Paddywhack - latex weapons and leatherworks

The sword holders are 65mm x 30mm on the inside. The Ex-Caliber swords will fit into them easily.

The 104cm Samurai sword has a grip that is 195mm long. That will fit two hands for most people.

I’m away this weekend, will be back online on Tuesday.

So don’t worry if you make an order or send an email but don’t hear back, I’ll reply then. I think I’ve answered all the outstanding queries and I’m all ready to process the special orders on the 10th.

Today’s the last day for orders:

www.paddywhack.co.nz

I’ll be putting the orders through tonight, so if you want something but haven’t ordered yet get the order in today using the website.

Cheers,

Ryan

Woot more gears!

I put the order through last night.

However, if anyone has missed the date but feels they really need something, let me know and I’ll see if it’s possible to add it to the order.

I may well be too late… I forgot about this until I saw this just now.

In any case, if we can get an order in now, when will they arrive?

Specifically, would they arrive before St Wolfgangs at the end of November?

Cheers,

Some of the items will need to be made up to order, and then there’s international shipping. So it seems unlikely to me that they will arrive in the next two weeks. Still, there will be other medieval/fantasy events that they’ll suit.

If you want to order something please do it via the Paddywhack website today so I can get the amended order to the supplier ASAP, thanks.

Hmmm… I am an NZLARPS member but when I go to my membership database page, the membership number doesn’t make sense… I’ve mailed the secretary, but I’m not sure of getting it fixed in time…

I’d really like to make an order, but I also would like the NZLARPs discount.

What do you think?

Not one person has managed to successfully put their NZLARPS number in. :wink:

I think I’ll flag asking for that. People can just put “NZLARPS” in the promotion code field and I’ll check your membership.

Coolness. Order placed.

Nice, I look forward to seeing some of that cool stuff you’ve ordered in person.

The supplier has let me know that the delay on this order may be longer than usual. A number of items need to be made up.

In the worst case scenario it will be ready to ship here in 6 weeks, and then take a bit over a week to get here. So it may not arrive until about New Years. However, it may come sooner - it’s too early to say yet. Sorry about the inconvenience, will keep you updated here.

The items will be shipped next week.

There’s a chance I may still be able to slip some extra items in, if the supplier has them already in stock.

If you want to see if I can get something for you, order via the Paddywhack website and I’ll let you know whether your items can be included.

paddywhack.co.nz

The gear arrived today. :wink:

For the folks in Wellington, we’re looking for a way to get it all down to you in one bundle to keep mailing costs down.

For people in Auckland, let me know if you’d like to pick it up from Westmere or the city, or if you’d like it mailed to you and to pay the postage.

Cheers,

Ryan

Hey folks,

Paddywhack will be making another order - tomorrow!

I know it’s short notice, but I have people interested in getting some items quickly.

So if you want anything, make an order tonight from the website:

[color=#FF0000][size=150]www.paddywhack.co.nz[/size][/color]

If you want something but can’t make payment at such short notice, make your order then let me know and we can sort something out.

Also, I have on hand a couple of 104cm Squire swords, a Squire dagger, and a right-handed sword holder. So if you want any of those things, you can have them immediately without waiting for the order I’m placing tomorrow to arrive from Europe.

And I also have in stock two sword “blanks”, one 104cm and one 86cm long. These are partially-complete foam swords with the foam blade (in the “Champion” style) built over the core, with the core sticking out the end. To finish them you’d need to add a hilt, grip, and pommel, and latex the whole thing. The reason you might want these rather than making your own is that the construction is excellent with amazing tip durability and flexibility, very smooth blade shape, from the same makers of the rest of my gear. The 104cm blank is $42 ($33.60 to NZLARPS members), and the 86cm blank is $37 (29.60 with discount), so they’re cheap as chips. The lengths I’ve given are the likely lengths of the finished swords, the actual finished length will depend on the shape and size of the pommel you make. I can also take orders for more of these sword blanks.

Ryan

That’s tempting. What’s the best way to make a pommel? Though maybe I should hit the books and investigate styles first…

Someone in Wellington like Bryn might be the best to ask, as you can go check out his technique.

There are instructions on the DIY guide to larp but personally I’m not sure how great they are. That guide is 10 years old or more.

Personally, I’d do the hilt in either layers of foam snadwiched around the rod or a single piece with the rod pierced through it (which can be heated to curve it if desired).

I’d make the grip by gluing strips of foam to the rod lengthwise around it (to fatten it), then gluing a short piece of PVC pipe over them. I use hot melt glue to glue the PVC pipe over the foam strips, because with contact adhesive it’s not possible to ram the pipe down over the foam strips - it sticks. Then I’d put some sort of material like vinyl or bicycle handbar tape over the PVC. The grip takes a bit of a beating, because your hand is in constant contact with it, so it needs to be a decent construction. A PVC pipe grip is good because it’s solid, so it’s responsive.

But when it comes to the pommel itself, the thing on the end of the grip, that’s where I’m not so sure. In the past I’ve made them with the layers-of-foam sandwich technique, but the problem is they sometimes take a hit and get ripped off, because they don’t have enough length of material glued to the rod to be really firmly attached. Come to think of it, a better way might be to run the strips of foam from the grip-making section all the way down to the end of the rod, and then build the pommel over the strips of foam. That way the pommel foam would be attached to the strips of foam, which are attached to a decent length of the core rod so shouldn’t shear off.

Aren’t grips meant to be flatish rather than round?

The standard medieval method was wood stuck to each side of the tang, then covered. Though I recall reading about winding the hilt with wire to create a grip instead. Unfortunately neither method sounds larp-safe.

That sounds like a good idea.

Wheel pommels look easy to do, as do cones (as on the Squire sword you sell). Not sure about C12th brazil nuts though…

Re the grip - given it’s the bit you’ll be holding on to, and it shouldn’t be so long you’ll be hitting people with it, wood would make an ideal handle. If you want it to be flattish, that’s up to you. There was a link around (it may have been you that posted it) from a site with a guy showing how he puts grips/handles on his re-enactment swords, using chamois/light leather as a cover over wood and twine. No reason you couldn’t give that a go.

Re the pomel - all the one’s I’ve seen made (save Derek’s), either home-baked or professional, actually have the foam segments of the sword all as one piece. If you were using campmat, this would mean the outer section of your blade extends down to the handle and pommel, very similar to how Ryan has described. Given the blanks are done with a blade section already, his idea of using the foam sandwich technique to do the whole hilt/handle/pommel segment is probably the best way to go. For the handle, you can either tightly bind the grip around your pre-shaped foam (this is actually how many of the manufactured items are done), or even once the handle is sanded down, sandwich it in two halves of pipe and bind the unit as a whole…

[quote=“IdiotSavant”]Aren’t grips meant to be flatish rather than round?

The standard medieval method was wood stuck to each side of the tang, then covered. Though I recall reading about winding the hilt with wire to create a grip instead. Unfortunately neither method sounds larp-safe.[/quote]

Dunno if they’re meant to be flatish, probably varies with style. PVC pipe can be flattened somewhat, if the walls aren’t too thick.

In terms of wood, I’d say the key thing is to not put something hard against the rod. If you had a wooden grip directly glued to the rod, then it may increase the chances of a core breakage because of the pressure on the rod from the wood at the top of the grip when hitting or blocking. But if you put strips of foam on the rod, then glued the wood to those, that should remove that problem. Some people may be dubious of the safety to other players of using wood on the grip. Personally I would pass a sword made this way, because the chances of being hit with the grip are very slim, but not everyone may and some may have a stark “no wood or metal” policy.

Wheels are easy to make, but they probably have a slightly increased risk of shearing off because they can encounter a lot of rotational force when struck. Made well that shouldn’t be a problem though.