A couple of months ago I made a francisca. It throws pretty well, but its a handheld weapon with a core in it, and I expect people are not going to like the idea of a high-velocity piece of fibreglass coming at them, even if it is wrapped in the required amount of foam. Too may thins could go wrong. So, I’ve been looking at coreless versions.
There are two problems: mass and rigidity. Mass I can get by buying some 20g lead fishing weights, hammering them into more useful shape (a fat disc the same thickness as my foam), and burying them in the sandwich. Three weights seems to substitute quite nicely for the mass of the core. Currently I’m sticking them in the thickest and safest pats of the axe - the handle (which will be covered by the leather hilt wrap), the back of the head (which has an extra layer of foam over it), and the wide part of the axe-blade (where it has at least 0.75 of an inch all round). I’m not sure if this is the best mass-distribution (it should be top-heavy, right?), but that’s what experimentation is for.
The real problem is rigidity. Basically, without a core, I’m going to have a floppy handle, which may see the head eventually tear off. Latex might reduce this somewhat, but not a lot. So, any suggestions on how to reduce this? Cloth-wrapping on the outside?
Lessons learned so far from my prototypes: high-density brown campmat is great for throwing-knives, but not good for axes; the head is just too solid. Still, I’ll be able to practice chucking them, and see whether the mass-distribution works; I can then recycle the lead weights into the final article if I can solve my rigidity problem.
I also need to redesign my hafts. One inch diameter works well, but its just smaller than an eyesocket. And a throwing axe is goign to have a lot more momentum than one of the knives.