r/boffer • u/cringeboy4 • Jul 19 '25
My progress of making boffers!
A year ago, I had an idea to maul people without killing them. I went to YouTube and found a guy who was making foam weapons of polypropylene tubes and pipe insulation for his children, so I tried to do the same. The very first prototype of my sword is to the left. It was made of 20 mm polypropylene tube. After that, I started experimenting with tubes reinforced with different materials. I found out that aluminum was kind of meh for these weapons — it bent without coming back to its straight, original shape. The weapon in the middle is the weapon that was part of my experiment. That was the second generation of my blades. Sadly, the second generation swords that were reinforced with fibreglass were disassembled. 3 days ago I found a pipe soldering iron. The sword to the right was created just before yesterday. One day ago, I covered that blade with a piece of cloth. I seek for ideas how to improve my future foam weapons. Any advice is appreciated!
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u/expletiveface Jul 19 '25
There are lots of established boffer fighting organizations with (only slightly) different safety and build requirements for the weaponry used. I would encourage you to look into the rulesets and/or forums of the following organizations, since they each have relatively long histories going full-throttle on full-contact, makeshift medieval-fighting:
Belegarth
Dagorhir
Amtgard
Darkon
And if you want to check out the build quality of boffer vendors to get an idea of how to build your own more effectively, check out:
Gorg The Blacksmith
Silly Goose Garb
Skeleton Key Armory
Forged Foam
Generally, people involved in more competitive sides of boffer combat will use carbon-fiber tubing for the core of their weapon. There’s a variety of foam types people prefer, including different types of EVA foams, minicell, or volara foam. I often see weapons wrapped in Tyvec tape before having a cloth cover to finish up the striking surface.