Where can I find LARP Weapons Tutorials

[Nocturnis]

I am trying to get my little brother into an active lifestyle. He has ADHD so a standard workout routine won't work all that well. He does love sword fighting with me. We have used Nerf weapons before and they get trashed pretty quickly. So I was wonder if any of my fellow Nerds knew of any sites so I can make my own. Bare in mind that I have very little crafting skill so just a basic tutorial would be excellent. I have did my research and found a couple of good ones but you can never have enough info. Thanks for your time.

[Atalan]

What type are you looking for, including expected level of contact (tap to full-contact), material cost, weapon type, ect?

[andygates]

Mmm, foamy. I used to make 'em by the bucketload.

At their heart they're a core of (usually) fiberglass rod, sandwiched in layers of foam. It's glued together with impact adhesive and then carved and covered. Bits of conduit pipe are good for handles and for hafted weapons like axes. For more cartoony swords, conduit is okay as a spine too.

Covering is either latex rubber (paint it black, then drybrush the top coats using modeling acrylics) or for cheap, first-time or club kit, silver duct tape. With a kit who trashes things, duct tape has the advantage that you won't be yelling "my preciousss!" when he batters the crap out of it. It's a lot cheaper, quicker and easier too.

Protips: lots and lots of spare sharp blades as cutting gluey foam blunts them fast; 6-8mm fibreglass rod is common at kite stores; don't mix metallic paint into latex rubber, it turns evil; plastazote firm foam (as used in gun and camera cases) is awesome to carve.

[gillygirl]

My kids do Belegath with their dad. There are weapons tutorials on their page. Maybe that will help.

[KAllen]

If you want to play like we Klingons do, check out the following link

http://www.janissaries.net/ikvmelota/academy.htm

Scroll down till you see the link for "cutting a wooden bat'letH" and "padding weapons".

This is what the Klingons down here do annually at that ship's (IKV Melota) bat'letH tourney. Yes, we beat each other w/ wooden bat'letHs & mek'letHs!!!

I'm sure you could make some regular swords or whatnot and use this padding method.

[Nocturnis]

Thanks for the tips. I will look into it when I get some spare cash. Last time me and my bro battled in front of my apt. we had a crowd gather to watch it was epic.

[Atalan]

Mmm, foamy. I used to make 'em by the bucketload.

At their heart they're a core of (usually) fiberglass rod, sandwiched in layers of foam. It's glued together with impact adhesive and then carved and covered. Bits of conduit pipe are good for handles and for hafted weapons like axes. For more cartoony swords, conduit is okay as a spine too.

Covering is either latex rubber (paint it black, then drybrush the top coats using modeling acrylics) or for cheap, first-time or club kit, silver duct tape. With a kit who trashes things, duct tape has the advantage that you won't be yelling "my preciousss!" when he batters the crap out of it. It's a lot cheaper, quicker and easier too.

Protips: lots and lots of spare sharp blades as cutting gluey foam blunts them fast; 6-8mm fibreglass rod is common at kite stores; don't mix metallic paint into latex rubber, it turns evil; plastazote firm foam (as used in gun and camera cases) is awesome to carve.

This is appropriate for a more tap type of LARP. If he's looking for full-contact (Dagorhir, Belegarth, or similar) then only cover with cloth on any surface used for striking.

[Mordechaj]

A few of my friends and I like to practice with a bit more zest than usual at LARP events (and they aren't all ninny-nanny here), we keep it reasonable without pommel strikes. So far we mostly used PVC core and insulation foam (min 5 cm in diameter total). The (single*) core breaks sometimes, but ducktape over foam prevented the weapon from bending too far and thus prevented broken core from endangering anyone. When a weapon breaks it should immediately be put out of action and not used until it's fully repaired!

This seems like a simple and good tutorial: https://sites.google.com/site/griffinroost/Home/youth-boffer .

You can later upgrade to this: http://amtwiki.net/amtwiki/index.php/Flat_blade

*If you find the weapon too "flimsy" you can make it by the same principle, but with two pvc cores parallel to each other, a pvc core of smaller diameter inserted full length in the bigger core, or for a truly humongous claymore - two parallel pvc cores each assembled from three layers of thinner and thinner tubes.

Be very careful when you construct the tip of the sword. You have to leave 3-4 fingers of foam in front of the end of the core, and you have to fill up the tip with some more foam. If you leave too much tip without the core (more than 5 fingers in my experience) then the tip will break and you can hurt someone with the exposed core. Liberal application of ductape is crucial for safety, so don't be shy.

[KAllen]

PVC doesn't hold up w/ our battles. It actually turns out to be more dangerous than wood, because it breaks & becomes pungy sticks. 3/4" plywood is what we use for our core, then pool noodels & duct tape.

[maegs]

Here's the basic guidelines the larp I go to uses for weapon construction:

A weapon is constructed from 4 parts; a core, padding, foam, and covering. There is no all encompassing list of what materials may and may not be used for each part, but any material other then the ones listed below must be approved by an arms marshal before and after the weapon is constructed. Every weapon starts with a core of appropriate length as listed in the chart below. The only core that is suitable in all cases is PVC or CPVC piping of a suitable diameter as noted in the chart below. Any surface area of the weapon that may come into contact with another player must be padded. This includes both the striking surface as well as the shaft and guards. 5/8th inch piping insulation is always acceptable as padding. Foam (open cell foam) must be added to both the ends of the shaft of all weapons (called a thrusting tip at the top of the shaft and pommel at the bottom). Any additions to the shaft of a weapon (the padding covering the core) such as axe heads, blunt areas and blades on polearms must be constructed entirely of this foam.

The most common covering, which covers the outer surface of the weapon to both hold it together and provide a decorative element, is duct tape. Coverings of stretchy fabric or other types of tape are also possible.

The following guide lines are important to keep in mind while constructing a weapon. They are especially important when constructing a weapon of non-standard materials. Weapons should not be too rigid or too whippy. The shaft of the weapon should remain “taut†while swinging at extreme force yet the shaft should give when contact is made with a solid surface.

Anywhere open cell foam is used, the foam must be able to compress and re-expand repeatedly without resistance. “Thrusting tips†(open cell foam used at the top and bottom of the weapon shaft) must be thick enough that it is impossible to feel the core of the weapon even when compressed to their maximum. Padding must dissipate force such that blows from your weapon are not hurtful. Taping the weapon too tight or otherwise compressing the padding can compromise this and result in a weapon being disapproved. Padding must be firmly attached to the core (a strong double sided tape such as carpet tape works well) so that there is no movement of the core inside the padding when the weapon is swung with full force.

On the chart, you can ignore the min/max blade/head columns, those are larp-specific, but the max/min lengths and pipe diameters will give you an idea of what kind of core you need

[andygates]

PVC with a wood core is the best of both worlds, and I'd go with that for anything longer than a metre anyway.

Because the wood is contained, it can be pretty manky stuff: we used garden cane made to width with a duct-tape wrap every foot or so.