shaping

I drew the rough shape i wanted using a sharpie on each blade, then used my bench grinder to remove material up the drawing lines on each - This was by far the longest and most labor intensive part of the process

Each one had the blade shape and a tang, so that there was a recess at the end to fit over my knuckle
I also put a bit of an edge on them

Step 3: Making the Blades Pt 3 - Assembly


After most of the shaping was done, I held the blades between my knuckles to get a feel for the spacing and such
Then I took the nails (really any thin, malleable metal rod will do as long as its weldable) and bent them in a broad 90ish degree
arc.
Using a magnet to hold the pieces in place, I welded one at the end just before the knuckle recess on each blade
Then I took the first blade and welded it to the bolt - it took some trial and error to find the right angle and fit for my hand, which would be different for each person
With the first one in place, I used a piece of cardboard as a jig to hold the other two blades in place while I welded them on

Almost done!

Step 4: Finishing

All that was left was to clean up the welds with my dremel, and do some fine tuning for the knuckle spaces and clean up any rough grind marks. I didn't polish them, I kind of liked the rough look

Got some dog tags and a cigar, and voila! Instant Wolverine.

I ended up blunting the edges and tips before I wore them, they were actually pretty stinking sharp at first... though they still skewer chicken nuggets well.

And I managed to complete bury them in a pumpkin. Extremely satisfying.

Enjoy!

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