Adventure Time - Finn's Golden Sword of Battle

I’ve been watching Adventure Time for a while now, and ever since I started the show, I’ve wanted to make a prop from the series. So here it is – my very first handmade prop: Finn’s Golden Sword of Battle!

The golden sword of battle (also known as Scarlet) is Finn’s go-to weapon through most of seasons one and two. The blade is dented, chipped, and worn. It has a black hilt with weathered leather grip straps and a red gemstone in the pommel. In “Business Time,” the Business Men polish and sharpen the sword, making it the only episode where the golden sword looks brand new.

In “The Real You,” the golden sword passes through the Bubble creator and becomes four-dimensional. When Finn uses the 4-D golden sword to attack the black hole he created, the explosion sends it flying into the Cotton Candy Forest. Finn goes without a sword until “Mystery Train,” which suggests he lost it after the explosion.

The Finished Prop

This is the final result – my handmade Finn’s Golden Sword of Battle. I made it from balsa wood since I don’t have any major power tools besides my little Dremel. Everything was done pretty much by hand. I’d never made anything like this or even worked with wood before, so I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

The Process

Sheets of balsa wood with the rough layout I planned to make.

A single sheet of balsa wood wasn’t thick enough for the sword, so I glued two sheets together with Elmer’s glue.

Using some heavy books to apply pressure while the glue cured.

After the glue dried, I cut the balsa with a hacksaw and started sanding it down.

Balsa is a really soft wood, so it was fairly easy to sand into shape.

Next, I wanted to add more details and make it “screen accurate,” so I replicated the dings I could see on the cartoon sword.

I used my Dremel here to help remove material and create the grooves more easily.

Once I was happy with the blade shape, I started working on the hilt and glued more balsa together to create a block for it.

Here’s the blade and hilt together.

Next up was building the part that holds the jewel and caps off the whole assembly.

Really happy with how the sword was looking at this point, even with just the raw balsa.

For the jewel, the only thing I had on hand was some Super Sculpey – a type of clay that hardens in the oven. I hand-shaped some pieces that would fit in the pommel slot.

The pieces fit well together, but there were some big gaps that needed covering. I decided to use wood filler to smooth everything out.

After the wood filler dried (which was pretty quick), it was just a matter of sanding it smooth again.

The pommel also got some wood filler, and things looked much smoother!

With all that progress made, it was time to start painting the blade.

Something became clear at this point – things weren’t looking great! The flat color didn’t really match the cartoon sword, so I tried adding some shading to the jewel.

That wasn’t enough, so I also painted some contour lines on the sword to give it that cartoon look. At this point I was getting happy again with how it looked.

Here it is, looking pretty good. The only thing missing was the cloth wrapping on the handle.

I used some black felt strips and wrapped them around, then sprayed some grey paint on top to give it a more worn look.

Finn’s Golden Sword of Battle (aka Scarlet)

Here’s the final product – my first handmade prop, and I’m really proud of how it turned out!