sparring sword covering question

[danielcarcich]

I've heard already that it's best to cover the foam on a sparring weapon with some sort of fabric... could I get some specifics on different types of material people use to do this? I heard duct tape is too stiff... is there another kind of tape which might work better? Thanks in advance,

daniel

[E. Perez]

I have used either sail cloth, trigger cloth, or cotton duck canvas from my friendly neighborhood fabric store. The real trick is to find a nice grey color. Somehow green, orange, or bright blue just doesn't cut it and pink is right out.

Some of the Houston guys are using a heavy spandex type of material. I have also heard of someone from another study group looking at using a heavy nylon material.

The main thing right now is that it protects the final layer of duct tape. When binding, these things just don't slide, but I haven't heard of anyone coming up with a suitable substitute yet.

Hope this helps some, good luck.

[Roger Soucy]

Has anyone ever tried this stuff: [ Slick Tape ] ?

Here's a quote from the page:
Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene self-adhesive tape is perfect for jigs, drawers, fences and fixtures--wherever you need to make sliding parts slide easily. It's the right way to perfect your Delta tablesaw tenon jig, or to make that homemade miter fence glide smoothly across your saw. If it needs to slide you can either do something temporary (over & over) or you can use Slick Tape.

3M makes a bunch of low-coefficient tapes as well. Some of these may work really well, or really poorly.

[danielcarcich]

Cool thanks guys, I'll look into those <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Shane Smith]

We gave up on sail cloth here in VAB.All of our current weapons are covered in string-reinforced packing tape. The tape is easily repaired when it tears or frays whereas maintaining the cloth is a real chore that we don't want. We'd rather be fencing. <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

[danielcarcich]

Some duct tape looks like it could have some sort of string reinforcement in it... does this packing tape have a very substantial reinforcement? At any rate thanks for the info <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[JeanryChandler]

Wow... packing tape, thats interesting... I would think it would get brittle exposed to sunlight...?

For what it's worth, I've found that gaffers tape is superior to duct tape. Thats the kind of tape they use on movie sets. It's softer, stronger, more resistant to UV and sticks better. You can also paint it or even put latex over it.

The downside is that it's also very expensive. I happen to have been given a bunch by someone who works on movies locally, but if you have to buy it it's like $40 per roll.

J

[Roger Soucy]

Even better than gaffers tape for strength and durability is 100 mile an hour tape. [ example supplier ]

100 mph tape is what the military uses (used?) to patch helicopter blades with bullet holes in them. At least, that was what I was told. Maybe someone in the military has some better info.

What I've found with gaffers tape is that eventually the adhesive dries up into a powder and falls off in some applications. (I have a roll that's still sticky after 7 years, but some things I've used the tape on it has dried and fallen off)

[Casper Bradak]

Could be it's something different, but in the infantry, 100 mph tape is green duct tape.

[Roger Soucy]

Could very well be. The stuff I used however seemed to hold up better than duct tape.

But it may just be colored duct tape. <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[ColinWheeler]

On my first couple of padded wasters, I used heavy trigger cloth...nice and sturdy, but with an irritatingly high frictional coefficient. Recently, however, a friend of mine showed me a light-weight silvery-gray lycra-poly blend fabric...very smooth and slick, and fairly tough despite its light weight. It is available at Wal-Mart in my area, for about $3.50 per yard. I going to try some out, I'll report back when I have some empirical results.

Colin Wheeler

[Shane Smith]

Sunlight has not affected ours.Our current padded weapons were made over a year ago by Matt.

[Casper Bradak]

I remember a long time ago the provo guys had made some covers from a few pairs of old socks. They're already a good fit and require little sewing or taping.
I use socks as the covers for my padded dagger wasters.

[JeanryChandler]

I think 100 mile an hour tape is high grade green or (O.D.) duct tape. I actually used it to make swords in Germany back in the 80's when I was in the army <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> The green swords looked a little funny but there was endless supplies of that stuff for 'free'.

I wouldn't feel safe flying in a helicopter with a roter held together by it, but i wouldn't put that past the Army... <img src="/forum/images/icons/shocked.gif" alt="" />


J

[Jack Lynn]

I believe that duct tape can make or fix almost anything. In fact it may be the greatest force for creation in the modern world. There are better and worse varieties, and for some tasks there are better alternatives (like medical stitching when repairing yourself, or even better, having someone with the proper training do it for you), but when in doubt I always use duct tape.