Pole weapon construction?

F

FrankManic

Artisan
Hey folks. I'm interested in putting together a pole arm, probably just a spear or a glaive or something. Any advice on core materials, specifically how to jimmy them together so you get something that has a decent length without being too whippy?

Actually, on that topic there are some honkin five footish long nylon poles for sale at Ax Man here in the twin cities. Anyone ever used nylon as a core material? Or even heard of such a thing?
 
kite spar, either .75 or .606 is really the best core material for long weapons. In fact I have tried to make polearms out of pvc but they always fail for being to whipy. I think someone posted a link of where I order my kite spar online on the HQ oog boards.
 
http://www.goodwinds.com/merch/list.sht ... fiberglass

You'll want either Product # 007020, 007040, or 007071, unfortuneately its been a while since I've made a polearm, so I don't remember which one. I think its 007040 though.

My best results for making it not whippy are to take a piece of PVC and cut that down to be the length of the handle and butt of the weapon, bulk up about 6-12" of the core with duct tape and then glue (Liquid Nails is what I use) the UL portion of the core into the PVC portion.

Stuff like this is comonly referred to as a "composite" core.

I've not used nylon poles for weapon making... or anything else for that matter.
 
To be honest I didn't even know Nylon came in poles, but apparently it does. Axman is full of stuff like that. It's a sort of general purpose surplus store, anything that anyone else didn't want or couldn't sell ends up there. A lot of motors, electrical bits, pieces from old board games, glowsticks, tools, and who knows what else. At one point they had an iron lung in there. Lately they've had a 300 pound brass bell and the complete gun sight system from a Leopard II Main battle tank.

Eitherway, back to pole weapons, I ended up with an 8' section of Aluminium tube that I'm going to try and composite with some PVC, so the aluminum ends up making the handle section and most of the blade is PVC.

What would you folks suggest for a glaive/naginata blade? The weapon in real life is basically a sword on a stick. Can I get away with 5/8in closed cell foam for the blade surface? I'm thinking something like 5/8" foam with an additional strip of 1" open cell foam running along the striking surface to give it a little more give.
 
You will need to have something (if it is going to be a polearm) to designate the strikeing surface of the weapon. 1" thick closed cell should work, but it will need to be between 12 and 144 cubic inches added onto the 5/8" wall pipe foam.
 
You know... I totally thought I typed that... apparently, pushing the buttons is what makes it appear on the post, not just thinking about pushing the buttons...
 
tieran said:
You will need to have something (if it is going to be a polearm) to designate the strikeing surface of the weapon. 1" thick closed cell should work, but it will need to be between 12 and 144 cubic inches added onto the 5/8" wall pipe foam.
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Open cell foam is needed for the "head" of a polearm or blunt weapon.
 
Crap. yup.
 
I didn't realize how short 72" really is. I'm 76", for reference sake. I feel a little silly with a pole weapon that's shorter than I am. : (

Oh joy. And my weapon head is sixty cubic inches oversize. : (

Y'all really don't like polearms, eh?
 
You can make a fairly nice sized polearm head and be well within the range allowed. Did you make it too thick?
 
Telokh_Amdo said:
You can make a fairly nice sized polearm head and be well within the range allowed. Did you make it too thick?
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I got it worked out eventually. I just ended up with a much more modest glaive than I'd intended.

Okay, here's another question. I want to stick a leather disc under the stabby tip to prevent punch through or at least limint it. . Yay? nay?
 
If you're talking about just making a small piece to go over the end of the core material then it's probably fine. Best way to know if it's gonna fly or not is press in with your thumb over the spot where the end of the core is. If you can feel the leather (or the end of the core for that matter) then it's too hard in there and is gonna cause a possible non-passing grade with a marshal.
 
Maxondaerth said:
If you're talking about just making a small piece to go over the end of the core material then it's probably fine. Best way to know if it's gonna fly or not is press in with your thumb over the spot where the end of the core is. If you can feel the leather (or the end of the core for that matter) then it's too hard in there and is gonna cause a possible non-passing grade with a marshal.
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Yeah, did that, realized i could still feel the thing, cut it out, trimmed it, and put it back in. Nothing quite like doing invasive surgery on a spear.
 
FrankManic said:
I didn't realize how short 72" really is. I'm 76", for reference sake. I feel a little silly with a pole weapon that's shorter than I am. : (

Oh joy. And my weapon head is sixty cubic inches oversize. : (

Y'all really don't like polearms, eh?
Click to expand...

Part of that is safety. Our fighting rules don't allow the proper methods of dealing with a pike long enough to keep someone from being able to hit you with a sword. Part is materials, as ultralights weren't around when the rules were written first, and PVC can't do that kind of length without flexing too much. Part is leverage, as someone not being careful with a full length pole can provide a -lot- of force without expecting to.

And really, a min-length polearm is far, far more effective if you've got long arms. Truuuuust me. :twisted:
 
Polearms are cool, especially in those line fights...you can poke toes all day. Not quite as good one on one, especially vrs a shield user, but still ok, if you practice a bit. Just try to keep the thing from getting to heavy, every bit of manuverability is needed.
 
Not good against shields? Then you're doing it wrong.
 
Shield block my attack, pop me in the arm/side/leg.... repeat. I may get my polearm back to 45 degrees, and get you in the foot/shield shoulder, but if you expect it, I will not.

If the shield user is new to the style, then sure polearm guy will have a chance to win, but with an expirenced shield user, the polearm user may get 1-2 shots in during a fight.

Two swords is the way to go vrs a sword board user, at least from what I have expirenced.

remember I said 1on1...line fights polearm is fantastic, even vrs shields.
 
Honestly, bring on your shieldsmen. It may take me a while to take them down, but I've got at least as much blocking edge on the grip of my pole as they do on that shield. It's all about controlling distance, and unless they're going to charge and/or shield check me, I can happily hold them at arm's length pretty much indefinitely.
 
well, yeah I did fail to mention that if you wanted, you could live forever vrs a shield user, but if you do attack you are vulnerable to counter attack, which aside from backwords retreat(which can get you hurt/or ever cause you to charge) you will be hit.

Also, to be charging you need to be able to touch the other person with an outstretched hand (pg 93) which is well within max length longsword range.
 
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