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If you have access to a drill press, that would be ideal for this. Then use a ½” bit, or a bit the same size as your blade width to drill out the pilot holes.
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Measure and mark out where you want the blade to penetrate the shaft, then drill small pilot holes on each end and make sure they are centered. We don’t exactly want this to look like a square piece of lumber when it’s finished. I hope you didn’t put the sander away because now you are going to need it to smooth out the entire shaft. And since our Grimm Reaper actor will be 8 feet tall (on stilts), I had to splice the 2” x 2” with another to extend it an additional foot and a half. Where I live, I couldn’t find any 2” x 2” ‘s longer than 8 feet. You can make your scythe as long as you want. They might even sell it cheap, so be sure to ask for a discount. Go to your local lumber yard and select the most bowed 2” x 2” you can find.
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You can see from the photos, it took me a few tries before I was finally happy with the design. Use a pencil to draw the blade shape onto a scrap piece of 1/2” plywood. Electric sander with 120 and 220 grit sandpaper.
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