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It depends what your prop is aiming to simulate. $10 halloween costume prop? Hollow plastic, super light. Training weapon for self defence against knife attac
by michaelt 2y ago
It depends what your prop is aiming to simulate.
$10 halloween costume prop? Hollow plastic, super light.
Training weapon for self defence against knife attacks? Solid plastic, several times the thickness of a real knife, probably bright blue.
Olympic fencing weapons, which simulate duelling? Pretty light, you only need a light touch to score a point and bending is desirable.
Live Action Role Play where they want to whack each other, but not hard? Anime cosplay? They mostly go for foam-covered plastic which is kinda light, but they're often thick and also they often simulate unrealistically large weapons, so they can end up kinda heavy.
Ornamental/replica things that are just for show? Could go either way. You could make an extra-light sword out of aluminium, or an extra-heavy ornate dagger out of pewter. Less steel means a lower material and shipping cost - but a bit more heft that feels realistic to buyers might get you better product reviews.
Apparently some HEMA/renaissance fair folk wear full suits of metal armour, metal longswords that are blunt-but-authentically-weighted, then try to whack each other pretty hard? Looks like concussion city to me.
- foobarian 2y agoI got a suit of chainmail at one point to possibly wear for Halloween/Renn fairs etc. It was heavy! I could not stand it for longer than about an hour, it was a real workout. Certainly made me gain new respect for all the stereotypical medieval knights wearing full metal armor suits.
- kstrauser 2y agoHuh, wonder if you could turn that into a fitness fad for runners. Improve safety against attackers, get a better cardio workout. Forget Under Armour. Let’s go for Over Armor.
- Sander_Marechal 2y agoLike replica swords, replica armour is also often too heavy. Especially maille (the correct term for chainmail). Proper maille has the rings riveted closed so you can use thin rings. Many cheap replicas use bent (butted) rings. They need to be thicker so they don't bend open. I have a full hauberk which goes to my knees with long sleeves. It weighs 6-ish kilo. Add a kilo for the coif. A decently made late medieval full plate armour is maybe 15-ish kilo complete with helmet. The heaviest armours are probably late 14th century armours. They are essentially an almost full plate over a (partial or full) maille hauberk. Some are maybe 25 kilo. That's still a lot less than the 40 or so kilo that modern soldiers lug around.
- astaunton 2y agoJust to add, some martial arts groups use Aluminum training blades to train with They are used to get users mentally prepared to be hit with a blade....being hit with a blunt metal blade hurts, but its ultimately better than being hit by a sharp steel one and gets you used to the mentality that you will be hit so how do you make it so it is less painful (or life threatening when you do get hit for real) https://takknife.com/collections/keen-edge-aluminum-training-knives https://takknife.com/collections/keen-edge-aluminum-training...
- 0xbadcafebee 2y agoSome SCA groups do use real weapons. They're completely nuts. And great fun to drink with...