Everything is broken...

[Moginheden]

Well after last practice I found out 4 of my 6 weapons broke

I've yet to satisfactorily fix any of them, (although I have gotten some of them started towards being fixed.)

So this Friday I don't expect to have many weapons to bring... however I have been building 4 new blue swords at the same time as repairing my existing swords so 2 weeks from now I'm hoping to have 10 weapons to bring.

[Moginheden]

oh and I bought 2 extra fiberglass rods I'm planning on gluing together and turning into a quarterstaff once I get the 10 swords done.

I hope the weather stays warm enough for me to keep adding a little bit more foam each lunch hour.

[Cib]

I don't know wether to console you are say woot...

10 weapons is quite a few. I need to buy some glue so I can get going on my ever growing repair pile.

[David of Doell]

Wow that's sad, how did your swords break?

Speaking of fiberglass rods I saw some at Canadian Tire. It was a few aisles away from the PVC pipe and I have no idea what it's supposed to be for. It has a threaded bolt type tip on each end. It was a good five feet long.

[Moginheden]

On one of my longswords the tip sheared right off, (I blame people leaning on the sword putting angular pressure on the tip.) My 2 daggers came unglued from their cores for the 3rd or 4th time each, (over a period of about 13 months.) I used free foam to make them and spray glue just doesn't stick well to it. My red sword I've been expecting to break for months, It's a year and a half old and I didn't build the box around the core properly. Well it finally came unglued too.

I have now re-glued them all using contact cement, (they all were spray glue) and I hope that lasts better. Spray glue works wonders for foam-to-foam bonds. foam-to-core seems to break down faster. I haven't used contact cement extensively enough to tell if it will be any better on cores though.

I currently have 2 daggers, 1 shortsword, 1 longsword and 1 two-hander in working order. My other longsword and my 4 new medium swords I hope to have finished by the end of the weekend.

[Moginheden]

The fiberglass poles I saw in Canadian Tire were for marking driveways/curbs so you don't run off the road in the snow. They also had a LOT more flex in them than the ones I picked up at UFA in Airdrie.

[Cib]

I saw some driveway markers in Dolorama the other day, I might buy one as see who it works for short swords.

[Moginheden]

Good news: All my weapons passed except for 1 stab tip, (still legal as slashing.)

Bad News: We had 5 swords break and a shield strap broke too this practice. 3 of the broken weapons were my new ones... the 4th new one is still working but I'm gonna have to keep an eye on it.


My swords are puling off the core, I think it might have to do with extra stress from the handles not being wrapped tight enough, or maybe not enough contact cement... will re-cement them and redo all 4 new rope handles even the one on the sword that is still working. But I'm not sure I'll have these fixed by next Friday, hope I will.

[Moginheden]

The other 2 swords that broke were the big red sword that isn't mine, (I think it's Darr's) the core snapped in half. And the 2 foot sword that matches it had it's pommel come off.

Darr's shield strap broke.

[David of Doell]

The big red sword that broke was really flexible. A stiffer core would increase handling and life span. Today I saw someone miss a big vertical chop and hit the ground pretty hard. That would be bad for the weapon and for someone's head if they're swinging down on someone which I'm assuming they were. It's probably time for an overview of how to treat weapons properly.

Maybe you should make more of a push for people to bring their own weapons. Mog shouldn't have to make five extra swords for everyone else. I think the ultimate goal of Belegarth is for every member to have a spare weapon or two so that no matter who shows up to practice there are spare weapons for new comers. Without reliance on one or two people to supply the majority of the weapons. That way practices would continue to happen even if Cib or Mog were absent. If a person was serious enough they could say that all members of 8+ months, to be generous, must bring at least one weapon(anything!) to practice in order to use longer weapons. Eight months is 32 practices, if the person attended all of them, but either way that's more than enough time to make SOMETHING. Anyone who's been a member for a year or more really has no excuses.

What happened to all the swords made on the last weapons building day? How did that work out? I would also suggest if you do that again, build longer weapons. I think most people want weapons 32" or longer.

[Cib]

I have a 10' length of 1/2" SCH40 PVC in the garage that can be used next time we do a weapons build.

What is a lot of weapons to brake. Its always a depressing feeling after putting in so much work.

Contact cement is a tricky thing, you can put to much, you can not add enough, you can let it dry to long or not let it dry enough. The real trick with both contact cement and spray glue is getting an even coat.

[Moginheden]

The last weapon's building day mostly outfitted Calgary members... who stopped showing up to any practice 2 months later.

It's a good idea to get everyone to bring their own weapons, but the problem is the maturity level of our members. Most of them expect the world to give them everything they need still, and some might stop coming if we force them to build their own stuff. Still as it stands your right, if Cib, Darr, and I don't show up there can't be a practice, and if only 1 of the 3 of us show up then we can only have half our people equipped.

[Cib]

They are starting to want their own gear. I am actually intentionally letting my collection deteriorate in to less popular weapons in hopes it will inspire people to want the gear thet only shows up every few weeks every week and get their own (a few people are almost ready to build javs because they are taking so long to fix and are getting fed up wit rox).

[David of Doell]

Haha, yes I miss the javelins a lot.

So it's a toss up between mature members and sacrificing numbers. Maybe it just takes a certain kind of influence. Next time I hear a complaint about weapons I'll insert a pitch about making their own. I'll try bringing it up in conversation more. Get the thought moving around in their head.

I think it would be cool to have an open building day, bring your own supplies type deal. Then a person can get help and it will be more fun building with other people so you have something to do while glue dries. I'd like to build a javelin or spear and could use your help since you've made many.

[David of Doell]

Cib you need to inspect your large shield. I took a hit to the wrist with the edge of the shield and it left a nasty mark. After that I couldn't fully grip with that hand. Right now I can't handle heavy objects and it's quite swollen. I felt the edge foam afterwards and it feels extremely soft, I could almost feel wood. Two weeks ago I took a hard hit to my wrist from Tod with my brown round shield and it hurt plenty but it didn't leave lasting damage like this time. So I don't think the shield is safe any more.

For safety purposes I would like to propose the idea for regular equipment checks. Equipment needs to be checked every so often because they deteriorate over time and can become unsafe. It would be better to be proactively preventing injuries than to just be reacting to them.

My sword core popped out at the top today which means it lasted about 10 months which is pretty good. It should be pretty easy to fix and will probably last another long while.