@shan9usfc i personally have not managed to master a technique, and there is a lot of gate keeping online for this topic, sadly. Elysiun forge makes a curved core. I am not entirely sure how they do this, but this video kind of covers the potential pitfalls. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l9iEarqqvpO6Ymw.htmlsi=a-jDCH5WIkk62vn- There is someone at my local larp who has mastered the curved core. I will try and pin them down and see if they can share their method.

@thefighter6071 isoflex special primer seals and primes porous, dusty, flaky and old roof surfaces. Ideal for use on old felt, tile, bricks, cracked bitumen and mastic repairs it has been formulated with high grade urethane polymers that cure to form a robust yet flexible sealant. It dries in 2-4 hours. Its for roofing really but it also adheres really well to latex or plastidip and seals the weapon in a clear durable finish. Haven't really found anything else that matches its durability and level of protection, but its essentially a kind of synthetic clear rubber.

@@thehermitworkshop2913 Ohh Ok! Thanks a million

@thefighter6071 I think its also the name of a brand of whey protein.... but definitely not that! If you find something that kind of fits the bill let me know as can add it to the video description for people outside Europe.

I'm afraid I don't know of any specific suppliers. Its EVA foam or Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer foam it is a high density foam. Its comes in different density levels the higher the density the harder it is but the easier it is to cut, sand and add details

No, i would not recommend this. Bamboo although flexible and strong would not have the durability that is necessary for the contact of larp combat. Weapons can easily get snagged and pulled in more extreme ways that you'd anticipate with normal fighting. Rule of thumb I use is if you can bend and snap the core by hand holding each ends then its unsuitable for a core. Daggers are much shorter and therefore can have thinner cores that if 1m long would likely be snap able by hand but due to being only 30cm long they're fine. Likewise with spears and polarms. These being much longer would also need to be thicker to remain durable. Flexibility is great but carbon fibre and fibre glass also have a great level of rigidity as well. A cheaper option for a one off build is a carbon fibre golf club. Keep an eye out for these in thrift shops and on ebay etc. I made my first 4 swords from club sicks and they're still going strong 6 years on.

@thehermitworkshop2913 thanks for the tip 👍

Scratch that I have found the Etsy shop

Will be in touch 😁

Currently not in the workshop or able to get in, but hope to be back at things soon. Please feel free to get in touch via etsy or Instagram

sorry not to reply sooner. It is a bit of an issue with Isoflex I must say. Sometimes I can get it to last a good 6 months if I seal the tins with 3 or 4 metal tin clips. These can be bought for quite cheap I also use vinyl tape on the tins to try and reduce additional air seeping in. Its not perfect and won't last mega long but it helps.

Wrapping is really good. I thiiiiink i did this on an older weapon maybe the witcher sword. But i do that more often than the method in this video with the full pattern. I have found the main thing is to give the core a proper good rough sand with low grit paper. Then also allow the contact adhesive at least 12 hours to cure properly overnight after a heavy roll and press. I also clamp the weapon between 2 planks of wood overnight night whilst it cures. This has made a noticeable difference in the durability of the weapons. I will often wrap the hilt in hockey tape rather than electrical tape as this has a nice texture for whatever goes on top to grip to like pleather or whatever you fancied or can even leave it as the tape as this has good grip and durability.

@@thehermitworkshop2913 This is great information; thanks so much!

Thank you! That's a great compliment! Some excellent weapons from the fantasy game, particularly the older gens that hinted more towards the absurd.

@@thehermitworkshop2913 Should try making a replica of Ghal Maraz from WHF, that'd be a pretty cool prop

@spinaljuice4596 not a bad shout. I'm up for the challenge.

A lot of time is spent letting things dry to be fair. Lots of layers and stages. So day 1 is cutting the basic shape and glueing this to the core. This then needs 12 to 24 hours to properly cure before sanding pr cutting into the "blank" so to speak. This can take a few minutes to hours depending on the detail or finish you're after. This is when you can add details like the skuls and other bits. Then, usually, I coat the whole thing in the thinned contact adhesive and let this cure again overnight. So already 2 days and 2 nights but perhaps about 5 hours of actual working time, i did some flip flopping with the making and details so took a little longer plus filming it all adds to my time. But with a clear plan and focus its only a few hours at this stage. Then once the contact adhesive layer has cured overnight it needs 5 to 7 layers of latex. If applying with an airgun, then this is quicker but with a brush its about 10 minutes of application then perhaos 4 hours between layers and then an overnight again for the top coat. Then paint the finishing colours so however long you wanna spend here. Layers of thin paint gives a nicer finish, so this can take time. Then top coat of isoflex needs 12 hours to cure. Then you're done. So the process is over about 5 days. And the hours involved vary depending on details and finishes your after or how skilled and experienced you are with painte and i guess foam smithing. Can get several weapons done over the same time but most of the time is drying time for the materials.

After a few places, i have settled for a company called "Plastock" here in the UK. Pretty good price for the lengths. Lots of thicknesses.

The most flexible clear coat that I use on latex or flexible props that I wanna keep flexible is isoflex here in the UK. Its a clear rubber roofing primer. Not sure if there are equivalent elsewhere, but I've heard plastidip is awesome and less toxic plus it comes as an aerosol personally not used it though. I have used valour clear coat by polyprops, that's good for smaller props like this but again not sure if its a global brand. Plastidip appears to be quite global, ive heard good things but personally not used it

I'm unfamiliar with the game, but imagine its very combat heavy. I'm not sure I'd recommend a battle scythe for combat heavy larping just due to the fact its quite a large weapon and slightly less intuitive as perhaps other weapons like spears, halberds etc. It definitely something that could be fun but would take quite a lot if practice to use safely. Its only really been used in empire uk larp and as more of a staff rather than a swinging great weapon.

Hi! I have not tried to make a trident. However, I would imagine it would have a similar internal structure to a battle axe or other double-headed weapon. I would perhaps go with a design that had a more accentuated central spike and less prominent flanking spikes as you would still just have the single core running up the middle as if it was a spear but then with the flanking tips these would have a flat kevlar core much like the blade on this scythe. This would prevent these from tearing off in combat or use. The only thing with a trident or spear is also making it "stab safe". I do need to make a video of stab-safe weapons as so far all the builds have not been stab-safe.

You're absolutely right! Since making this video I have changed my practice and do exactly that. A bowl of warm water then dispose of the water after leaving it in the sun (or chucking in the UV cure chamber) and then running through a strainer (essentially a large coffee filter). I have removed the clip of me rinsing it in the video (may take 24 hours to change) to avoid promoting that kind of activity. I was thoughtless and assumed the wash and cure and IPA would remove all of the uncured resin. Clearly, it wouldn't be 100% and any toxic chems going down the drain is terrible. Thank you for flagging! I need to do a "best practice" update video as I have generally upped my PPE game and safety around these genuinely dangerous chemicals.

@thehermitworkshop2913 thank you for taking the time to modify the video in order to remove that specific clip! 🫶🏻 stay safe while working with resins, I'm a medic and I've seen people getting terrible dermatitises while working with them (gloves notwithstanding)!

@@ordnaelshideout No worries! Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I've started using a mask and have put the printers in a separate room from the one I usually work in. So far I've not had any reactions but I'd like to keep it that way. It's certainly something that's become much more common as time has gone on with people being quite lax around these chemicals.

I am a little confused by the question? The pommel is made from flexfoam-it 15 by smooth on which is a 2 part chemical urethane foam. When mixed it solidifies and expands depending on its density characteristic. This is a medium density but you can make with a softer density foam or harder. The blade is essentially medium density foam coated in around 6 layers of latex. So the pommel is the same. Foam then covered in latex. You could do a latex pour in the mould but I'd recommend doing this in stages as it would days to set.

@@thehermitworkshop2913 Sorry, i got lazy at some point, but your response is still very informative. Thank you very much!

I used FlexFoam-iT Series 15 for the pommel

Thank you very much! That's very kind of you to say, I enjoy making the videos and the items. I think at the start I thought maybe I could make this into a "thing" but then I realised I didn't like the pressure of churning it out and as you say, its pretty niche. With my work I get pockets of time where things are a little quieter but I am often working on a video in the background, they will be coming sporadically. Thanks again.

@@thehermitworkshop2913 Often times (not always) when people make their Hobbys to their jobs they lose the love for that hobby because they are always pressured to do it even if they don't want right now so I know exactly what you're saying. Also I have a question about this method - is it possible to "brighten" it up a bit If you overdo the darkening a bit? I want to use this to make my armour pieces a bit "dirty/gritty" as my character is traveling a lot. Shiny armour just doesn't work for that :) But I am scared that I just make it too dark. Or do you have other ideas instead for what I plan to do?

@@markus4732 100%! If you want to give it a bit more of an aged look then this is ideal as it's a very superficial way of colouring the steel. The chemicals only really affect the top layer of the metal and easily come off if not properly protected or if you want to dial it back. Just in the rinse stage, you can rub it a little harder with the scouring pad or steel wool. I have removed the etching effect on the shoulders as I felt they were a little OTT and not quite right for my character. I just went through the same cleaning process as when removing rust. I then reapplied the blackening chemicals to make them just plain black, softened them a little with a light scouring, and then oiled and done. It's a great method to experiment as you can always reverse it with a little polishing.

@@thehermitworkshop2913 perfect - thank you so much for taking the time to reply so detailed 🤗

@@markus4732 No Problem at all! I hope you can have some fun with the tinkering!

Isoflex is a brand of liquid roofing rubber here in the UK and I think Europe. I use the clear special primer as a sealant for the latex. This is really intense nasty stuff so definitely not the whey protein you have found. Here is a link to retailer in the UK as a reference shorturl.at/iKQV1 . Your best bet is to use a clear plastidip though if you can't find it locally. There may be other clear liquid rubber solutions out there.... Isoflex doesn't eat the latex though so be careful as other brand might. People have had good results with Platidip.

Thank you very much! It absolutely would without the Kevlar inside. The central piece of foam in the blade is flanked by 2 sheets of Kevlar which is pretty much untearable then the shaft is also built overlapping the edges of the blade head. This in conjunction with the flexibility of the foam, latex outer skin and then the final coat of Isoflex helps add to the overall durability of the foam. It is still not indestructible but you would struggle to rip the blade off intentionally let alone by accident. I would still not recommend making a weapon with a blade this long for combat though, primarily for safety as the coreless blade can flap and this could affect the wielder's ability to control the strike. Smaller axe heads are usually built in the same way as the internal Kevlar layer.

I get it from Polycraft. Foam is 10mm and 2mm Polyprops CF 65 and Craft foam www.poly-props.com/craft-foam There are other UK suppliers of foam but depends where you are based really.

What happened?

Thank you for taking the time to comment! Glad the video could be helpful!

Thanks El

Thanks very much!

Thank you Sam, I think it is quite killy.

Interesting, would you send a link? I'm curious to see it, does it have teeth and bones? I didn't intend for the final design to directly copy anything. The initial template was really simple as you can see is that what you mean by copied? This was based off of one of Calimacil's designs for their flambard sword for the proportions and was a request from my friend so the rough size and shape were something that came from that. I didn't really plan the details it just kind of evolved. But obviously being part of the community I am immersed in LARP weapons, designs, ideas etc so the skulls, bones and teeth could easily have been something I clocked and replicated without meaning to. Either way, this video is more about the process of making something LARP safe and large and sharing that process so others can potentially create their own if they want.

I've added a note and link to the Calimacil weapon that I used as a template for this weapon in the description. As I say this came as part of a request from a friend for size/shape and this item was not a paid commission, (I don't take paid commissions generally) I am not trying to palm this off as my own design. The video is to show the process and share my method for making LARP-safe weapons. I would still love to see the link if it's the details that you believe have been copied as this genuinely was unplanned and was quite a random process. Thank you for your comment.

That's so kind. Thank you for your comment.

YES

Thank you!!! slow to upload new material but should get a few more videos out over winter.

HA! Thank you for the comment made me smile.

There is no core to the blade. Its surprisingly not very floppy. The weight tapers off to the tip so it's thicker and stiffer towards the core and the foam is quite dense. If it was a more battle axe shape and this large, it would potentially be more of an issue with more weight away from the core. I still wouldn't recommend a 2nd core within the blade though. This may be possible if you created a very strong bond of the cores, but I've not seen this in practice. This particular weapon was not made for combat, it was more a prop for a character who appears once a year at the event I attend. Saying that, it surprisingly passed weapon check at empire last year here in the UK (which for some larp systems has been quite strict in the past). I think you could get the blade to whip and flop if you spun the weapon hard but as I say its surprisingly not very floppy. The kevlar is just there to prevent it from tearing if caught on something, even just transporting.

Thank you! Sounds great, would love to make something more substantial like a complete bolter!

Like wolverine claws or finger tip extensions? By wolverine I mean the ones you hold in your palms and that go through finger gaps.

Like a 30 inch boffer than has a tip that looks like a paw full of claws@@thehermitworkshop2913

If you had said this 2 weeks ago I would have agreed with you, 100%. Oddly it passed the weapon check at empire E4 by profound decisions here in the UK. From my experience (all be it quite limited and uk only) empire have been quite strict in the past. I have had weapons pass other systems and fail empire. But ultimately this was made as a prop for a specific special character within the system, it was not made for combat, but I was incredibly surprised that it passed.