The Armory 11-11-07

Ok, so.

Belegarth is an awesome sport/game where the participants hang out in medieval/fantastical clothing/armor and enjoy full-contact combat with one another with padded weapons. It pretty much RULES. Go forth and find a Realm near you!

Don't judge this picture on the FAIL nature of the composition and lighting, ok? It's about the subjects, not the photo.

So, this is my Armory of Belegarth weapons (and a shield) as of November 2007. I started fighting in Dur-Demarion in June '07. All of these were made by myself, generally loosely based on designs developed by one Mekoot Bhakdar of The Horde and Brother Nolan, though the hammer is an all original design of my own.

The materials used on all of these was some core material, blue Wal-Mart/Ozarka camping pad foam (polyolefin) sheets, DAP Woodweld contact cement, Duck brand Indoor/Outdoor carpet tape, various metal bits for counterweighting and changing the cross-sections of the grips, 1/4" rope, canvas cloth, thread, some drawstring of some sort, and, for stabbing tips, open cell foam from POOF brand foam sports balls.

The Flanged Maces: Here you may observe a pair of flanged maces hanging down, built based off of the design proposed by Brother Nolan in his Book of Maces. They were built identically (down to the amount of tape on each weapon) of 1/2 in. 600 psi PVC and are counterweighted heavily with 5/8x4 1/2 in. hex head bolts, resulting in a hefty weapon with a balance around 4 inches about the top of the hilt. Fun times.

The Red Sword: On the far right is what is called a Red Sword, due to its status within the rules of Belegarth as a two-handed weapon. It is also stabbing-legal and is the third weapon I ever built. It's alright... I want a chance to make another one and improve. Built on .5x.375" rectangular fiberglass.

The Five Iron: Next to the Red is the longest blue sword I have produced so far, and the heaviest. It's built on a carbon fiber and polymer five iron golf club shaft and ended up being violently forward-balanced, so it took a lot of weight to balance it back. The whole thing weighs about 21 oz. according to a really primitive balance I made in my dorm room out of a ruler, two bags of Peanut M&Ms, and a tiny block of wood. Good for strength training.

Main Blue-Green: Left of that is the second weapon I ever built, a 33" blue-green (slashing/stabbing) sword. It weighs in at about 16 oz and has an oblong rope-wrapped hilt over a core of 3/8" square fiberglass. It balances well, at about 3" high of the hilt. This is my primary blade for sword'n'board work and my primary righty weapon in Florentine.

Da Hammer: Supporting this sword and another is my maul. One handed, heavy-ish, extremely head-heavy (balances about four inches below the head, around that little step-down area to the lightest haft padding), and BAD-to-the-ASS. I make 300+ lb 6'5" fighters blink when I smack 'em with this bad boy. It's not very fast, it's not very agile, but it's got wrap-around reach and it's fun as hell. And with 1.5 inches of open cell on each face, it actually doesn't hurt... all that much. 1/2" PVC core and tonne of bluefoam.

Experimental Sword: The other sword resting on the hammer head doesn't have a cover as of this picture being taken, but as of late afternoon today, it does. This blade was a bit of an experiment and a sort of a request from my brother. He wanted a longer handle for two-handing for stronger blocks and faster, stronger tip control and I wanted to see if I could balance it well while maintaining a very light weight. It comes in at around 13 oz with a cover on it, which is one ounce over minimum, so I'd say this little experiment was a success, especially considering that it balances around 3.5 inches high of the hilt. It even swings fast choked all the way down one-handed! Pretty wicked... I need ta make me one like it! Built on 3/8" round fiberglass rods got at a Tractor supply for 99c/4' section!

Strap Shield: Ahhh, my strap shield. A 23"x36" heater strap of 1/2" plywood and a buttload of blue foam. 18-20oz leather dog collar from the flea market sectioned for the grip and strap, bolted on. The cover is spray glue, carpet tape, and duct taped on and has held up to a lot of abuse very well. It's a little heavy, but I love it.

Shorties: Sitting in front of the shield are my two shorties, the longer one, the first blade I ever built, and the shorter, a truly minimum length blue-green. Fun times, indeed. I often use the longer, heavier shorty as my off-hand when Florentining with my primary sword, though lately I've tried Florentining the shorties together and, while not that effective, it was a hellaciously fun style.


Anyway, that's the armory, at the moment. Sword like the new one for my bro in the works for myself; planning a punch shield when I get access to the proper core materials... I built one spear for a friend back home (of which his ass needs to post pics!)... may be making a couple round straps and a couple swords while I'm home with/for same friend. Should be more pics up sometime. I may even do a short series on a particular weapon or weapons, covers on and off, or maybe do a construction series showing the creation of one.

What would you guys like to see? Any of it?

PS: Sorry if this was tl;dr material...