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Safe Foam Sword
The Practical Practice Weapon
About a year ago, a friend of mine showed me how to make a very unique weapon.
Whenever I use to practice, it was with a real blade, and accidents got real
costly. This is a truly unique
practice weapon as it is relatively inexpensive, and very safe.
The items necessary for the construction are: at least three feet of PVC pipe, a
dowel rod that can snugly fit within the pipe, foam camping pad (not eggcrate),
3M spray adhesive, roughly two yards of material, surgical tape, and a roll of
duct tape (fibrous).
From this you will form a wondrous "blade", (from all the excess foam
pad, adhesive, cloth, etc all you need to do is get more PVC pipe and dowel rods
and you can create an additional weapon or some "daggers")
Step One. Measure the PVC pipe to
the length you would like your sword, then subtract two inches. Don't worry, you will get those two inches back in the
padding which covers the end of the "blade."
Step Two. Take the dowel rod
and slide it into the PVC pipe. If
it rattles, put a little tape in some spots to make it more secure, then
reinsert it into the pipe. None of
the dowel rod should be sticking out of either end.
Step Three. Here comes the
tricky part. Cut 1" strips
that will fit the length of the pipe, four to five is suggested.
Spray the pipe with the 3M adhesive so it is coated, except for the
handle which you will be holding onto. Shake
it until it is tacky dry. Now place
the strips around the pipe in rows. Once you have them on, then spray the handle, and finish
putting them in place there.
Step Four. In a coiling
pattern, wrap the surgical tape very sparingly around the entire rod, just to
hold the padding in place so they dry correctly.
Step Five. Now lay the rod
down on your other foam padding that you have not cut up.
You are going to draw an outline of what your "blade" will look
like, but keep it simple until you learn the craft. You will cut this out and
make a copy of it on another piece of foam. Lastly for the blade you will need to center the rod on one
of your "blade" halves. Measure
the distance from the rod to within an inch of the edge, mark it and cut it,
along with a copy for the other side. This
will be the filler for between the blade.
Step Six. Here you need a lot of
patience, as you are going to spray all the interior pieces with 3M adhesive.
You will then put them in succeeding order together (bottom, rod,
fillers, top) and press them together. You
may need some help at this point, as you are going to take the duct tape and cut
it into four equal strips, length wise. Then
taking a strip at a time, you will wrap them around the "blade" in
crossover style.
Step Seven. The material you
purchased comes into play now. You
will need to create a "cover" for the "blade"
The cover will be a "glove" as it will fit snugly over the foam
blade with all its wrappings. Next comes the guard.
You will take two pieces of foam and make a cross guard.
They too will be adhesive, stuck on the pipe, then taped.
Tape them securely, as they will be protecting your hands! Finally comes
the hilt and pommel. You may add
more foam here to the strips which are already present to make it fit more
comfortably in your hand. You will
use the duct tape to securely wrap the handle. Now you can decorate the weapon
as you see fit.
See, simple! Now you have an
excellent practice weapon, and safe too!
We have given our children practice daggers, etc and they outlast
anything you could buy at a toy store.
You can also create other weapons. I
have a collection of over three swords, two battle-axes, three daggers, and a
pole arm.
There is no limit to what you can create.
So go practice, and enjoy, safely.
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