The strength is in the wood itself. I carved the wood so it had 2 wooden notches in the back, and the plastic connection surface has 2 holes in it (melted with a flame) which the wooden notches were then forced through. The back of the wooden blade was then hot-glued to the exposed plastic. By the time the glue set in place, the melted plastic has solidified and locked around the notches, fully securing it.



The dark patches are intentionaly and were achieved by varying which Clear Coat I used in different places. There are 3 textures present; Krylon Satin Coat, Krylon Matte Coat, and Krylon Gloss Coat. Sprayed over the silver, and occasionally layered (I did all three in successive sweeps so some areas overlapped) I achieved that cool tiger-metal look. I like it because it looks like clouds, and the sword is called the Skybane, so, works out nicely!