Weapons Safety: Shield Maintenance

Traceroo

Traceroo

Prodigy
A novel from your Weapons Marshals about maintenance of the foam around your shield:

TLDR: Shield users need to check your own shields for the foam breaking down. Check yours before July. I'll help walk you through it if you need help.

At this past June 2015 event, Zach Brooks and I noticed a lot of shields in need of better maintenance of the foam. We failed a few as flat out no longer safe, and gave out a lot of provisional 1-event approvals as a courtesy to players to get these items fixed before July.

Here's a run down of some of the issues that we're seeing:

Check your own shields for safety to see if they need repairs. These maintenance issues are often things you won't notice just by fighting with your shield; you need to go out of your way to check for the following:
  • Run your palm all around the foam of your shield, the whole way around. "Squeeze the Charmin." If you can feel the core, that won't pass. If the foam is splitting in half because it's so thin in the center, that won't pass.
  • There are two areas you need to extra special check:
    • Along the sides, check about 3/4 of the way up from the bottom. This is where you block the most, and where the foam usually breaks down first. If the foam is starting to split, you need to cut out those breaking pieces, and replace them with new stuff.
    • Press your thumb into the corners of the shield, especially at the top. If you feel core, you need to slice open the foam there. Insert a half-moon shaped piece, may 1/4" to 1/2" wide at the fat part of the pie slice. That will protect the corner padding from breaking down. When you foam your shield initially, put this pie slice in then. It is possible for a brand new shield, freshly foamed not to have enough padding at the corners and need this pie slice trick.
  • Camp Foam, or other non-traditional foaming methods: You don't have to use 5/8" round weapon foam to pad your shield; there are other options. If you use one of these other options, the foam must completely encompass the edge of the shield (think of how the 5/8" foam would make a "U" shape around the edge). If I press my thumb around the edge of the shield, I should never feel a corner, or the edge of your shield core. The foam has to hug that perimeter completely.
  • Tape around the foam on your shield helps prevent it from breaking down. If you have a cloth cover on your shield instead of tape, the foam will break down more quickly, and you will need to maintain your shield with repairs more often.
    • Porch's Shields: Porch makes beautiful, lightweight punch shields for many of our players. Porch makes them safely -- This is not a fault in his construction. They're fine weapons -- and when I need a shield made, even I go to Porch! If you have one of Porch's shields, you as its user need to take extra care in its maintenance. "Pop open the hood" now and then by taking off the cloth cover and check the foam for splits. On Porch's shields, most of you will wear down the foam first right below the coffin bend, on the lower left side.
    • Wooden shields: Your shield will be particularly susceptible to the corners poking through the foam, and you need to do that "half moon" trick when it's brand new.

"I freakin' hate refoaming my shield, how can I shore it up so I don't have to do this as often?"
  1. Before you foam the shield, run electrical tape around the rim of the core. That helps prevent the core from cutting into the foam.
  2. If you're a hard core stickjock who never misses a fighter practice, and who treats your shield harshly, and thus it is in frequent need of repair, put an extra layer of duct tape on the inside of the foam in the area where you block most often (see above -- or ask me to check your shield and give you a customized answer). Use cheap, old fashioned DUCT TAPE for this, not the fancy stuff! This will never show, and you want that industrial strength magic.
  3. Cover the foam entirely with tape -- even if you've got one of Porch's beautiful shields, and the tape will never show. This will shore it up.
  4. Use the expensive McMaster-Carr foam (http://www.mcmaster.com/#4530k161/=xqi5pv), not the inexpensive 5/8" PVC foam. The expense is painful, I know, but the extra thickness of the foam walls will make your shield last measurably longer! It makes a big difference. I use the McMaster-Carr foam on my own shield because it lasts so much longer, and I hate refoaming my shield that much.
  5. You can wrap decorative cord in a spiral around the foam of your shield. You drill holes in the shield core on the interior of the foam placement, about every 2" all around, and spiral wrap about 10 yards of cording around there until you are shaking your fist and cursing my name because this effort is taking so long. It looks super cool, and oddly, the cording really helps reinforce the padding on the shield and make it last longer. Downside: When you need to fix your shield, you'll have to unwrap this whole damn thing to make repairs. Figure out in advance where you wear down your shield foam first, and make sure that's at the end of the cording effort so you can just unwrap only that small piece when you need to fix it later.
If your shield needs repairs, and you don't know how to do that yourself:

Get in touch with me before the July event; I'm happy to help you. I live in Westminster, and work in Broomfield. I'm happy to get together with you in this area (such as at Sunday fighter practice in Arvada, or by special arrangement). I will be happy to examine your weapons and walk you through what repairs need to be made, and how you need to do it. It's really easy in terms of needed skills and supplies; you don't need any experience or special skills -- honest.

Love & Kisses,

Trace Moriarty
Safety & Weapons Marshal
Alliance Denver
 
Some notes from Porch's perspective:

1. The McMaster-Carr Foam lasts about 3-5 fighter practices/Events longer, but still splits along the sides just like the other foam. HOWEVER, it is more resistant on the corners of the shields for sure, like I swear double the life in that area. If you are looking to extend the life of the foam, and aren't fighting the super heavy hitting people a bunch (I do...), this foam WILL help.
2. Taping: Full taping of the foam has not shown me personally that it extends the life of the foam, however others have had good results with doing so - I just haven't. Overall best results of lightweight but taped well is all of the edges where it meets the shield should be taped. The cording I'm gonna try this year I think and see what happens.
3. If I made your shield - you get two free re-foamings and Ill do it myself np. Also, if you want the full taping of the foam instead of just where the foam meets the core, I will do so (and have), just ask. It's not a huge weight difference.
4. Duct tape inside the foam is difficult to do, but did extend the life of the foam on two of the practice shields for a bit. Careful not to bust the foam while you open it up to put the tape in.
5. On Trace's #1 point, if you don't wanna do electrical tape, just duct tape helps with this too.
6. When you make your shield core, blunt/round the corners. This has helped for not beating through the corner foam as quickly.
7. Have two shields if you're a fighter practice fanatic. One for practice, one for events. This will extend the life of your event shield, so it passes inspection more often and requires less maintenance. The fighter practice shield beat the hell out of.
8. Biggest issue is the hard block to hard hits or repeated areas you block in, just like Trace explained. It just annihilates the foam over time as it pushes it backwards against the foam, which is why there is the weird shape of the foam as its repeatedly pushed back. Like if you feel the foam, it feels like a crack AT the core, yet if you position the foam back to where its supposed to be, the crack is up front. I'm curious of the cording helps the foam from being repeatedly pushed back.
9. Don't store your stuff in hot cars for extended periods of time.
10. Pipe foam vs camp foam/eva/microcell. I need to do more testing, but doing the 3 layers of camp foam (So it looks flat, see Ray's shield) seems to last REALLY long. However it's a severe pain in the *** to do around a wood/plastic/etc core.
11. Foam Planks! We've got several of us with them, its going to be interesting to see if they suffer any issues or what. They are totally heavier (3x as heavy at least) as the ultralights I make. Like I've been working my left arm hard with my weights to compensate for my foam plank shield, and omfg when I pick up an ultralight it feels like nothing now.
12. Will's Shields - are amazing. He makes thicker heavier ones and a new lighter thin style that are batshiatcrazyamazing in weight, function, and look.

Overall from the 6? 7? (I totally don't remember) shields I've made for others, and the practice/my own ones I've made, they all breakdown over time. It is also 100% dependent on your fighting style, how you block, and how your opponents hit - especially weight of the blows. Ian's foam breaks down different than my shield, as does Siadak's. It's all similar in what happens to the foam, but in different areas. I noticed all of the shields eventually beat through the foam at the corners, and corner repair is quick and easy.
 
#3: Refoaming a shield is a lot of work. If Porch gives you two free refoamings for the shields he makes: A) YOU BUY THAT RIGHT NOW! B) Thank Porch very kindly when he does this -- He's offering to do a lot of annoying work for you without charge for repairs. That's a sweet deal!
#7: Brilliant! I don't know why I never thought of this.
#9: Hot cars, hot garages, garages exposed to winter humidity: I meant to mention this, thanks for the pick up, Porch! Heat, humidity changes, and altitude changes are what causes "shrinkage" in kite tape. If your weapon looks all wrinkly, this is why. Store your weapons indoors if you have space. Don't store them in your car, even overnight if you can help it. Even on the ride to/from site, throw a blanket over the weapons so they're not in direct sunlight.
#11: I have yet to see any maintenance issues, or breakdown on foam planks. I'm impressed with the way the material appears to hold up.

Otherwise, I just want to add an overall, "What he said," in agreement with everything Porch just posted!

Trace
 
Thanks for this Trace, I am always happy to talk weapon shop and help make repairs! just reach out to me through here, the book of faces, my E-mail or at fighter practice and I'm happy to help!
 
I can attest to Porch's two free refoam policy! I have used a shield made by him for almost 2 years now and its been great!
 
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