# A Real Chainsword



## Emperor'sChild88 (Oct 7, 2008)

How cool would it be if somebody actually made a real life chainsword? I personally would love to have one, although i doubt its even possible to make one. But how hard would it be to make one? All you have to do is take a chainsaw and make a sword out of it...


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## gwmaniac (Sep 1, 2008)

i really wouldnt try it, with the power of the chainsword, you'll soon find yourself without a limb. At least you'll make newspaper headlines.


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## TheUnmarked (May 19, 2008)

It would be heavy and impractical to wield as a weapon and would only be good for cutting into soft meaty bits the minute it hit armor or bone it would kick out


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## Gul Torgo (Mar 31, 2008)

Emperor'sChild88, have you ever used an actual chainsaw? Their reputation as the ultimate melee weapon is a bit overblown.


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## Shadow Hawk (Apr 26, 2009)

Swinging a chainsword at somebody with no armour would do some serious damage. But with armour, you would have to say yo your enemy
"can you stop fighting me for a minute whilst my chainsword tries to cut through your armour?"


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Modern chainsaws aren't able to put up with that kind of use. You'd break the chain, hitting it against something as if it were a sword. And odds are, the chain would whip back and hit you. If you look at how you actually use a chainsaw, you hold it against what you're cutting, and gently lower it as it cuts through-- you don't put any force on the chain itself-- but using it as a sword would put a lot of stress on the chain with each strike. The concession 40k makes is that for a chainsword to work, it has to be sufficiently strong as far as materials so the chain doesn't break; it has to be balanced as a sword, and is made from monomolecular-edged teeth which don't dull with use. And that's why it's a science fiction thing.


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## humakt (Jan 2, 2008)

A chain saw as a weapon is impractical. The blades are not large enough and protective equipment for using one relies on this.

A chainsword would have to be a whole different kettle of fish. The teeth would have to be larger and made from a much harder material. The blade shape would have to encourage biting into the target. There would also have to be a different gaurd mechanism, so that when the blade returns into the handle area, debris is ejected or cleared from the chain. 

Metal armour would be a problem, but that is obviously reflected in gaming stats for the weapon  

The main problem I can see with todays technolagy in making one of these is the drive motor and power source being to big and bulky.


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

humakt said:


> A chain saw as a weapon is impractical. The blades are not large enough and protective equipment for using one relies on this.
> 
> A chainsword would have to be a whole different kettle of fish. The teeth would have to be larger and made from a much harder material. The blade shape would have to encourage biting into the target. There would also have to be a different gaurd mechanism, so that when the blade returns into the handle area, debris is ejected or cleared from the chain.
> 
> ...


Yeah, you'd have a Duracel battery in the grip; and just imagine as it goes down in the middle of a fight: "Oh, wait, I have to change the battery" Hell, you might even pull this off, with the opponent being utterly dumbstruck.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

You'd go flying- it would hit the enemy, bite in and pull itself out of your hand or take you with it (ah fun applications of Newton's laws).

If it takes a while to get through wood Im guessing it wouldnt do much against armour. Sounds nice in theory but I cant ever see it as being enything other then a danger to the wielder.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Apart from the chain breaking, teeth breaking, not being powerful enough to do anything, debris, etc, etc, that everyone has mentioned so far, the other thing that would make it impractical is the kick. If you made a chainsaw powerful enough to tear through armour and be twatted about like a sword it would have far too much kick for any of us to wield. I'd imagine it would be like a single guy on the end of a firehose! 

The 40k ones have the benefit of being sci-fi tech so we can't really say they would or wouldn't work, however they must have some pretty impressive tech going in to those weapons to do what they do with them!


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## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

Even in the 40k setting I don't think they make practical weapons. The are heavy, unbalanced and *can not* be used as a sword.

They have only one cutting edge (and as discussed above even that is debatable) and the other side can't be used for anything realy meaning that all attacks with the weapon have to be chopping motions which would leave you very open to attacks.

It just plain sucks.

On the plus side it would look kinda scary.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Emperor'sChild88 said:


> How cool would it be if somebody actually made a real life chainsword? I personally would love to have one, although i doubt its even possible to make one. But how hard would it be to make one? *All you have to do is take a chainsaw and make a sword out of it...*


This will be the story that will catapult the name of Games Workshop on to the nine oclock news ... and it wont be for genius of invention


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## Inquisitor Einar (Mar 6, 2009)

Personally, I think the best way to have a working 'chainsword' would be to get rid of the chain entirely. Instead, have a long set of gears driving swinging pistons up and down to provide the blades on the side their motion, making each of them a miniature saw that would grind against your target as you slam it into them.


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## Revelations (Mar 17, 2008)

Ash would respectfully disagree... either with his chainsaw hand or his boom stick!


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

chances are it wouldn't do any damage beyond mangling their flesh, there would be very little blood as the heat of the chain would part-cauterize the flesh. 

Unless you had someone hold them down all that would happens is that you would expend alot of energy to swing it, it would hit them, mangle the flesh, bounce off, and leave you vulnerable for a counter attack. And chances of hitting anything other then a arm is slim, chainsaws are not for thrusting, in fact you couldn't physically thrust with a chainsaw.

And in response to Revalations, and chainsaws use as weapins in general, the only reason he has a chainsaw hand is because it looks cool. There's a rule about it somewhere, the rule of cool or some such, basically although things like walking slowly through fire would in real life is painful and impossible when used in fiction it is cool and omega level badass.

Ps.
Revalations, consider yourself sigged!


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## Inquisitor Einar (Mar 6, 2009)

Clatu! Verata! N#(*$&#! 

I said the N-word.. really I did..


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## terminatormonkey (May 6, 2009)

can sombody make me a boltgun?


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

dude you can buy them, there used (or used to be used not sure if they still use them) to slaughter animals.


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

There was an old Nemesis story in 2000AD that had torquemada looking for a replacement for his beloved chainsword (this was pre-40k, iirc) called "cheryl" while stuck in a contemporary Earth. He was given a hedge trimmer.

Torquemada made Kharn the betrayer look level headed.


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## humakt (Jan 2, 2008)

chromedog said:


> There was an old Nemesis story in 2000AD that had torquemada looking for a replacement for his beloved chainsword (this was pre-40k, iirc) called "cheryl" while stuck in a contemporary Earth. He was given a hedge trimmer.
> 
> Torquemada made Kharn the betrayer look level headed.


Torquemada rocked, and Nemesis was a truly awesome comic story, or at least it was when I was 14.


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

Nemesis/ABC warriors it was all good. They still rock. (went back and reread some of them and they are still as biting.)

I didn't need spandex-clad superheroes as a kid. I had fascists, aliens and mutants (the other kind) to barrack for. Johnny Alpha, Joe Dredd and co.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Inquisitor Einar said:


> Personally, I think the best way to have a working 'chainsword' would be to get rid of the chain entirely. Instead, have a long set of gears driving swinging pistons up and down to provide the blades on the side their motion, making each of them a miniature saw that would grind against your target as you slam it into them.


Now that makes sense.
Look at the models, the teeth can't even go into the metal bit at the back.



Inquisitor Einar said:


> Clatu! Verata! N#(*$&#!
> 
> I said the N-word.. really I did..


And um, what's that?


But yeah, ultimately wouldn't work.
Doesn't matter though, it'd still be heavy enough to bludgeon people with (THQ GOT IT WRONG! THEY'RE CLUBS!).

And someone mentioned a battery, I think they'd be petrol-powered.
Or, as the case may be, modern-rocket-fuel-powered.


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## PowerEncarnate (Apr 15, 2009)

well it is do-able if yoe take into account the large amount of hand held electric power tools powered by compact rechargeable batteries that can last for hours between charges and the increased power and reduced size of electric moters over the last few years the big problems would be the chain, drive sprocket and and cleaning of gore from the blade/chain

chain: would need to be custom made to fit the needed use (larger teeth, stronger metals used...ect) otherwise it would snap.

drive sprocket: would need to be made of tougher meterials the in a chainsaw(the average is made from a soft steel with a high tensile strength but it bends easily)

cleaning of gore: now here is the big one because all the gore and blood would clog the works some sort of mechinism would need to be made to clean off the chain just as humakt said otherwise you would burn out the moter and that would suck in a combat situation

but as for the the powersupply it would most likely be on the lower end of the handle like a pistol ammo clip and act as a counter-weight to aid in the ballance issue


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Actually, with the gore-cleaning bit, I think that wouldn't be much of an issue.
With well concealed functional parts, you could have minimal cloggage, and all you'd have to do is shake if off (or shove it in water).

And good point with the counter-balance.
I'm no mechanic, but wouldn't a combustion engine would still be more functional?
Only in a larger device?


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Depends. 4 Strokes are too heavy and impractical (imagine having a V8 in a fist sized grip, not enough energy produced, and would jiggle about so much that your wrist would break had you a) the strength to carry it and b) you could make one small enough to fit into such a size.

A 2 Stroke could be better for sizing, I've made one that can a Sewing Machine and it's no larger than a speaker you get with a PC. But then again, 2 Strokes are shit.

Convection could work - but then again sizing is an issue. Power packs are obviously better, as it contains the energy that's required and could theoretically be recharged.

However, with the revving that's suggested, and the gears/coughing noises, it sounds like a Combustion engine.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Vaz said:


> Depends. 4 Strokes are too heavy and impractical (imagine having a V8 in a fist sized grip, not enough energy produced, and would jiggle about so much that your wrist would break had you a) the strength to carry it and b) you could make one small enough to fit into such a size.
> 
> A 2 Stroke could be better for sizing, I've made one that can a Sewing Machine and it's no larger than a speaker you get with a PC. But then again, 2 Strokes are shit.
> 
> ...


Well we must keep in mind, these are Space Marines we're talking about.
In full power armour, their fist would probably be the size of your average adult head.

So, you'd have more room than you're thinking of.

Unless we were talking about what you'd do to actually make one, for real life use.
In which case, ignore this post :3


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## PowerEncarnate (Apr 15, 2009)

Winterous said:


> Actually, with the gore-cleaning bit, I think that wouldn't be much of an issue.
> With well concealed functional parts, you could have minimal cloggage, and all you'd have to do is shake if off (or shove it in water).
> 
> And good point with the counter-balance.
> ...


Actually with the new advanses in electric moters over the last few years you will bet about as much power as a comperal sized combustion engine with less weight


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

PowerEncarnate said:


> Actually with the new advanses in electric moters over the last few years you will bet about as much power as a comperal sized combustion engine with less weight


Oh...
Hmm, interesting.

And of course you don't need the weight of the fuel as well.
But you would need the battery.

So you'd probably be better off weight-wise with combustion, in the long run.
Because batteries are quite fucking large.


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## PowerEncarnate (Apr 15, 2009)

Winterous said:


> Oh...
> Hmm, interesting.
> 
> And of course you don't need the weight of the fuel as well.
> ...


not if you use the Lithium batery packs that fit into the hand grips of rechargible powertools rather light weight and would act as a counterwieght to the moter and blade on the other end. it would be heavy but no more so then a heavy sword


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## Thanatos (Mar 23, 2009)

u all need to remeber that this IS 38 000 years in the future and there would HUGE advances in power and motor technologies and whose to say that the chainsword isnt nuclear (lol) or plasma powered (me likey the sounds of that- a plasma powered chainsword sounds badass)

also this is a chainsword not a chainsaw, they do sound similar but seriously? a chainsaw isnt made for close combat

and then theres always the fact that apart from DoW series etc we havnt really got any idea of how they work/run or wot they look like when they do- they could emit vast amounts of pollution or sound (maybe theve got ear muffs in their helm lol)

@Inquisitor Einar- great thinking with the gears in whatnot 

this is an interesting conversation :goodpost:


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

A chainsaw would not really make a worthwhile weapon, it's too big and bulky. sure, swinging one at someone would make a mess but you would have to be 100% sure you were going to get them first time as you probably wouldn't get another go.
Another thing to keep in mind is that protective clothing for using a chainsaw is not armour plated, it's packed with wadding. The fluffy wadding clogs up the chain and stops it moving whereas armour plates would give the blade something to bite into.

The closest thing your going to get to a workable chain weapon is the polesaw I used to use at work. It's a small chainsaw blade at the end of a 10' long pole. All the workings were at the same end as the handle so it was well balanced and you could give it a good swing. 
I should imagine using it like a halberd or pike would work. Set yourself good and firm, brace, rev the shit out of it and wait for some idiot to run onto it.


I should point out that you should never, ever use a polesaw, chainsaw or any other motorised saw or cutting tool as a weapon even if zombies do attack.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

normtheunsavoury said:


> All the workings were at the same end as the handle so it was well balanced and you could give it a good swing.


How responsible of you :laugh:



normtheunsavoury said:


> I should point out that you should never, ever use a polesaw, chainsaw or any other motorised saw or cutting tool as a weapon even if zombies do attack.


Aaw, why not?
It'd be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!
Haven't you played Dead Rising?
Clearly that's the apex of realism.


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## muffinman82 (Oct 29, 2008)

I know of a couple Butchers that do there intial meat processing using a chainsaw. I also have processed meat that my family has harvested during hunting season with believe it or not, a chain saw. Against animal hide, tissue and hair The saw bit right through it bone and all. As for clogging with the saw spinning at full RPM the tissue was ejected out the front of the saw as I was cutting in an upward motion. When I was finished Halfing the animals I didnt have a speck of blood on me and the chain only had small amounts of hair stuck to it, as for the opposite wall behind the carcass it had a good 3 inches of gore stuck to it approxiametly 3 feet wide and from the floor to the roof. In all actuality if you where to wield a chainsword you would absoultely have to swing the sword in a upward motion to keep the blade from clogging being the blade spins clockwise.Everything organic has some sort of support structure under the tissue and skin ie: bones, They also helped keep the chain clean giving some friction to clean off the links. 

Also, Why does the chain have to go completely around the outside of the sword? Why couldn't the chain thread through the blade and only the bottom of the sword be lethal? This would allow you to parry with a sharp blade on the top, a point on the end for peircing and a spinning chain as a finisher on the bottom :biggrin: By the way I dont recommend processing animals with the chainsaw unless you are outside. We now use a reciprocating sawzall with a fine tooth metal blade much more clean! I know you are all thinking where the hell did this hick come from.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

...
I can see you'd make interesting dinner conversation.
XD

Anyway, the Chainswords in 40k have one side with the blade, and the other is solid metal, so you could indeed parry with the back edge.

And interesting point about the 'upwards motion', if the teeth were to run towards the 'tip' of the sword, then clogging wouldn't be a big issue.
Rather than it running towards the hilt, as I'm sure most of us have imagined.


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## Thanatos (Mar 23, 2009)

muffinman82 said:


> I know of a couple Butchers that do there intial meat processing using a chainsaw. I also have processed meat that my family has harvested during hunting season with believe it or not, a chain saw. Against animal hide, tissue and hair The saw bit right through it bone and all. As for clogging with the saw spinning at full RPM the tissue was ejected out the front of the saw as I was cutting in an upward motion. When I was finished Halfing the animals I didnt have a speck of blood on me and the chain only had small amounts of hair stuck to it, as for the opposite wall behind the carcass it had a good 3 inches of gore stuck to it approxiametly 3 feet wide and from the floor to the roof. In all actuality if you where to wield a chainsword you would absoultely have to swing the sword in a upward motion to keep the blade from clogging being the blade spins clockwise.Everything organic has some sort of support structure under the tissue and skin ie: bones, They also helped keep the chain clean giving some friction to clean off the links.
> 
> Also, Why does the chain have to go completely around the outside of the sword? Why couldn't the chain thread through the blade and only the bottom of the sword be lethal? This would allow you to parry with a sharp blade on the top, a point on the end for peircing and a spinning chain as a finisher on the bottom :biggrin: By the way I dont recommend processing animals with the chainsaw unless you are outside. We now use a reciprocating sawzall with a fine tooth metal blade much more clean! I know you are all thinking where the hell did this hick come from.


u've got to be one of the most responsible and safest person i've ever met lol :smoke: :russianroulette: :sarcastichand:

now that i think about it- cause when i posted my last it was like 3am, something similar to a mini bandsaw or an extended jigsaw might work, the strength of the blade may be a problem cause they snap pretty easily... :blush::washim: i swear it wasnt me lol

of course we could always go with a
View attachment 2944


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## anarchyfever (May 24, 2008)

Theoritically if you found a metal which was maluable and had a high melting point and still retained its sharpness you could make a sword with the blade being able to move like a saw, this is all a bit terminator 2 now, liquid metal.

edit-Otherwise an actual chainsaw, maybe trinium infused titanium to stop breaking, nano bound wire for the links, and a exo-skeleton suit for the kick back


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## Wolfgang_Molder (Mar 3, 2008)

I think in terms of getting a chain that won't break the key would be to use a belt supported by numerous rollers, this would save weight and add strength. for a powersource, there is nothing stopping from having a power source in a backpack (battery, i can't imagine getting an engine in there without 3rd degree burns) with armoured cables connecting it. true a chainsword is a ridiculous weapon when looked at in reality, it would have no balance whatsoever as the rotating blades would affect it's balance making it top heavy. when you hit something it would kick back and spray parks or debris all over you. i would say you would be much more likely to see a power sword then a chain sword, or my personal favourite the thunder hammer.


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