Safe foamcore meat cleaver.

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

*Edit* There is a new tutorial on page four making a machete using this same technique.*

Hey everyone, I posted this how-to on another forum I hope it's ok that I re-posted it here (as it's my tutorial I can't see why not). I had to edit my picture amount down to five pictures from sixteen and rewrite most of the wording, I hope this all makes sense, if there are any questions by all means ask. Have fun.

I decided to start it off by posting a step by step on easy safe prop
making, and as I felt like making a meat cleaver, here it is.

You need: Foamcore, foil tape, hole punch, acrylic paints, spray glue and or hot glue, fake blood, x-acto knife, sandpaper.

Just to let people know spray paints will dissolve the foam so seal it first before using it or stick to acrylics only. These are the colors I used.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Cleaverfoamcorepaintsused.jpg

Lie your foamcore down and draw or trace your shapes onto it. I had a cleaver that I wanted to duplicate the shape of so I used that.

Cut out as many as you like, these will all be used on one knife just layered together for thickness. I used two layers for the blade and four on the handle.

Use your glue to stick the two main parts of the cleaver together then the handle.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Cleaverfoamcorehalfglued.jpg

Cut an angle in your knife edge for the "sharp" part, and round off your handle if you want. For the shaping I used a x-acto knife and for rounding of stuff a sure-form tool and sandpaper.

Here it is all glued together and shaped.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Cleaverfoamcorefullyglued.jpg

I used some nice browns and yellows/oranges for that nice rusty metal look.

Foil tape on the edge, then trim it.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/CleaverfoemcoreFoiltape.jpg

Finish off the detailing by hole punching some "rivits" from your foil tape and stick them on the handle, and finish painting the blade. Then seal it with some crystal clear or acrylic sealer.

Dressed with some fake blood and it's done.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Cleaverfoamcorefinished1.jpg

I need to say that during the building of this I decided to use some hot glue to hide the joints it the board, just put it on with the gun then spread it out flat with a wet tongue depressor. You could use this way to build all kinds of things (a machete for Jason)? You could add some plastic tubing into it when you built it and rig it to spray fake blood.
I also used this technique to make a scythe for a grim reaper costume and a "knife in the head" gag. You could also use foamcore to make swords, axes, knives, all sorts of things.

[Front Yard Fright]

This is awesome!
I wouldn't expect it too look so real...
But it looks fantastic!
Great job.. and thanks for sharing!
:).

[turtle2778]

Excellent. WOW!!! Great job.

[MacabreManor]

sweet

[playfx]

Great prop how to, can't wait to see more from you!!!

[Frighteners Entertainment]

Nice job, looks real good!

[ScareShack]

nice, that looks pretty real! great job.

[Sickie Ickie]

It's hard to get props to look real at times, but you did an excellant job!

[Vlad]

Great job UVM. A really great paintjob on that. Well done my friend!

[Lilly]

real nice prop you got there..
great painting

[Lauriebeast]

Beautiful prop and great tutorial...thanks for the info

[Black Cat]

Very realistic looking. Thanks for the how-to

[skeletonowl]

love the paint job! someone payed attention in art class

[Nightwing]

Unbelievable paintjob! As I'm a newbie, what is foamcore?

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

Here is a pic of some foamcore. It's realy thick paper or thin cardboard depending on your point of veiw, with foam glued between the layers. You can find in many colors and sizes.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Cleaverfoamcore.jpg

Yeah I paid attention in art class but not realy in any others.

[playfx]

That was my problem, I thought art was the only class in school. The only class I made A's in anyway.

[mikeq91]

If only i had some artistic talent... great looking prop! very realistic

[HalloweenZombie]

Nice colors. You definitely have an eye for colors. That's a difficult trait to come by.

Where do you purchase foamcore? I'm interested in making a scythe for my Grim Reaper.

Also, you mentioned a longer turorial on a different site. What might that other site be? I'd like to see more pics. (Hope I'm not offending anyone by asking.)

[Sickie Ickie]

I'm SO OFFENDED!!!! LOL actually, I was thinking the same thing myself. :)

[dflowers]

Wow! Very cool.

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

I bought my foamcore from my local art supply store, any decent sized place should carry it. It was in the back room with the cardboard and specialty papers. I posted this tutorial on a site called the http://www.theeffectslab.com/ last Halloween along with some others. The lab is mostly about makeup fx and props it full of some realy nice obsessed people like yourselves just more with makeup than Halloween but the 31st is big too. I hope it's ok to add that link here my intent joining up here was not to lead people to other sites but to contribute to this one. I'm new here and am still learning the rules. Here's a pic of my reaper costume and sythe, I made the skull mask and had a friend sew the robe. The sythe handle is made of P.V.C heated with a heat gun and bent to shape, it breaks down into three parts for easy cab rides. The blade part is the foamcore as mentioned. I built this prop first then came up with the idea for the how-to for posting.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/a9e8884d.jpg

[Sickie Ickie]

Does the pvc taper or is that just a photo illusion?

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

Yeah forced perspective, it's all the same size tubing but it curves away from the camara and over my head.

[BooGirl666]

Wow I just seen this thread! This is FANTASTIC!!! **Looking for pen** Gotta add this to the list of things. Great Job Undeadvoodoomonkey oiy thats a mouth full lol O and btw.... welcome!

[zombielord]

oh my, i havent seen a "how to" for years that i actualy wanted to do! im doing this tonight

ZL

[HouseBloodthorn]

Really nice work. I see a foamcore machete in my very near future. Thanks for the tutorial.

[joker]

Very nice....I'm definitely going to have to attempt something like this!!

[Dixie]

Love seeing what paint can transform. Nice job, really nice - I like!!

[hpropman]

wow that is cool! Thanks for sharing.

[KINGS CRYPT]

I'm going to get the supplies right now!

[MorbidMariah]

Wow, thanks for posting this! I have been trying to figure out how to make a good min-kitchen knife for a crazy doll I'm making, and this is perfect! :jol:

[KINGS CRYPT]

.....A quick trip to menards and wallah, all I have to do is paint and add rivets.:http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww100/METALIKING/019.jpghttp://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww100/METALIKING/020.jpg It is just foam posterboard that you can get at CVS or the officestore.This took me literally 30min and I happened to have foamboard laying in my garage. Excellent job by Undeadvodoomonkey, here is his tutorial:http://www.theeffectslab.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1733&highlight=meat+cleaver.

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

Thanks again for the positive feedback on this thread.
KC- Looks like your off to a great piece!Did you miss the first page? As you added a link to to the same tut from another forum. Am I missing something?

[Devils Chariot]

wow brain fart! UVM I made one of these in 2007 for my first yard haunt, it was great, I forgot it was you who posted it. Your Nomad on that other site, yeah?

[The Bloodshed Brothers]

thats crazy! awesome job

[KINGS CRYPT]

Thanks again for the positive feedback on this thread.
KC- Looks like your off to a great piece!Did you miss the first page? As you added a link to to the same tut from another forum. Am I missing something?

I read the first page, but your tutorial on theeffectslab was just more detailed so I thought I'd just give the link. My dad gave me a ton of foamboard from his shop so I'll make a couple, the won't look as good as yours though. By the way, do you make or buy your blood?

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

DC- Yup that's me. I thought my normal name wasn't really "Halloweenie" enough, so I changed it up.

KC- Your right it was more detailed on the lab. There you can post as many links to pics as you want in a thread, but here your limited to 5 per entry and it got frustrating trying to put up this tut.
I make my own blood both corn syrup based and acrylic based. The type used here was acrylic medium with powdered pigments mixed in aprox equal parts red and yellow. Food color or regular acrylic will work to color your acrylic medium as well but the food color will stain and leach out a little even after it's dry. For really old blood I use instant coffee with a little water till it's a liquid then add that to your medium. It's got a nice yellow brown undertone to it. You may need to reseal on top with clear acrylics after it's dry to cut some tackiness.

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

People here seemed to like this tutorial so I added a new design. I wanted to show how you could adapt this idea into different props. The over all construction is more or less the same as the cleaver. I happened to have some left over wooden handles from a show so I added those on. I also decided to post some pics of a scythe I made a few years ago as I thought there would be some interest. I tried to take a pic of how the scythe breaks down into three sections for easy travel. Enjoy!

Drawing my pattern on my foamcore.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete1.jpg

I used a plate to trace the curve at the tip.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete2.jpg

Here is the first cut.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete3.jpg

Once I cut out the first piece I used it to trace a second one. These are the rough shapes with the position of the wooden handles.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete4.jpg

Here they are with all the detail cuts done.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete5.jpg

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

I hot glued the two halves together.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete6.jpg

Then hot glued the handles on.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete7.jpg

I trimmed a "knife edge" onto the blade.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete8.jpg

This is the paint job about halfway through.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete9.jpg

Added the foil tape and continued painting.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete10.jpg

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

DONE! I finished the painting and added some blood spatters using acrylic medium and powdered pigments. I also added a piece of leather through the handle hole after I took these pics.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Machete11.jpg

This is my scythe, made from PVC and a foamcore blade. It's been around for a few years now and is fairly banged up and in need of repairs. It's about 6.5 feet tall and breaks down into three sections.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Scythe1.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/NOMAD_11/Knife%20making%20demo/Scythe.jpg

Hope this helps to inspire some cool builds!

[Daddy's Little Corpse]

Aw wow! I'm totally going to try this. I need lots of sharp things this year. ;)

[Day of the Dead]

Killer paint job. Very nice! :D

[JustJimAZ]

I am amazed at what you have done with foamcore!