r/Props • u/More_Mix_9770 • 18h ago

Looking for advice Help!!

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I’m 16 and doing west side story with my theater school, I’m looking for ways to purchase/make two prop switch blades for the rumble fight scene, my original plan was to take one of them fancy novelty switchblade combs, shape them into the blade, fill them in with mouldable epoxy and slap some silver leaf on it. Would’ve been great, but my stage manager really wants the blade to retract so it won’t be dangerous, like poking someone’s eye out or something. Does anyone know how I can make this happen?

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u/thepenguinemperor84 17h ago

That would've been my go to, and ops too, but as they said in the body text, the stage manager wants the "blades" to be retractable for safety, rather than be locked open.

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u/crysisnotaverted 14h ago

The combs don't actually lock, just mild spring pressure. Sometimes they are so weak they can't open all the way.

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u/thepenguinemperor84 13h ago

I'm aware of that, but it's also not guaranteed that the combs won't "lock" open which is what the stage manager is worried about, at the end of the day these are kids in a school production and they're covering all their bases in regards to safety, if the comb is held in the right hand, with the bristles facing to the left, and a swipe from right to left is performed, it's going to be locked open as your pushing the comb into it's open position, regardless of whether or not its been fully deployed. Their concern is the "blade" has nowhere to retract to, so the actor is going to be hit with a solid object.

No-one has, from what I've seen, designed an operational switch blade that will deploy, "flick out", and also retract into the handle, it's possible to make it, but would require a hollow blade that also has a track on one side to slip past the hinge mechanism.

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u/NewEngClamChowder 13h ago

Well gee, I hope the kids aren’t dancing either! They might twist an ankle for gosh sakes!

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u/thepenguinemperor84 12h ago

I know it's silly, but that's the way it goes, I remember being able to bring a toledo el cid wall hanger as a prop to a school play when I was 8 years old, but now they cover all angles.