Making Truesilver: 3D printing a fantasy sword

Books are not generally thought of as a visual medium. Yet both reading and writing require massive amounts of visualization. It’s just that the images happen in the mind where others can’t see them. It turns out the old adage works in reverse:

A word is worth a thousand pictures.

I knew before I ever wrote a word of The Swordspeaker Saga what Truesilver looked like. Back when I was still outlining and planning the series I did a pencil sketch for it. That design was eventually used by my cover artist as the basis for the final rendering.

I’ve always loved swords and weapons of all kinds. If I could have an armory in my house I would. But even beyond the historical weapons that exist in this world, amazing as they are, I’ve always wanted an actual enchanted sword. Like Excalibur, or one that glows blue when orcs are near, or bursts into flame.

The vision

Writing The Swordspeaker Saga has been the next closest thing to having an enchanted weapons of my own. And yet, if I could get my hands on something that looked like an actual enchanted blade, that would be even better.

And so for a while now, I’ve had it in the back of my mind that it would be a worthy endeavor to bring to life Truesilver as a physical sword. Unlike some authors, I am not a skilled smith. But I have had in interest in 3D printing for several years. So 3D printing a fantasy sword seemed like the way to go.

Once I found out that RiseUp Con was coming and I knew I would have a booth there, I decided to use the event as an excuse to try my hand at creating my very own replica of Truesilver.

The modeling

The model had to come first. The great thing about 3D printing is that if you can get a model of something, you can print anything that could be made from plastic. Having a 3D printer is like having a factory on your desk.

Although years ago I dabbled in 3D modeling, I was rusty by this point. I knew I would need help. After a little digging around, I found someone online who agreed to help. I gave him the cover and asked him to give me a 3D version.

It took quite a bit of back and forth, but he eventually got it to where it was ready for printing.

Here’s a screenshot of what the sword looked like in Blender when he was done.

The printing

The maximum length my printer, a Bambu Lab P1S, can print is roughly 10″ (though if you print diagonally you can get a bit more). That meant the model had to be printed in five separate parts.

Having a 3D printer is like having a factory on your desk.

I chose PLA Tough (also known as PLA+) plastic for the material since it was supposed to be stronger than regular PLA. PLA, for those of you who don’t know, stands for polylactic acid. It’s the most common plastic used in 3D printer. As of 2024, you can usually get a spool of it for between $15-$20. To print the entire sword I probably used about two-fifths of a spool, if that. So, while 3D printers are not cheap, printing the sword only cost about $5-$6.

Here is a picture of the tip of the sword after it finished printing.

The blade sections took around 1.5 hours to print each. The top of the handle took an hour. The crossguard was a monster, though. It took ten hours and the first time I printed it, I chose the wrong kind of supports and had to print it again.

For those of you unfamiliar with 3D printing, supports are pieces of plastic used in the printing process to make sure the model prints correctly. These need to be cut off and thrown away once the print is complete.

Here is how the final crossguard turned out. It was worth all the trouble.

Assembly

Everything up to this point had gone extremely well. But when it came to putting all the pieces together, that’s when I hit a logjam.

You see, I’d watched videos where people used metal rods to give their 3D printed swords better internal support. So I’d prepared and printed a hole inside the sections. It had the added benefit of giving the sword some actual weight.

However, I used superglue to connect the sections, and that’s where I made my big mistake. It just wasn’t strong enough to keep the plastic together with the length of the blade and the added weight from the rod.

I tried bondo to seal the cracks between the sections and hopefully keep it together better, but it just wasn’t strong enough. I think I must have put on at least 3 or 4 applications bondo. In one run I also tried wood filler. But it couldn’t handle it either.

Here’s what the blade looked like before painting with bondo on the seams.

I eventually resorted to using a wood-burner to solder the sections together. Even then it took multiple attempts and lots and lots of sanding and it still was never as solid as I would have liked.

Painting

Aside from all the times I had to re-prime and re-paint because of the cracks that kept showing up in the seams, the painting part went fairly smooth. I had to sand the crossguard quite a bit where the supports were cut away, but once I put on a couple of coats of primer, you could hardly tell the blade was 3D printed at all.

I used sandable, filler primer, which is amazing. Then I used a high-gloss black on top of that.

Amazingly, I was still dealing with cracks on the blade right up until the night before the convention, but deadlines are wonderful things. With RiseUp con right on my doorstep I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning applying the final colors.

A word is worth a thousand pictures

For the final layer, I used acrylic paints for the gems and handle. But for all of the metal parts I used something called Rub ‘n Buff. It’s actually a wax-based paste with metal filament in it. It’s hard to work with and get one hundred percent smooth, but it’s amazing. It really gives the look of metal to the blade.

And here’s a look at the final result.

As nice as that photo is, it doesn’t do it justice. The blade gleams in the sun like true steel. You can even see your reflection in it.

After weeks of hard work and a lot of mistakes, I finally had my enchanted blade.

What I’d do differently

The sword looked great at my booth in RiseUp con. And it’s so neat to have it sitting in a corner of my office now. But there are lots of things I would do differently.

I’ll consider using ABS plastic next time, which is stronger. It’s the same stuff Legos are made of. I’ve never printed with that, but I’ve heard good things about it. If I do use PLA again, I’ll definitely use 3D Gloop to bond the sections together. I used that to attach the pommel and it seems considerably stronger.

I’ll probably also use a wooden dowel for the support rod instead of metal. That would make it much lighter, which will make it less realistic, but it would also put less stress on the blade. And that’s a tradeoff worth making to me.

I’d probably use a bit more infill and I’d use the gyroid pattern for infill. I didn’t find out about that until after I’d finished printing. But it’s supposed to produce a stronger print.

But mistakes aside, I’m so glad I took the plunge to try 3D printing a fantasy sword. This will not be my last 3D project. I’ve got Rimewinter and Grimbriar in my sites next. My quest for enchanted weapons has only just begun!

I may need that armory after all.

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