Weapons Building: Swords

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#C0C0C0" LINK="#FFFF00" VLINK="#808080"> <TABLE WIDTH="400" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <TD> <P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/mhb1.jpg" ALT="Magic Horizons Title Graphic" ALIGN="BOTTOM" WIDTH="398" HEIGHT="162"></P> <H2>Weapons Building: Swords</H2> <H4>Philosophy</H4> <P>The most important part of building a weapon for a LARP is safety. The fact that these sword designs are the lightest and fastest that we've seen is a pleasant side effect. The original intent of the designer (<A HREF="mailto:hanchar@mfa.com">Steve Hanchar</A>) was to make weapons that were safer than the ones being used at the time.</P> <HR> <DL> <DT><A HREF="#materials">Materials List</A></DT> <DT><A HREF="#tools">Tools List</A></DT> <DT><A HREF="#cutting">Cutting Out The Blade</A></DT> <DT><A HREF="#glue-1">Gluing The Blade</A></DT> <DT><A HREF="#tip">Gluing The Tip</A></DT> <DT><A HREF="#cover">The Cloth Blade Cover</A></DT> <DT><A HREF="#grip">Making The Grip</A></DT></DL> <HR> <P>Towards the aim of safety, these swords meet certain minimum requirements. </P> <OL> <LI>A weapon should not have any exposed sharp edges, or "hard bits", such as the rigid core of the blade.</LI> <LI>A weapon should be durable enough that routine use won't make it fail a safety check</LI> <LI>A weapon should be light enough, and padded well enough, that a blow delivered with normal force should, at most, sting.</LI></OL> <P>Ultimately, weapons should be used for <EM>fun</EM> in a live action roleplaying game.</P> <P><A NAME="materials"></A></P> <H4>Materials List</H4> <P>The following materials are required to make a fiber-core weapon, legal for IFGS or Magic Horizons.</P> <OL> <LI>A length of fiber-core. These are 1/2" outer diameter fiberglass rods, usually black. They come in 54" lengths, and are usually sold as kite stanchions for kites. Expect to pay 6 to 10 dollars apiece for them, depending on local availability.</LI> <LI>A 3/8" thick closed-cell foam camping pad. Try to avoid the recycled stuff, as it wears out faster, and is less rigid. Camping pads are usually 6' by about 2.5' in width.</LI> <LI>A ready supply of rip-stop nylon, to make the rip-bracing for the tip of the weapon, and to make the sock to cover it.</LI> <LI>A 6" length of split 1/2" diameter PVC pipe. (Split lengthwise. Most stores don't sell it; find one with a table-saw that will cut it for you.)</LI> <LI>A 6" length of PVC pipe with hole bored perpendicularly through the middle of it. This is your quillion.</LI> <LI>A well-nut that fits into the inner diameter of the fiber-core (approximately 3/8").</LI> <LI>A bolt that threads into the well-nut.</LI> <LI>A supply of large disk washers for counterweighting. If you can find brass washers, they're roughly 30% denser for the same volume as steel.</LI> <LI>A tube of Shoe Goo/Household Goop (a.k.a. industrial rubber adhesive).</LI> <LI>A tube of DevCon Plastic Welder. This adhesive is amazing stuff, and you don't need a lot of it. I've found it at hardware stores and Walgreens; do not try substituting epoxy for this. Epoxy is brittle, and breaks. This stuff flexes, and distributes stress.</LI> <LI>A can of 3M spray adhesive. </LI></OL> <H4><A NAME="tools"></A>Tools List</H4> <P>The tools required to make these blades are as follows:</P> <OL> <LI>An exacto knife, with a couple of sharp blades.</LI> <LI>A flat space, at least as long as the blade you're making.</LI> <LI>Visquine, or some other plastic surface that can be glued on.</LI> <LI>A T-square, and a smaller hand-ruler.</LI> <LI>A sharpie pen.</LI> <LI>A pair of lengths of plywood, about 3" wide, by about 48" long for each weapon. (Shorter ones work for shorter weapons.)</LI> <LI>Two or three C-clamps per weapon.</LI> <LI>Scissors for cutting fabric.</LI></OL> <H4><A NAME="cutting"></A>Cutting Out the Blade</H4> <P>The first part of making the blade is cutting out the pieces of foam. Lay the foam out on a flat surface, and weight it against its direction of curl. Use a T-square to measure out the pieces in the graphic below.</P><IMG SRC="../images/seperate.gif" ALT="[Pieces of the sword]"> <P>Part A in the diagram above is the main striking surface of the blade. It has a 1/2" wide space in the middle of it for the fiber-core to seat. The cutting surfaces of the blade should be a minimum of 3/4" wide, to perhaps 1" wide. Narrower blades may wear out faster, but are lighter overall.</P> <P>Part B (both parts) are two bolsters that cover the fiber core. They should leave about 1" of core exposed at the tip of the blade, before the beveling of the actual thrusting tip, and should be 1 1/4" wide.</P> <P>Parts 2 and 4 are the middle layers of the thrusting tip, and should be cut somewhat shorter than the curved part of the tip of the main blade, but should be as wide as your total blade width is (for a 1" cutting edge blade, total blade width is 2 1/2"). These two parts will cover the part of the core that's left exposed by the bolsters.</P> <P>Parts 1 and 5 are the outer layers of the thrusting tip, and are cut a bit shorter than layers 2 and 4. These two parts will cover the part of the core that are covered by parts 2 and 4.</P> <P>Remember the carpenter's adage: Measure twice, and cut once. A useful trick is to bisect the line that you used to draw out the parts with the blade of the exacto knife, as if you were splitting a hair. Remember to keep your hand in the same position, as close to perpendicular to the surface of the foam as you can arrange, and to pull the blade through the foam, for a smooth cut, rather than pushing it through.</P> <P>A useful trick for cutting the foam is to pin it to a ceiling tile before cutting. This keeps it from slipping as you pull the knife through.</P> <P>When cutting out the top of the gap for the fiber core, insert the knife in the corner, and <EM>very</EM> carefully cut along the line. Do not let the cut slide into the cutting edge of the weapon, as this join is the part of the blade that takes the most stress in normal use.</P> <P><A NAME="glue-1"></A></P> <H4>The First Gluing Step: The Blade</H4> <P>Lay out the two boards in a trough, and put a layer of Visquine between them, before you apply any glue. (Personal experience has taught me that trying to do this AFTER one has applied glue to foam is a frustrating affair.)</P> <P>Take electrician's tape and make a cross, with each limb about 2" long. Put the center of the cross over the hole at the tip of the fiber-core, and press the limbs down. Wrap this layer of electrician's tape with a spiral of tape coming up, crimping the last spiral over the top of the core. This is the end of the core that will go into the tip of your blade.</P> <P>Take part A in the diagram above, and leave a good, thick bead of Shoe Goo along the entire inside surface of the gap that the core will go into. This will usually require an assistant to avoid getting things stuck to one another.</P> <P>Once the inside surface is glued up, place the fibercore into the slot in the foam, putting the taped end at the top of the sword-blade. Press down gently, until it seats. Place the foam/fiber-core assembly into the Visquine trough. Use clamps to press the boards together, and wait for about 4 hours for the Shoe-Goo to set. Check it, before you clamp it, to ensure that the blade is going on straight.</P> <P>Once the Shoe-Goo sets, take one of the bolsters (both of the parts labeled "B", above), and line up a bead of Shoe-Goo down the middle. Center the bolster on the fiber-core, lay the blade flat, leaving the last half-inch or so of the fiber core exposed, and weight the bolster down with books. After an hour or so, flip the blade over, lay another bead of glue down along the bolster, place the other bolster on, and weight it down.</P> <P>Once the second side has seated, take an applicator, and apply a bead of Shoe-Goo into each of the four gaps between the bolsters and the blade. Clamp it in the trough, and let it cure for four hours or so.</P> <P><A NAME="tip"></A></P> <H4>The Second Gluing Step: The Tip</H4> <P>Once the blade itself is glued together, the thrusting tip can be assembled. Cut two patches of rip-stop nylon, as wide as your blade is, and about 2" long. </P> <P>When placing the foam, try to place it so that the curl of the foam sheet presses the pieces together, and line things up carefully. When you have the pieces lined up, draw a line through the edges as a reference in case anything slips.</P> <P>Layer the two patches of cloth over the exposed length of fibercore, and the first inch or so of the tip. These bits of fabric are to keep the foam from tearing from normal tip-shot stresses.</P> <P>Place pieces 2 and 4 on each side of the rip-stop nylon. Then place pieces 1 and 5 on the outer edges of pieces 2 and 4, so that edge on, the tip looks like this:</P> <IMG SRC="../images/assembly.gif" ALT="[Assembling the Sword]" WIDTH="400" HEIGHT="99"> <P>Once you've layered the foam in the way you want, spray the inside edge of each piece, and the fabric, with spray adhesive, and re-assemble the tip. Lay the tip assembly in the Visquine trough, use a couple of bits of foam to fill in the gaps, and clamp it down, using some wood along the side. Let the adhesive cure; this takes about an hour.</P> <P>The transparent corners in the illustration are the areas to be trimmed off with an exacto knife, to lighten the tip. These corners should be beveled off carefully; in particular, don't make the tip bolsters too narrow, as this reduces their durability.</P> <H4><A NAME="cover"></A>The Cloth Blade Cover</H4> <P>Cut a cover out of rip-stop nylon for your blade, giving about 1/4" over the "circumference" of the blade. Keeping the sock "inside out" (from sewing it up), slide it over the tip of the blade, and roll it right side out. You will need to compress the foam to get the sock to slide on, and it's not easy to do. (Ripstop nylon isn't very stretchy).</P> <P>Once the sock is rolled down the length of the blade, darn the bottom of it shut. Spraying Scotch-Guard on the outer surface of the fabric can keep your foam sword from getting waterlogged and heavy during games in inclement conditions, but adds another four hours to the building time.</P> <H4><A NAME="grip"></A>The Grip And Quillions</H4> <P>While the tip is curing, take a 4" to 8" length of capped PVC, of whatever diameter you feel comfortable with. Using a drill, bore out a perpendicular hole through the middle of it, with a half inch drill bit.</P> <P>Take a length of 3/8" pipe insulation and cover the PVC, keeping the holes exposed, and keeping about a half-inch . You may want to snip out a socket on the top of the pipe insulation for the blade to rest in.</P> <P>Pack the ends of the foam cover of the PVC pipe with foam to make them soft, then slide the entire assembly up onto the exposed piece of fiber-core at the bottom end of your blade. Dose this joint liberally with DevCon Plastic Welder. Cover any gaps between the blade and the PVC, and make sure that no exposed PVC remains, then cover the quillions with duct tape, going along laterally, rather than spiral wrapping patters. (Spiral wraps use more tape, which weighs more, and compress the foam, which is undesirable.) </P> <P>At the bottom of the fiber-core, put in the 1/2" outer diameter well-nut. (A well-nut looks like rubber wrapped around a threaded tube). The fit should be snug; the well-nut will expend when a bolt is put into it. (When you purchase the well-nut, bring along a short scrap of fiber-core with you.)</P> <P>Cover the exposed fiber-core with split PVC; you may want to put something around the core that's mildly yielding first. Seat the split PVC up against the quillions, leaving some space for a foam handguard or knucklebow underneath the quillions. When you have the PVC in the place that feels comfortable, glue it down. Wrap the PVC in something that gives a good grip; cork cycling handlebar tape works best.</P> <P>For the counterweight, drill a small wooden disk out, thread in a bolt that will fit into your well-nut seated in the bottom of the fibercore. Add washers onto the nut (four to eight, depending on your personal preferences), and thread the assembly onto the well-nut, then cover the wood and washers with padding, and duct tape. </P> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <TD><A><IMG SRC="../images/left_h.jpg" ALT="Left End Of Scroll Bar" WIDTH="32" HEIGHT="116"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../info/info_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/info_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Logistics]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="45" HEIGHT="116" NAME="info"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../game/game_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/game_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Game Info]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="60" HEIGHT="116" NAME="game"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../misc/misc_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/misc_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Miscellaneous Information]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="116" NAME="misc"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../faq.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/faq_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Frequently Asked Questions]" BORDER="0" WIDTH="58" HEIGHT="116" NAME="faq"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../new.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/new_h_n.jpg" ALT="[What's New]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="52" HEIGHT="116" NAME="whatsNew"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../index.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/home_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Magic Horizons Home Page]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="59" HEIGHT="116" NAME="home"></A></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="../images/right_h.jpg" ALT="Right End Of Scroll Bar" WIDTH="22" HEIGHT="116"></TD></TR></TABLE> <P>Problems with the page? 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