OK, here is a little more info. Once I get my pc back in order (my camera quit working) I will be able to give complete instructions with pictures.
We are using 3/4 white pvc from home despot. Measure out how long your total length will be and cut. Measure your hilt to past the guard and mark.
Wearing heavy gloves like welding gloves, heat the pvc in short sections. You can use a heat gun, and maybe a propane torch. We are using a propane grill under a wire frame covered in aluminum foil, with a hole in both ends as a "pvc forge".
Mash the short heated sections of the blade to a flat oval with a rag or a wooden block. Once you get the shape you want, cool it with water and then heat the next section. Heat and shape the hilt to suit.
measure out the guard. We are using 11" right now. Find the center, heat, and drift a hole in it to fit over the hilt. Mash flat around hilt. Once it is cooled, knock it out of position and paint the hilt where the guard goes either pvc cement of epoxy, and knock guard back into place. Let dry. If you do a good job, it will be pretty strong. My wife Donna can stand on one of ours.
That makes one of our new cores. ( The guard is new from the one we gave Jake. <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> )
The rest is made about the same as "ARMA Generation 2.2" at:
http://www.anomaly.org/wade/paddedsword/index.html Except we are using 3/4 flat 1/8 thick steel cut 10" and 6" on both sides of the hilt and strong to balance and weight. We are using a steel pipe cap and lead 50 cal shot for the pommel.
Weight and glue on the pommel and the blade padding, but leave about 1/3 of the padding on the strong unglued. Adjust the weights until it balances the way you like and then secure them with tape, epoxy, etc.. and finish glueing your padding.
For padding, we are using garden kneeling pads from home despot. There are 3 kinds, one with a rigid kind of foam, one with a high density foam covered in dip that are exactly the same material as TKD kicks and boxing heat gear. Use this kind if you can find it. The third kind is soft, mushy, and what I have seen, white. This last kind is unsuitable and dangerous, so don't use it.
I'll try to have more latter. Remember, for us these are prototypes, and the padding will be with the Landau padding when we are finally happy with them.
More latter...
"A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand." Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4BC-65AD.
