How to make a curved larp boffer sword.

Straight flat blades are well and good, but at one point a time comes in a man's life, when he wishes for something with some curves....But don't worry that's perfectly natural as you grow up. Okay jokes aside.

Now making a real curved sword, a saber, scimitar, shashka, yatagan or whatever, would require a bit more than just fancy cuts on the foam. You need to bend the core. Now that's not as impossible as one would think.

Here is how its done.


Curved larp swords

 

Budget: Same as for normal one.

Materials: Same as for normal one. Use a polypropylene pipe!      Here we are making use of the specific properties of polypropylene pipes - PVC, bamboo or fiber glass simply won't do - in fact don't even try or you might hurt yourself or set something on fire. Also pick a thinner one - I used F20.

Tools: The usual for making a sword - in addition on that :

Hot iron - just be careful not to burn yourself - get some leather gloves or mittens. If you do burn yourself don't come to me crying, its your fault.

Optional:
Spare set of hands. That is - call a friend to help you out with this. You can do it on your own, but it will be much easier to do it with someone else to hold either the pipe or the iron.


Here we go!

 First we let the iron get hot. What we are going to use here, is the polypropylene pipes elasticity.
 

As you can see, I've fixed the pipe to a small vice - you can improvise here if you don't have one around. I've selected enough for the sword handle and started heating up the pipe right after that point.

 There is no need to melt it - just heat it up, once the iron starts leaving a mark, move it to another side.

 Once the pipe gets hot its stops being elastic and you can make a bend at the desired location - in this case just after the handle section.

 Once you bend it - keep it like that - here a friend can hold it for you while you concentrate on the hot iron.
Keep the area that's getting a curve reheated so that the plastic resettles in its new shape.

 Eventually, it will stay as it is - curved. Thats a good start, but only the start. Now we have to curve the blade.

In the second step, a helping hand is invaluable. Don't ask me how I managed to both work and take pictures, because I did not - there are only a few photos so read through what I say to avoid blisters.


Now curving the blade is best done on a flat surface - namely the floor. I used an old cardboard pizza box to make sure the carpet is undamaged. The reason for this is that we want to achieve a curve on the X and Y lines, we don't want to add Z in there - that is we only want to curve the blade in two dimensions and if you keep it in the air while bending its easy for it to bend sideways as well.

The markings on the pipe are useful here for making sure its flat on the ground while you are working.
Start heating the whole length of the blade that you want to get curved. If you have a helper - divide labour - one will hold the pipe, another the hot iron. If you don't have a helper - put some boots on because you will be using your leg to help you hold the pipe in place.

 The more you heat it - the more it will bend. You will probably have to repeat the heating and bending until you achieve the shape you want and the pipe stays that way.

 After it does, wait for it to cool down and you are ready to make your sword.

DON'T FORGET TO TURN OFF THE HOT IRON! We got enough house fires as it is!

I'm not going to show you the whole process of making a sword again.
Here's just a few photos until the final result was achieved.

First a counter weight, similar to the one used here.

 

 Then a blade is cut and attached.

Here it is finished.

Finally the sword is finished. In this particular case I made the shorter sabre. The longer cavalry sabre I made earlier. 

Making a basic single edged homemade larp sword

This is the simplest thing you can start with if you want better gear.

The usefulness of this model, depends on your larp system and rules. The design is for a "sufficient force" larp combat system. For a bare minimum type combat system you can get even more creative. For a full force system, it will do as well, though its not perfect - the blade might get damaged and a bad swing could get someone's head ringing(or cause a nose bleed) if both participants are not having proper protection.

What you need!

BUDGET - about 10-15$ probably less. Rest will be cheaper because some things like the duct-tape can be used another dozen times.

Pipe insulation foam. Thats fairly simple to find.
Polypropylene pipe for cold/hot water. Id say around 20-25mm diameter or 1 inch, depends on how thick and tough you want your sword to be. PVC pipes are not a good idea. They, like bamboo might shatter(bamboo WILL shatter eventually) leaving your project ruined, and you swinging something with jagged edges around.  Polypropylene pipes are much thicker and they tend to bend slightly, which makes them far more resilient. For 3 years I've seen only 1 polypropylene boffer sword snap and that was because it got tangled in the armour of two heavy weights while they were bashing each other.

The rest is duct-tape, and tools - scissors, knife and so on. 

First things first - you get a pipe for your boffer sword that is the desired length. Let's face it, you probably won't get it right from the first time. Why? Because you will need to try several times to find what size of a weapon suits you best. I find myself making annoying misses with someone else's weapon that's just a few inches shorter than my own, simply because mine is...well mine - it fits in my hand perfectly.

Keep in mind - the pipe will be 1-2 inches shorter than the completed boffer - the pommel and tip will add more to it. 

 Next thing is to cut the foam and tie it up like this. to straighten it up. This will take about 15 min. Its necessary, as it will make the rest of your work go smoother.

 

Once you got it straightened out, Start marking strips and get ready to cut them out.

 Don't make them too wide, they should be just enough to cover your pipe - so depending on pipe diameter - about 20-25mm wide.

 Mark it to the bottom with the marker - You don't want to make mistakes which will leave the blade uneven. It won't stay well on the pipe and you might hit someone with the flat which will hurt.

 

 After that - its time to cut out the strips for our new larp sword!

 

Once you get the strips, its time to attach em to the pipe. Use tape to keep them in place and make sure they are all perfectly lined up. Same reason as with the cutting!

The point where both sides of the larp sword are done is where the 95% stop, wrap it in duct tape and look at it proudly. Its all well and good, but I say we take this a little further.

 

Grab the scissors and shape that blade a bit more.After all we are making a singe edged sabre.

 Now it looks a little better, but still when people see they'd say Meh another boffer. So we take this further.

 

 So we give our new larp sword a real edge. Use a marker to point out what needs to be cut, then grab a paper knife and slowly shape it into an actual blade.

 And voila - now thats something you can use with pride.

 The final step would be to cover our new larp sword with duct tape, and finish the handle. Don't ignore the handle -  you need good grip, you don't want your sword to slip from your sweaty hands at the worst moment. Another thing to consider is the pommel (that ball at the end)  This isn't necessary most of the time, since boffers are quite light, but if you can, make it from something solid, so that it acts as a counterweight and balances out the sword. It will give you better control and your wrists won't tire out so easily after a full day of fighting.

Now let's be honest, what we just made deserves to be called a larp weapon. Its by no means related to say

This

 Or these

 

 Or this one, which shows at least some effort, but its still a long way.