Hits too hard. Design or U.S. foam?

[David of Doell]

So I made a short glaive but it hits too hard. I wrapped the foam around the core in a spiral so it would stay on the core better. It has five layers of U.S. foam. The rounded design means less surface area contacting the target which could make for a harder hit but I'm wondering if it could have anything to do with U.S. foam. It feels a bit harder to me even though it's slightly thicker. I started beating it against a pole which seemed to help. The other reason I wanted a round design is so that I don't have to worry about hitting with the side or flat of the weapon because it doesn't have one. My current ideas are:
1. Keep beating it
2. Add another layer of foam, possibly Canadian foam
3. Add to the shape to increase surface area of hits

Any ideas or insight would be appreciated.

[Cib]

Rounded weapons can tend to hit harder because they have more foam supporting the bit that is striking the target than a flat blade. The US thickens is not enough to make a difference in this way I don't think, in my flat blade weapons I find the US foam it hit a tad softer.

Dont hit a pole, you will only end up making soft spots that may get the weapon failed. Hit a flat surface (picnic table, deck, etc) so the hole length of the striking surface will bake in evenly. If after doing this the problem goes away quickly it may have been glue, if you have to do this a long time before getting results the foam needed to brake in a bit. Don't be afraid to really pound it, sometimes that is what it needs when the hole surface is taking the impact together.

I know my first attempts a red swords I boxed the blade incorrectly and that make it imposable to remedy it hitting to hard. But that was a box method, not barrelled.

[Cib]

Oh, another thought about the foam on barrelled weapons supporting itself, if you cant beet it softer, you can take a knife to it and cut strips or a grid or something on the top layer(s) so that the foam is still all around but is no longer supporting the rest.

[Moginheden]

I find the US foam works WAY better than anything I've found up here for most things.

However the white computer packing foam seems to work very well for this kind of issue. (It looks similar to a glossy Styrofoam, but feels similar to the blue foam.) The pink computer packing foam is almost identical so it would work too. Note neither of these look like a sponge. I think they are closed cell.

We had a few weapons in Calgary that hit too hard no matter how many layers we put on them. The solution is to take it down to the minimum number of layers you think could possibly work then put a different kind of foam on top of that. We tried normal computer packing foam on some of them and it worked, (the black computer packing foam disintegrates over time, but the blue foam underneath had broken in by then.) If I was doing it again I'd try the white or pink computer foam or yoga mat though.

[Moginheden]

Also what glue are you using? Contact cement dries harder than spray glue. If you are adding strips of it, it will still bend. If you have a cylinder of it it won't bend as much.

[David of Doell]

I used spray glue. I'll try cutting the top layer and if that doesn't work I'll add some computer foam to it. Thanks.