Belegarth

A buddy of mine just picked up some gold clubs from the thrift store, and we're planning on building a few clubs or swords out of them. I've read a bit about the club shafts on here, and understand they're not super popular. That being said, he's got them and I've got some blue foam laying around so we want to give it a whirl. Neither of us have much experience building (I've made a couple blues) and we're excited to get the chance to practice and learn.

My question is this: Should I try "candy caning" the foam around the shaft to make up for the taper, or should I use the typical box method? The candy cane seems interesting, but I have more experience and feel a bit more comfortable using the box method.

Thanks in advance for the help, and stay bloodthirsty, my friends.

I've done the box method with blue foam and it seem to hold-up fine. The only problem I had was when the core actually snapped at the handle. But if you want a nice light weapon, I'd say go for it.

[img][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3688/9627515164_98c7cda31b.jpg[/img]
image by repurposedtoaster, on Flickr[/img]

Here's a pic of the completed product. Ended up deciding to try the candy cane method then just wrapped in a sheet of blue foam twice more. They're super light and need weighted just to pass.

Measured, they're 34, 32, and 25.5 in each and weigh 9.5 oz, 8.9 oz, and 6.5 oz. The longest is obviously the heaviest and so on. An astute observer might notice that I still need to add pommels, so they should get marginally heavier there. I need to figure out how I'm going to weight them. Feel like they're a good showing for my second batch of weapons, and I wanted to show off a bit. . Catch ya on the flip side.

They look good, man. For counterweighting, here are a few things that I've seen to be quite successful; there are other methods, but I don't know enough of them to comment or recommend them:

A) Add lead tape to the handle

B) Wrap some sodering wire around the handle

C) Add pieces of steel bar to the handle (typically 1/8" diameter)

Also, when fighting, bare in mind that the core in those weapons is on the more frail side of the spectrum. They're going to be light and fast, but don't go smashing them against the edge of shields, or trying to do hard blocks with them, especially against great weapons. Follow that advice, and you should get some good life out of 'em. Also, stabbing tips add a whole other angle to your game. Bats are especially good for stabbing tips, as they provide a more stable base for the tip to sit on.

If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and strike test the shafts. Back when these were more popular, some were already weak, and adding foam didn't help. take them and this the bare core hard against a tree. if it doesn't shatter, it should be fine for a core. if it breaks, you saved yourself time and materials.

I tested them against my leg before padding them and was rewarded with some fun bruises and a general hope that they'd make it through a few practices. They're mainly going to be loaners so we'll see what happens. Gonna fight with them tomorrow so I'll let ya'll know how they hold up.

Thurat wrote:They look good, man. For counterweighting, here are a few things that I've seen to be quite successful; there are other methods, but I don't know enough of them to comment or recommend them:

A) Add lead tape to the handle

I assume you are talking about the lead beaded "drapery" cord which is my favorite way of counter weighting. It evenly distributes the weight along the handle without making it too bulky, plus it adds a nice texture. I do suggest putting some cloth tape around the cord as well for finishing purposes and because sometimes the beads will want to poke out after heavy use. You can get them from Joannes Fabric with the other cords and whatnot but it might take some digging and don't expect the employees to know what you are talking about.

I did eventually find lead drapery cord at my local Joanns, so at least a few employees do know what it is. But it didn't look anything like I expected (much smaller/thinner than I expected), and was hard to find (the employee showed me where it was).

I should note though that the employee was very concerned when they found out what I going to use it for, and wanted to make sure my hand wouldn't be directly on the cording (it being lead, and very thin cloth covering).

Rasheab wrote:I should note though that the employee was very concerned when they found out what I going to use it for, and wanted to make sure my hand wouldn't be directly on the cording (it being lead, and very thin cloth covering).

Very good point, another reason to have a layer or two of cloth tape or leather over the handle. You could also very easily wear gloves which I recommend anyways, but that serves a different purpose.

Thanks for the ideas. I ended up just using duct tape to get them up to weight, except the shortest which I actually cut down to under 24 in. But for the future this drapery stuff sounds perfect. I normally wrap handles in parachord or something similar, so I could put it underneath that.

Maybe I missed it in here somewhere, but you are planning on building the pommels out, right? As it stands, just the golf grip would not make for a passing pommel.

Yes indeed there are pommels on these. 2 inch diameter and all that. I suppose i should put completed pics up...

Bear wrote:

Rasheab wrote:I should note though that the employee was very concerned when they found out what I going to use it for, and wanted to make sure my hand wouldn't be directly on the cording (it being lead, and very thin cloth covering).

Very good point, another reason to have a layer or two of cloth tape or leather over the handle. You could also very easily wear gloves which I recommend anyways, but that serves a different purpose.

Wilson sports wrap - used on tennis racket handles makes a great grip finish.

Something that you may want to consider for your next batch... reverse your golf shaft when making the weapon.

Strip that rubber grip off and have the bottom of the handle be the top of the weapon. You'll have to bulk up the handle more than you would otherwise, but I've been doing this for years and haven't snapped a core since I started doing so. (Though it should be noted that I may just be lucky in my selection of golf shafts).

Is there an average width that you've found most golf clubs are when they are reversed, like you suggest Rev?

Personal experience, the one golf club sword I've built hasn't broken (even after letting a couple of locals known for breaking kitespar/golf shafts use it). I tapered the blade build to account for the golf club tapering, but I've had to partially disassemble it a couple of times to reattach the tip (flat blade build).

Some local Amtgarders have said that you can build up the golf core with the really thin craft foam, negating the taper. Haven't tried it myself yet, but it's on the to-try list (the one kitespar sword I've built, though I used .524 and loved the balance, snapped in about 3 months on a stab).

I've done the build up with craft foam and just didn't have the patience for it.

Typically, when I'm doing a golf-shaft weapon, it ends up being a club. I cut out biscuits of foam for my striking surface and just thread them on the shaft. Put a wrap or two of blue foam around the outer edges and it holds up pretty * well.

I've also done the torque-wrap method (basically, turn the sheet of foam into a "flag" and wrap it around until it's the desired thickness.

Torque-wrap is faster and seems to be more hit-n-miss when it comes to consistency of the hit.

The varying consistency probably has to do with how tightly the foam is applied. It's easy to get a bit overzealous when applying a round wrap of foam and pre-compress the layer, causing it to be more compact, and hit harder.

Thurat wrote:The varying consistency probably has to do with how tightly the foam is applied. It's easy to get a bit overzealous when applying a round wrap of foam and pre-compress the layer, causing it to be more compact, and hit harder.

Exactly.