Very Heavy Weapons Weights

[Ahki]

After seeing the 15 foot glaive at ocfest 09 I've been thinking about this. At what weight will a weapon snap a limb no matter what the padding. The most likely situation in my head would be a very heavy weapons hitting a locked knee from the side causing the connective tissue to break due to momentum transfer. I was wondering if we should have a maximum weapons weight. I understand the inherent risk in belegarth fighting and don't want this taken as a people shouldn't hit hard, just want to establish a impact level less than the breaking point of the human body and mitigate the risk.

[Derian]

I'm sure there is a theoretical limit; however, I don't believe that a weapon could be constructed that would reach said limit and still pass check or be wieldable.

[Forkbeard]

Wumpus has that **** huge sword. It's 10'6" long and wieghs about 17 lbs.
I'm sure he'll corre3ct me if the numbers are off.
It is imposible to raelly fight with, although I've killed a couple people with it. He had it at Chaos last year.
I feel that it's not really safe for exactly the reasons your saying, but, it's a completely useless weapon.
I think Derian is on to something. Once they get so big, they don't really work right.
If some huge monster jerk showed up and COULD weild it, which I don't see happening, it could be a problem. A guy that big steeping on people would be dangerous, though.
FB

[varadin]

i think the problem lies more in heavy smaller weapons. Seen a lot of talk lately on the Dag boards about people wanting 3 pound swords and such. Not saying that you cant make that safe but when you get that much mass behind anything it gets the point where its closer and closer to fail. Not to mention some whimpy checker tests it and then it gets passed off to some behemoth who can actually swing it, well that could end poorly.

[Slagar]

That's a problem with weapons check, not construction. If the people you have running weapons check can't swing the weapons, then you'll pass lots of unsafe ****, no matter what it weighs.

That being said, I know of a few fighters who have the size/strength to take passing red swords, and potentially injure people with them. It's just a matter of how much force they can put behind a 50" sword. One or two that I know of have even had house rules enacted, cutting down the size of the weapons they were allowed to use. Which seems like an OK solution to me, for the handful of people in the entire game who might need it.

[Forkbeard]

Since we're talking about weapons heavy enough to cuase unintended joint INJURIES, I have to disagree with you Varadin.
3lb one handed swords are the norm in the SCA. They cause no more injuries than lighter weapons. One huge guy here uses a one handed Viking type sword that weighs at least 4, if not 5, lbs. He hits like a truck, but I've never seen him dilocate anything on anyone.
I don't think this is dangerous in the least until your talking about weapons that are over 10lbs and swung two handed. Then we're in the proverbial "DANGER ZONE".
FB

[varadin]

Both points are true, but heavier weapons are always a more dangerous route. Not saying we should all fight with those nerf swords. Ive just watched a bunch of 2.5 pound swords fail simple because they have so much mass that they were impossible to be safe with the limited foam they had.

Not a trend I tend to see things always tend to be too light to feel but its that balance that this sport requires

[bo1]

i have a 6'6" glaive, i think it passes easily. with this weapon i have left nastty nasty deap colorful bruises that last 2 weeks, i have knocked a guy mostly out, he could talk right for a bit. anything swung hard hitting the right spot can cause serious injury, it is just another good reason for waivers.

weapons check should weed these weapons out, if they are too big to be safe then they should fail at that point.

[Forkbeard]

I absolutely agree, Bo.
We don't need more rules here. We just need to keep inspecting weapons.
Varadin, you're sayinng you saw some weapons that were not padded adequatly for their mass and they failed.
Good, they should fail. That's what weaopn check is for. I support weapon checks at practice regularly and people calling out their local leaders when this becomes a loacl problem. That's the way to stop this kind of ****. If people are told the first time they bring a sword that is even questionable to practice what is wrong with said weapon, they learn the rules pretty fast.
FB

[Sir Par]

Im right with Fork on this one. We of the Chaos weapons checking staff last year decided to check the nightmare scenario. We gave Fork (who is a freaking truck for those that don't know him) the giant sword that belongs to Wumpus. I think we tested it on Zeldrine (could be wrong) and he * near knocked him over with a medium. Our big worry was that someone Fork's size hitting someone with a bad knee right on the joint. It was our collective opinion that it would most likely dislocate the joint. So we booted the * thing off the field. In the end its SAFETY first people.

[Big King Jimmy]

Par, watch the necros, you should know better :p

[Sir Par]

Who do you think you are Jimmy? Anti-board-necro-post-phelia-man-guy-dude?

[bo1]

yep, thats jimmy. anti necro board post phelia man guy dude. i think that is his latin name actually.

[Sir Par]

Well balls, if I'd known that years ago I could have been addressing him properly!