Sage wrote:Getting back into the foam smithing now that I have room for it, and I want to get opinions on which method of 4# box is superior in blue sword construction. I am comfortable with Barley style 4# box in creating swords but I have noticed some people use 2 pieces with a cap in their box construction. So which seems to hold up better in the end?
Personally, I find that building a traditional box with 3/4# foam to be preferable to routed box/fry builds, simply because it yields a more stable stabbing tip. Then again, pre-routed options are probably going to yield a better result if you're a novice foam smith, or aren't entirely sure of your ability to build a straight and stable box.
To actually answer your question, I would have to say the two-piece method seems more structurally sound, since (last time I checked, anyway) Barely boxes don't have the "teeth" at the tip that edhellen fries do, so I would think this would cause some awkward folding at the tip. The handful of times I've used pre-routed boxes, they have been two separate pieces, sadwiched between a core.