Saturday 7 July 2012

How to make a larp boffer war hammer

After an inevitable delay, I'm back crafting weapons. Now, the subject of this post will be the war hammer.
War hammers are rather rare in most larp games, their specific job of armour breakers often not taken into account. But first to clarify something.



This is a war hammer.



This...is a cartoonish joke of a weapon.
Unfortunately the popularity of Wacraft 3 and World of Warcraft also means a lot of people get the wrong ideas and start using ridiculous designs and wearing latex house-sized pauldrons.
Admittedly back in the day when Chris Metzen was doing the Warcraft artworks they were honest to god high fantasy, not high stupidity.

But I digress, back on topic. 

So - war hammer. First things first -

BUDGET - about 15$ if you start from scratch. Less if you already have some of the supplies and materials.



Materials: 

One polypropylene pipe, around half a meter long (F20 or F25), pipe insulation foam, duct tapes, quick glue, blind rivets,  1 meter of wallpaper with wood texture(They only sell those by the meter anyway). Plastic bottles and cardboard.

Tools: The usual for making a larp sword AND a tool for blind rivets + drill or hammer&nails.



 First we start by cutting the plastic bottles and dividing them into two equal piles and taping them together. This will give us the the core of the hammer head. I used a total of 4x4 layers +1 for the job.

After that we roughly shape the hammer head and leave it like that. Here is where you decided just how you want it to be, so make your pick. I decided to leave the spike and hammer head longer for safety issues. Not the best decision in regards of aesthetics but its a bit inevitable, larp boffer weapons are by default thicker than real world or latex counter parts.
Next thing to do is rather simple - cut out a piece of the wood texture wallpaper and glue it to the shaft.

 Now some people might actually mistake it for real wood and call weapon arbiters on you to inspect your hammer, but hey, if they do it - it means you've done a good job.

Next thing to do is rather important. After stuffing the hammer head with some cardboard for thickness. Fit it to the shaft, drill 4 holes and use blind rivets to secure it firmly in its place.
Now the head can withstand allmost anything without tearing from the shaft. Don't try anything stupid to test it though.


Next we have to make sure the top part of the shaft is safe, it will be bad if your swing falls short and you break someone's nose with the naked pipe right?

 With that done its a simple job to shape out the hammer head and then cover it all with tapes.


 With this, our war hammer is finished and ready for use. Now go find something to smash.

Here it is compared to a knife and a sword to get an idea of the size. Shorter weapons are sometimes a better idea.




15 коментара:

Anonymous said...

After reading a few posts, I fear the design for my first larp weapon will be too hard...

Buskador said...

Always a possibility dude. Takes time and practice to get it right and it often depends on your own game rules. Still - that's why its called first larp weapon. There will be second and third right?

Anonymous said...

Haha, didn't think about the games yet. Yeah, there will be a second and third, but I couldn't find any pool noodle things, so might as well give the camp mat a try.

Buskador said...

Actually that's pipe insulation, but what kind of foam you use is just a matter of available resources - the end result will be the same.

Anonymous said...

I hate huge pauldrons and clunky oversized hammer thingies too ! :D

Buskador said...

Huge pauldrons limit your arm movement and vision. The practical side alone should be enough.

Jadeus said...

Have you ever considered using leather as the framework? I'm working on a hammer right now actually, is there any way to fire you a picture between stages?

Buskador said...

Yes - on my email or the blog's fb page.

I'm not sure how leather would work. Fake leather is obviously a no go. Real leather...too expensive for such an experiment.

Anonymous said...

Can you please show me how to make a joke of a weapon? It just looks fun to use.

Buskador said...

Um, what do you mean joke of a weapon? Most larp weapons ARE jokes of a weapons, bows and crossbows not included.

Anonymous said...

Sorry. I was referring to the larger, impractical warhammer. I know they suck, but it's what my character would use.

Buskador said...

Oh...that. Well just scale up things. Look at the Bardich guide - thicker core, bigger head etc.

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

Unknown said...

Finally, a decent looking hammer. I'd make one but I play a budding thief... hmm that gives me ideas

Anonymous said...

To make a joke hammer, I used:
2 empty plastic coffee cans & and 2 2L pop bottle

Stuff the cans with cardboard then and cut out 2 half moons where the handle will go, cut the tops and bottoms off the 2L bottle off the core is what you need. using glue attached the head filler (my handles are use two pieced of PVC pipe, one as a head filler and the second as a full rod handle which fits inside the head filler) to one side of the head, then glue the second in place, using a saw trim the handle sleeve to be flush with the rest of the head. Now slide the core of the 2L you cut over the head and head it with a hair dryer until it shrinks to fit (do this twice). Cut though the shrink-wrap to expose the handle sleeve opening (only 1). Apply PVC glue to the long handle and slide it home, once this sets glue or tap on your padding and start swinging.

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