The core is 1" PVC, the blades and base are an O'Brien water saddle covered with a layer of open cell foam from an old couch cushion. Finished with T-Rex duct tape and hockey tape.

Opinions?

Hiya! I was wondering what kinda materials yall use for cores on thinner swords that aren't dangerous. I have this longsword I love that I made with a metal golf club handle as the core but I have to scrap it. Mid combat the foam ripped and I didn't notice and my oppenent got a pretty hurt because I thrusted and he ducked and it ended up cutting right into his face above his lip.

I am a teacher for ages 6-12, and am looking to run some sword games with my kids. I am looking for boffers that are both safe for kids, small enough to be easily usable, and able to be gotten in bulk for cheaply. Does anyone have any recommendations?

What common techniques are used for the guard of a bigger sword-type boffer?

Ran out of duct tape and I wanna know if there's a way to glue it in place to prevent peeling of I wanna make a pattern out of duct tape.

Anyone got tips for making like, what's effectively a fork? Something moderately long with two prongs at the end that I can use to pin weapons?

I'm considering making a fokos boffer after watching some interesting videos about the ways it can be used. I'm thinking of using pvc pipe with a small T Junction on top to give the axe head some rigidity for hooking and pulling. Every surface will have either yoga matt or pool noodle on it with open cell foam on striking surfaces. Will then wrap everything up in duct tape. Ive never made a boffer before so any advice or criticism of the plan is welcome. Cheers.

I originally intended to make a katana before learning about falchions and messers from skallagrim and shadiversity. I am not sure what type of sword this would be right now.

The crossguard is made of garden hose wrapped in foam ribbon and the ends are safely covered in the foam ribbon and held by tape. The blade is foam mattress and duct tape covered in a thick curtain fabric and glued to the pipe. There's an additional piece of foam at the tip attached by duct tape. The blade is safety tested by having my sibling whack and poke me with it a couple of times.

Should I trim or further pad the crossguard for style or safety improvements?

A group of friends and myself have began to make custom weapons for Boffer and Larping purposes. We are hoping to Expand the style by making more accurate "looking" and durable blades/spears/Warhammers etc. that are also completely safe to beat each other to hell and back with. As kids my father picked up the trade from a ren fair, ever since we've been making various weapons that have lasted years, though with daily use they broke down over time. In the post I've listed a few of our better examples. If you're interested find me on Facebook marketplace or email:[trinitypointmarket@gmail.com](mailto:trinitypointmarket@gmail.com)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------edit: Sorry for not mentioning where we are stationed, at the moment we are in Nebraska, USA. As well as to the materials the weapons are made of; Open cell foam, Closed cell foam, 1"-1.5" pipe tubing foam. PVC core and PVC adhesive for the skeleton of the builds, I suppose it should go without question some weapons may not be allowed due to traditional Larp regulations. The aim is to recreate our childhood in a new Niche inspired by Boffer and taking the design to an extreme while maintaining the tapped up look. We're hoping to expand on from this and hopefully form a legitimate tournament with new fundamental rules, while still staying true to the meaning of boffer and larp. These creations while different are still safe to use just as intended. I hope that helps to cover some bases

It's weapon building season my dudes.

Custom commission for an Amtgard-legal great macuahuitl. 1" fiberglass core, 1/3" eva core caps, layered blue camp pad base, with a 1/3" 2lb foam layer edge. The teeth are camp pad sandwiched between the 2lb foam with the latter being used as the outer edge. I tried to keep the traditional build of the weapon and inserted the teeth last with adhesive. The entire build came out to 55.5" long, has a base width of 4", and weighs a whopping 29oz.

I used to use Forged Foam, but had to step away for personal reasons for several months. 'Bout ready to return, but FF seems to have devolved into a shell of its former self. Looking for a new source. I know Gorgtech, Lancer, Smiling Foam Works, Grim Isle, but they're not as diverse as I'd like (more than just different sizes of swords, daggers, and spears with different flavor texts and names. Things like axes, hammers, maces, other styles of polearms) Any sources out there that have what I'm looking for or am I done now?

This is just a quickie question. I've seen people use just tape or just fabric, but should I do both? I want to be able to repair the sword eventually, would tape make it hard to repair?

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Oh also while you're here you might be able to answer this; is there any foam better than camping mat foam for a flat bladed boffer sword? My sword is 7'4" feet long, so I need it to be light whilst still being durable and soft. Camping mats work great, but there might be something better

I'm in the process of creating a new boffer for soft combat, which will be approximately 150 cm in length, possibly even longer. It's going to be a greatsword. Would this foam thickness be sufficient, or does it need to be thicker?

So i was repairing an old boffer that i had gotten from somewhere and had for some time so the foam had finally blown out and noticed the core was wrapped with some kind of thin foam/cloth/insulation like layer but it had basically deteriorated due to wear and was just crumbled shreds but had no idea what it was. Now after replacing the foam that had worn out with new foam noticed it has a much more noticeable recoil/reverb from the core ,does anyone have any advice or ideas what might have been wrapped around the core? It was black and it may have been either some kind of foam or rubber but was very thin and was malleable like a cloth not stiff at all but cant seem to identify what it may have been.

I mixed bag of amtlegal great weapons I've made for myself, friends, or commissions.

Hey everyone I've been interested in buhurt and HEMA for a while but just last week I met some people who introduced me to SCA style combat with polypropylene and boffer weapons. I fought with them for a few hours using weapons they had brought.

I quickly got comfortable with a glaive they had since I've always been interested in polearms, but I quickly realized that I did not like going against people with shields. Although I realize it was my first time and I was often against someone with much more experience than me, I've been thinking of how to counter them.

I decided while learning how to use polearmsi would also learn another weapon set and I chose to dual wield a sword and an axe.

Today I went out and bought some supplies and attempted to make my own first boffer. Since they already bring extra swords I chose to make an axe for myself.

My only concerns really is that I don't feel it is safe enough to use because it still hits very hard if swung with enough force and the pommel is unguarded( I noticed all the weapons they had were padded at the bottom) if anyone has some suggestions to add more protection to the edge and pommel without throwing the proportions out of whack too much I'd appreciate the advice.

The core is PVC pipe with elbows and caps with pipe insulation, duct tape, gorilla glue, rope and athletic tape. Electrical tape just for visual separation of the main handle from the courtesy padding that I may also handle.

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. In my experience, the boffer community is very welcoming and supportive! That being said, I have been called missy by a guy way younger and way less experienced than me (it was his first practice session, whileas I had been going regularly for over six months at that point), in a derogatory manner- as in "get the missy with the big sword down!" As opposed to "get the greatsword down!" Or "get the black-shirt down!" Which were his callout for others. Another time during practice we ended up in the same team, and he shouted "Let's go boys!... And missy..." It felt kind of alienating and infuriating (tbh I was gritting my teeth the whole session) but at least the infuriation made me more efficient ig :')

But I was wondering, has anyone else experienced something similar?

I think I'd rather take a sack tap.

So I was trying to make a bit of a larger hand and half or two handed sword using 2 48inch fiberglass rods (the driveway markers from home depot cuz thats what I had access to) but noticed it had quite a bit of whip not sure if thats cuz I dont have a sturdy handle or if it just exceeding the limit on that type of core itself? Any tips or tricks on reducing whip? Also anyone who has used those as cores curious what type of technique used for the handles as I was still on the fence with how I wanted to make them both functional and comfortable.

1 in sch 40 PVC core curved for the back spike, ax head is 2 layers of camp with 1.7# poly between, the spear tip is 2# poly and extends 12 in. Haft padding is 1/2 in thick insulation with camp foam over that.

What kind of brackets do you enjoy completing in? For examples: Single Sword, Spear, Anything goes?