How to make a larp safe bokken

In a thread, all by itself…

Material List
1m of 10mm OD aluminium tube with 1mm sidewall (available in 2m lengths from Mitre 10 Mega for $8)
1 camp mat (Warehouse $8)
ADOS F2 glue (or another contact adhesive)
80mm x 40mm scrap of heavy tough fabric such as canvas
liquid latex (TradeMe $20)
tan/light brown acrylic paint ($5 test pot is ideal)
couple of different (darker) brown artists paint
talcum powder

Instructions
Cut a 20mm wide strip of camp mat 50mm longer than your sword, glue it down the aluminum with 10mm off the bottom and 40mm off the top
Poke a scrap of camp mate in each end of the aluminum tube
Glue the scrap of fabric around the tip, to reduce the risk of punch through by the aluminum tube
Glue a 80mm wide strip of camp mat around the tube, so the front edge is now 3 layers of foam, like a taco (see photo 2 below)
Once dry, shape the foam to roughly an “egg shaped” profile, ensuring extra padding remains on the front edge

Once shaped, curve the aluminium into a gentle curve.
If you want to melt in any decorations, do it now. I used a screw driver heated up with a blow torch, but I think a soldering iron would be better.
Paint the blade with a mixture of 70/30 liquid latex/acrylic paint.
Dry with a hair dryer .
Do 4-5 coats, leave the brush strokes in as they will become wood grain

Put the latex on reasonably thick.
When the last layer is dry-ish, you can begin dry-brushing on the other shades of brown.
I used a medium brown first and a dark brown second, as shown in the second photo below

Once the dry brushing is dry (you can hurry it up with the hair dryer if you want) give the sword a rub down with some talcum powder.
Here are the finished products.

once again…looks great

Did the aluminium come curved, or did you curve it? How resilient is the curve?

I bent the tube after the shaping of the foam on the sander and before the latexing.

Not sure about resilience as we haven’t fought with them yet but I think if you gave someone a good hard whack half way down the blade, it would bend.

They have a lovely finish. I like the concept of a wooden practice weapon done well.

It’s a shame if the core will bend. But not a surprise, seeing that high-quality curved cores are one of the holy grails of larp weapons.

The wood effect looks great, I also really like the way you’ve done the characters, are they carved in?

Bryn.

I melted them in using a screw driver heated up with a blow torch. I’m also very (smugly) pleased with the wood effect. When a friend came over last night and I showed it to him it took him a few moments after he’d picked it up to figure out it wasn’t wood.