Pell Construction

[Karen Rose]

I'm one of the new kids on the block, just learning the stances and cuts. I thought it was time to construct a pell, so that I would know what contact felt like (as opposed to cutting air). Plus, who wants to break a $60 waster on a $5 piece of timber? Here is what I came up with. Any suggestions are humbly appreciated.
I used a 6' 4x4 and made a sturdy base. I got some closed cell foam and cut 4" strips and glued to each side (the extra 1/2 inch makes up for the true 3 1/2"...so now it is square).
I topped it with the same foam. I used a heavy grade duct tape to secure the whole thing, compressing the corners just a bit as I went. I put a few stripes of different colored tape to give me some targets as I am learning control.
I gave it a few cuts from different angles and got what I think is a pretty positive result. It does not bounce, but takes the impact without the jarring from hitting a hard stationary object.
When the foam breaks down, it will be a matter of more glue, foam and duct tape. The whole project took about an hour and some basic power tools. Cost...about $12.

[Ryan Ricks]

we have a pretty interesting pell. it's actually a big fat arrow target stuffed pretty tightly full of stuffing. it's about 3 feet wide, alittle more than three feet tall. best of all it's got nice little circles on it to aim thrusts at.

you can smack the utter fool out of it, and not worry about breaking your sword. it's also firm enough that it'll hurt your wrist if your edge isn't aligned well for a cut, or your wrist and grip aren't stiff enough for a thrust.

plus, you can shoot arrows at it

ryan

[leam hall]

May later condsider trimming the corners if they're sharp and then wrapping the thing in rope. Provides some impact protection yet still firm.

[Karen Rose]

Thanks everybody for the feed back and ideas. I agree, working on the pell builds strength as well as accuracy. Right now I'm working on both!
I've found the articles on the pell very interesting. I've considered the hanging pell for bad weather work (WI is cold and icky in the winter). I'll see how successful proto type one works out for me.
Thanks again for your input.

[kyle cook]

I have two pell set up's. The first one o det up was a punching bag hanging from a 6 foot post. This works good for wasters but not blunt steel.
The next one i have is made from a 5 inch round fence post with carpet raped around it. It cost about $10.00 to make. It is also hanging down from a 9 foot post. You can move all around it and make it move to pratice hitting moving targets.