cheap weapons and sheilds in idaho

[raverbenny]

We have started up foam smithing and are creating low to medium quality weapons (do to our iinexpirience and lack of money) so we are selling theise weapons at a very low cost to people in the boise/nampa area, if we get enough regular buyers we can improve materials and prices will be adjusted accordingly.
the material is made of open cell foam and low grade pvc (wich will change once we start getting money) the prices range from $2 for a dagger up to $30 for a tower sheild, we also have a leather smith with medium experience in making armor, medium to high quality, using fake leather at the cheaper end and real leath at the more expensive end. we cannot make any weapon 8 feet or more in legnth do to the poor quality pvc.

for information please call (208)463-1932
ask for bob for weapons and kat for armor

[Korbin of Muxlovia]

Just as a tip, use Schedule 80 PVC. Some might tell you it doesn't make any difference, but in my experience and in the experience of most who have used PVC weapons, it holds up a lot better.

FYI, typically, the white stuff is Schedule 40. The grey stuff is Schedule 80. I usually use 3/4" for anything less than 60" and 1" for anything over. It also tends to flex slightly less than S40 PVC, probably because of the higher density.

[Ralimar]

I highly suggest you study the tutorials available online for both armor and weapons. If you search, you can find links to all of them in the forums. Also, pay close attention to the rules for both in the Book of War.
It's not explicitly listed, but I can tell you that any weapon made entirely of open cell foam will fail at any event--they are delicate, have short lifespans, are generally dangerous, and shouldn't be sold for these same reasons. Additionally, fake leather products won't pass as armor in Belegarth for a number of reasons, so you should advertise them as garb at the most.

[Korbin of Muxlovia]

I highly suggest you study the tutorials available online for both armor and weapons. If you search, you can find links to all of them in the forums. Also, pay close attention to the rules for both in the Book of War.
It's not explicitly listed, but I can tell you that any weapon made entirely of open cell foam will fail at any event--they are delicate, have short lifespans, are generally dangerous, and shouldn't be sold for these same reasons. Additionally, fake leather products won't pass as armor in Belegarth for a number of reasons, so you should advertise them as garb at the most.

Oh, yeah. Ultra-ditto. Don't waste your time making stuff with open cell and faux leather, because no one will buy it. Blue foam solves all your foamsmith problems, and it's $6 a roll at Walmart. You can get a lot out of one roll. But there's really no cheap way to make armor, so I don't know what to tell you about that.

Still, you can make decent weapons with blue foam, S80 PVC, and your adhesive-of-choice. I prefer a mixture heavy duty carpet tape and Super 77, but most people like Dap. All of these things you spend like five bucks on and use it to make five or more weapons. It's not an expensive investment and it's way worth it.

[raverbenny]

to answer every ones replies, when we use the open cell foam, we use many layers, tight fit near the pvc and getting looser to the end, this causes an affect so when you hit, its like being hit with a pillow, we test our weapons very hard before we let them be used (hence we hit eachother as hard as we can) if it passes then we will allow them to be sold. and to the buying better supplies we are on a very, very low budget! we cannot afford the higher quality of materials, to give you an exaple is that i was only able to invest $30, wich was all my money. for us to make any number of weapons we need to use the cheapest material as possable. we have checked all our sheilds and weapons with official martials and they all said there legal. now theise weapons might not last as long, but they are cheap and affordable for those who have very little money.

now to address the fake leather thing. we have made fake leather armor for a few people already, and they have been accepted for events! we dont use the thin fake leather crap, its thickness is enough to be legal!

and thank you for the advice about reading everything, but we read everything and have even praticed a bit in making weapons, finding the best way to make our weapons as safe as possable. heck some of our weapons are even safer then some of the professionaly made weapons! were people are hurting people using the weapons that are using the best of materials, there are some of ours that no matter how hard you hit (we had our hardest hitter using one of theise) there is almost no way to hurt some one (even when hit in the face)

now we will be having a website soon for our items that will have a few pictures of the weapons we have and can make, and it will also have a price guide. and as i said before, if we can get some good money comin in, we can upgrade on our materials, but for now, this is all we can get and that is why the weapons are so cheap.

[Derian]

Well, you're definitely 100% mistaken (or just wrong) about the fake leather thing. Faux leather can never, under any circumstances be legal armor, even if it's an inch thick.

[Korbin of Muxlovia]

Well, you're definitely 100% mistaken (or just wrong) about the fake leather thing. Faux leather can never, under any circumstances be legal armor, even if it's an inch thick.

QFT. The weapons/armor checker that passed that piece of armor needs to be tar'd and feathered.

And the open cell foam weapons... I guess there's nothing against it as far as rules are concerned. But feeling hits makes it a problem. If you hit someone with one of those swords, are they gonna feel it through 1/4" leather (real leather, mind you) armor? And if you can, are you able to feel the core at all through the foam?

And seriously, dude, you spent your $30 on all the wrong things if you bought open cell and pleather. As stated before, $6 for a roll of blue camp foam gets you enough material for like three or four swords blue, with scrap left over. Arrakis, check my math:

Blue Foam: $6 for 72" (Walmart)
S80 PVC: 3$ for 10' (Menards)
Super 77 Sprayglue: $10 for a really big can (Menards/Home Depot)
Athletic tape: $5 for a package of three rolls (Walmart)
----------------------
Total: $24

Everything was rounded up from the prices I'm used to. And, if I'm not mistaken, 24 < 30. That's everything you need to make a decent weapon that will pass weapons check. Again, there's really no cheap route for leather armor. You've gotta have the money for that kind of thing.

I recently made five swords for $15-20 a piece. The above items, with the exception of the glue (which I already had) and an $8 roll of carpet tape in its place, was everything I spent. I made a total of $50ish in profit, just because of all the swords I got out those materials-- and I still have scrap left over! Maybe you're selling yours for less, but if you make quality weapons, you'll get more customers.

But if you already spent your $30 on open cell and pleather, I guess your probably SOL, unless you can find some people to buy them.

[Ryu]

i would like to see some of your stuff, can you make it to raths practice on wed at 5 in julia davis park(the park between BSU and the zoo). i have almost 2 solid years of weapons building/checking experience and i can solve most of your problems/answer any of your questions

[Poo]

Blue Foam: $6 for 72" (Walmart)
S80 PVC: 3$ for 10' (Menards)
DAP: $8 for a can (Menards/Home Depot)
Athletic tape: $5 for a package of three rolls (Walmart)
1 Yd Duck Cloth: $5 JoAnns
----------------------
Total: $27

Everything was rounded up from the prices I'm used to. And, if I'm not mistaken, 24 < 30. That's everything you need to make 3 decent weapons that will pass weapons check.

FTFY

[Korbin of Muxlovia]

Blue Foam: $6 for 72" (Walmart)
S80 PVC: 3$ for 10' (Menards)
DAP: $8 for a can (Menards/Home Depot)
Athletic tape: $5 for a package of three rolls (Walmart)
1 Yd Duck Cloth: $5 JoAnns
----------------------
Total: $27

Everything was rounded up from the prices I'm used to. And, if I'm not mistaken, 24 < 30. That's everything you need to make 3 decent weapons that will pass weapons check.

FTFY

Heh. I have a ton of heavy cloth lying around that I use for covers on weirder weapons, but for swords/maces, I just use doubled-up stockings and it works great. I haven't bought fabric for my weapons in ages, so I forgot to pencil that in there.

Still, it's <$30.

[raverbenny]

im sorry, but we build weapons to be cheap for people who do not have money to be spenting $30-100 for a basic weapon! we bought cheap matierial so that we can make CHEAP weapons! all our weapons are 100% legal and on most of them you cant even come close to feeling the core! like i said before, we test theise weapons very criticly, and if theres the smallest thing wrong, we fix it, the only problem with the weapons that there should be is if some one wacks it against a hard object like a phone pole or a rock. now im going to talk to some more people about the leather thing, but for now, im going to be making a new thread for this becuase with all ur guyses nay-saying, i doubt any one is gunna give us a call (and btw, we have about 5 people intrested in weapons, so i thing were havin a good start)
and to reply about the cost of pvc, when we bought S40 it costed more then that, and that blue foam i saw no were at walmart.

[Korbin of Muxlovia]

im sorry, but we build weapons to be cheap for people who do not have money to be spenting $30-100 for a basic weapon! we bought cheap matierial so that we can make CHEAP weapons! all our weapons are 100% legal and on most of them you cant even come close to feeling the core! like i said before, we test theise weapons very criticly, and if theres the smallest thing wrong, we fix it, the only problem with the weapons that there should be is if some one wacks it against a hard object like a phone pole or a rock. now im going to talk to some more people about the leather thing, but for now, im going to be making a new thread for this becuase with all ur guyses nay-saying, i doubt any one is gunna give us a call (and btw, we have about 5 people intrested in weapons, so i thing were havin a good start)
and to reply about the cost of pvc, when we bought S40 it costed more then that, and that blue foam i saw no were at walmart.

~.~ Okay. And don't worry, I won't bother your new thread.

[Poo]

Maybe you'd have some luck on http://www.foamsmiths.com

[Arrakis]

Math checks out.

I can build 5 30 inch swords from less than 30 dollars worth of materials. That's 6 dollars a sword. And I'm talking PVC, Bluefoam, DAP, and hockey tape, with a good strong, sewn cloth cover. Don't take shortcuts and don't try to use sub-par materials (I've never even heard of an all-open cell sword passing check). And for that matter, generally speaking, don't try to sell to others until you get good at it.

Also, S40 PVC (fine for 32" swords) is 1.65 for a 10' stick at Lowes. And yeah, pleather is NEVER armor and you need BADLY to reread the BoW.

I'm kind of sick of people complaining that they're too poor to afford blue foam. How old are you?

[Thomas MacFinn]

I strongly suggest adding pics to your other thread. You will both get more people interested in what you offer and be less likely to get people complaining that what they received wasn't what they expected.

[Rasheab]

... I'm confused. Open cell, at least in my experience, is not inexpensive. What are you using that is cheaper than Walmart blue foam?

(Not even going to get into the "cheap materials, lack of experience, sold to poor people" thing.) But I will second the tar 'n feathering of the marshal who let fake leather get past (or tarring these people, for taking advantage of a marshal's trust to get it passed).

[Korbin of Muxlovia]

... I'm confused. Open cell, at least in my experience, is not inexpensive. What are you using that is cheaper than Walmart blue foam?

(Not even going to get into the "cheap materials, lack of experience, sold to poor people" thing.) But I will second the tar 'n feathering of the marshal who let fake leather get past (or tarring these people, for taking advantage of a marshal's trust to get it passed).

QFT. That hadn't occurred to me.

Also, I've got the tar and the feathers. Just give me a name.

[Nykas]

Pity I didn't get in touch with you guys earlier. You should take the guy from Rath up on the offer of talking to an expert; and Jonell and I are going this afternoon to check Rath out. We could probably have picked you guys up. And, I don't want to spoil your new thread, but I will personally show you where the cheap pvc is, and the blue foam, if we can get together sometime. Didn't realize that was a problem. The trick is: get the stuff for electrical, not for water. Much cheaper, and works great (under $2 for 10').

If you guys don't see this, I'll talk to you tonight, I guess....

[Black Cat]

The trick is: get the stuff for electrical, not for water. Much cheaper, and works great (under $2 for 10').

QFT

[Kasada]

The trick is: get the stuff for electrical, not for water. Much cheaper, and works great (under $2 for 10').

Actually, it's about the same price. But it does work a lot better. Fiberglass works even better than that though... if you're in the Boise/Nampa area, there's a D&B Supply in Caldwell that carries it.

[raverbenny]

ok just so ppl stop posting on this, im announcing that we got some one who whent out with $100 and got a bunch of stuff like blue foam, fiberglass cores (wich cost the same, if not less the pvc), DAP, the 77 glus stuff, and we already had cloth. and to answer the open cell thing, i have sorces in wich i can get it for a whole crap load for real cheap. i will be making a new thread or our new high quality weapons

[Rasheab]

Bucko, no one has posted in this thread for two weeks. Your the one bringing it back from the dead.

However, when I saw your screen name in New Members, it really bugged me, because I couldn't remember why I recognized it. At least now I'm reminded.

our new higher quality weapons

Fixed. Half is materials, other half is talent and/or practice.