Project:Spartan Holders

ProjectInfoBox "Spartan" Pencil/Knife Holders
Status:	somewhat in progress
Release Date:	first version: Dec 2020
Initiator:	Lukas
Materials Used:	plywood
Tools Used:	laser cutter
Software Used:	Inkscape
Approx. Cost:	time, not money...

No, this page is not about holders for Spartans! I made a Spartan shaped knife holder and want to adapt the design to several other holders as well.

My ideas going into this project:

• should be CNC'able and made from wood
• first a small version for pencils, then the typical knife holder you've probably seen on the internet (problem - not very flexible, knife sizes best known in advance)
• helmet pattern should be nicer/more realistic than in most designs - different wood, extra thickness for helmet & less for feathers?
• shield should be round & domed with a lambda on it
• kneeling position would be closer to the 300 movie (arrows are broken when standing up)
• inspiration:
  • 3D printable "Spartan Toothpick Army"
  • etsy image with okay feathers and lambda shield (although too many other lines for my taste)
  • Wikipedia - "Hoplite"
  • at least one other person also thought of a pencil/stuff holder (laser cut)

First Version (Knife Holder)

Just when I was about to design my Spartan mostly from scratch, I found an Instructable that hits many of my targets already. I vectorized the design to be able to laser cut it out of 6 mm poplar plywood. If the original author is okay with it, I'll share the files once they're all cleaned up!

• changes:
  • duplicated the 12 mm patterns to cut everything from 6 mm plywood
  • "Tonight, we dine in HELL" added to the base (font: Levi Brush which is somewhat similar to the "300" movie logo)
  • knife slots made a little more random (angled)
  • manually cut & charred scratch across the right eye
• nice scroll saw trick to try out: blade wrapped in sandpaper I don't think I ended up doing that, actually