How to: Make an Easy Cardboard Scabbard for N-Force

   Hello again, and today I will be showing you how to make a scabbard/sheath for a N-Force sword out of plain cardboard. This is relatively easy and doesn't take that much time. Since this is a "How to" post, it will be more like a write-up and I will walk you through how to make one.  Full tutorial after the jump.

 Ok, to start out you need six materials/tools. They are: 

Your foam sword (of course :P)

Cardboard (of course)

Scissors

Duct tape (or electrical tape will work fine)

Sharpie

Ruler (not pictured)

   For this, I used a vantage sword. You could also use something else like Vendetta, marauder, etc. but change the size of the cardboard. You could not use the Warlock and possibly you could not use the battle axe, although it could work if you completely changed the size of the cardboard you use. 

   Now to start with, you'll need to measure the length of the blade of the sword you are using. Then add on about 1/4 to 1/2 of a inch to that length. This serves as the lenghth of you cardboard. You do this so the sword has a little bit of room to fit in the scabbard. The cardboard rectangle I used measured 14" by about 2' (you may need to cut it down to be a little bit more than the length of the blade). The width doesn't matter too much, as long as it is not too long or too short. After you have the right size cardboard, make sure the cross guard of the sword is on the edge of the cardboard, so only the blade rests on the cardboard and no other part of the sword. Lay the sword in the very middle of the cardboard. After that, then proceed to mark where the tip of the blade is and trace it. (My Vantage Sword has duct tape on it).           ↓

This is where I began to trace it

   To mark where to fold the cardboard, measure 3/8 in. from both sides of where you measured the blade and draw a straight line all the way down the cardboard, while the line is staying parallel to the blade. Then you can do what I did and just fold the cardboard, or you can try a different method.

SUPAH STRENGTH!! 

                                                 
   If you can see in the pic above, you can cut off the piece that isn't folded. When you fold the cardboard, you want to make sure the sword has a secured fit, yet it can still slide out easily enough. I measured that out with Trial and Error. If it wasn't secured enough, I cut it down about 1/8-1/4 of a inch on both sides. When it was the right size I then moved on to making it stay in place. I first held the side down and added duct tape on it to secured of the time being as seen below.

After that I added duct tape all over it and it turned out pretty nice. 

   In total, this mod took me a hour, 30 minutes of that was being distracted by other things and it costed me nearly nothing since the cardboard was about to be recycled anyways. I will need to add a strap of some sort to be 100% effective. I thought of this by myself while just watching TV (one of those thoughts that just came to me). To improve this I could added some hot glue and electrical tape to make this even sturdier and I could also paint it to look cool. I suppose this could be effective for Hvz if they allow melee or for a nerf war. I plan on making multiple cardboard scabbards and hopefully this creative and fun idea might help someone. *NOTE* I REALLY NEED TO FIND A BETTER BACKGROUND FOR THE PICS!!

Thanks for reading

~Zero