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. 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.

Drill press or electric drill with 1/2' drill bit.

There's no need to make it sharp, we just want to give the appearance of an edge. If you're going for realism, you will also want to sand down a bevel for the blade’s edge. Just be careful not to sand through the top layer of the plywood. Next, since we are wanting this to look like metal, use a power sander to get the blade as smooth as possible, Start with a coarse 120 grit sand paper and work your way down to a 220, and then even finer if you want. Remember, (as Norm Abrams would say) 'there is no more important shop safety rule than to wear your safety glasses'. Once you are happy with the shape and design, cut it out with a jigsaw, band saw or scroll saw. My blade ended up at 3-1/2 - 4 feet long, but you can really do any size or design you want, just make sure to leave the blade’s tang long enough so it can be attached to the shaft. For me, this was one of the more difficult parts of the project, but maybe that's because I'm a perfectionist. 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.

Grim reaper scythe png