They look good. I’d probably be happy if someone missed and pegged me in the face with one of these.
Documenting for the future:
- the knives are made of two layers of camp-mat sandwiched together. Use the heaviest camp-mat you can find (I used the brown stuff, since I have a lot and its useless for anything else).
- they are weighted with washers glued between the layers. The washers are placed in the centre and in the blade because the grip weights the other end. If you want to use more washers, just line them up along the centreline in the blade portion.
- I start with slightly oversize pieces of foam (9.5 x 2 inches), pick one end to be the handle, and work off that. Mark centreline and tip position, glue down washers, sandwich, trim to shape according to the template below, and cut the blade.
The template:
Each square is 0.25 inches, so the knife is 9 inches long and 1.5 inches wide at the blade. The circles are where you put the washers. The red is how I cut the blade.
(And now I don’t need to remember any of that, becuse I can just google for “how to make a larp throwing knife”. Problem solved).
Just allow headshots and be done with it 
Just to chip in my $0.02, I’ve made a few throwing knives for my brothers over the years and I’ve tried a few different ways of weighting them (coins, washers etc).
The best compromise I have found between weight, size and looks is to cut two knife shapes out of foam and then on the inside of each piece carve out a shallow groove that starts and ends about 3cm from each end of the knife. You then fill each groove with hot glue and let it cool before gluing the two shapes together with contact adhesive. After that you can shape the edges of the blade and latex/duct tape as you see fit.
I second what Derek said about gluing fabric between layers of foam, especially if your dagger has any protruding parts like guards etc.
One other thing I would mention is that if you are using washers or similar to weight your daggers, secure them firmly to the foam on the inside of the weapon. Otherwise you will discover that coins like to slide towards the edge of your blade, and it will hurt when you get your girlfriend to test it by throwing it at your face.
Just allow headshots and be done with it [/quote]
you know it!
What about other throwing weapons? I’ve been toying with the idea of making a chakra-type weapon but it’s finding something that is both dense and rigid enough to give it the proper weight but still LARP-safe is tricky. I tried looking for rubber sheeting but all I could find was really heavy and thick tiles.
Andrew’s idea of filling a central groove in the closed-cell foam weapon with hot melt glue would presumably work for unusual-shaped throwing weapons too. The glue dries as a fairly heavy, rubbery substance. It’s flexible, but attempts to retain its shape. It’s not expensive.
Don’t use hot melt glue to glue the foam together though, as it forms hard edges if exposed. Use a contact adhesive like ADOS for that.
I wonder if that would work for a fake core for throwing axes?
(I’ve been trying to do francesca-style axes, since my cored one feels good and throws pretty well. Obviously, I can’t throw a cored weapon, due to the risk of accidents. But coreless versions mean a floppy handle, which will reduce accuracy and look bad).
Dunno. You would probably need a lot of hot melt to make a flexible “core” that was rigid enough to act as an axe handle, and then it might be too heavy.
There is only one way to find out.
Onwards. FOR SCIENCE!
There’s a suggestion here of using fabric soaked in glue, then rolled up to create a semi-flexible core. I’ll have to try that.