How to make a duct tape sword

This is the second instructable in a series about how to make weapons and other equipment for LARP.
My main focus is that the weapons have to be safe, so kids can play with them without direct adult supervision, without getting hurt. And secondly so easy to make, that big kids, with help, can make it them self.

These weapons is perfect for a backyard battles or a game of LARP (Live action role play) in the nearby forests.
If you keep the design simple it is easy to make, and with adult supervision kids can make their own.

The other guides:
Battle axe

Step 1: Things needed

You will need
Sketch block
a pencil
A hobby knife, with interchangeable blades.
Extra blades
Used dull blade
a piece of cardboard or paper
a black marker
a cutting pad
contact glue
duct tape
reinforcement Tape
double sided tape
Silver tape, for decorations.
a sleeping pad
10 cm of foam tube
2 strips of cotton cloth
3cm thick bamboo, fiberglass or a broomstick

Comments

[Jyssa]

OMG when I saw the thumbnail of that last pic, of them up against your couch, I thought the items were resting against someone's FINGERS - and I went WTF???  Miniatures?? How the hell do you make those out of foam and duct tape?

[The Rambler]

Haha, I had the same thought too.

[scistone]

Oh, I see. LOL HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Portalman]

YES!!!! me too.

[taria]

you did too huh? that's what I thought, I was thinking gees he's making swords but they are tiny swords..lol

[redpepper237]

The hobbit? or LOTR?

[morfmir]

it is the same sword. Sting is still Sting no matter the film.

[morfmir]

it is the same sword. Sting is still Sting no matter the film.

[althetrainer]

OMG! This is so cool. See if I can get hubby to make something like this for our little guy. Thanks for the instructions.

[althetrainer]

We did it! Made two of them. My boys had a wonderful time playing sword fight and no one was hurt! :-) Thanks again for the tutorials. Excellent!

[bethcdh]

These absolutely rock! My son and his friends have been saving up for Nerf brand toys and now they can save some money and outfit their entire class. Reminds me of my dad making rubber band guns for himself and all of his friends when he was a kid.

[mcpoofy]

This is so great, I needed a prop sword for a movie I'm making and this makes a great and safe way to shoot an epic battle scene. I've got my layers glued together and I'm ready for shaping. Do you have any tips on carving and shapping? I really need this to look great.

[Dr Qui]

An electric carving knife if you have one, makes carving foam a piece of cake.  I worked in a hardware store that sold foam sheet cut to order, we used an electric carving knife as it cuts even 6" sheets of foam like butter.

If you dont have an electric knife a sharp kitchen knife with a serrated blade works ok

[morfmir]

You can make some engraving with a soldering iron, put the tape a little lose on the relief and highlight the engravings with a marker. Make some tests on a scrap piece of foam to practice.

/Thomas

[mcpoofy]

Awesome, thanks! I have a lot of small details that needed to be carved in th middle and I had no idea how to do it, Your soldering iron tip will work great!

[Dr Qui]

Impressive stuff, well done and keep it up.

[harry potter rules]

amazing i rated it 5.0

[wolfking1016]

5.0 thats an insult i rate it infinty and beyond you obbiously dont know kids

[heat700]

Where exactly can I get a bunch of that foam?

[broper]

if your wondering who your new suscriber is its me

[morfmir]

Thanks, I will make more 'ables soon. I'm very busy right now, but I have some ideas for new ones.

/Thomas

[bakumaster117]

hello thomas i was wondering do you run a nerf class?

[harry potter rules]

im soooooo subscribing to u !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nehi]

That kids sword is bigger than himself!

[nehi]

Do you know how much it costs to get all the supplys?

[canadianrock]

Thats pretty cool! thanks for all your help, im gonna use that for my Halloween costume!!

[smileys]

hmmmm.... I wonder if you could do a sephiroth style sword using this method.... better yet cloud's buster sword!!! Oh by the way if you can't tell I like final fantasy....

[skittlespider]

That could work but I see a length/weight issue with those two swords. You will have to put something pretty sturdy under the duct tape

[anex]

 Good to see you are training the kids in the way of Awesomeness early.  Then when they are older they can truly be epic larpers!

[seflynn]

i agree thoes swords remind me of the old larp swords in my group now we have new epic ways of makeing them

[tsukiyomaru0]

I'll be sre to use THIS instructable instead of the other one I found in another site! :D

[Attamet]

I made one! the one on the left is mine, the one on the right is my brother's. The method here makes really fun swords that don't hurt at all! From now on I'm making all my swords like this.

[morfmir]

That looks very good. Great design I'm glad that you like my instructable.

[Attamet]

Very good instructable with awesome results! Keep up the good work

[evenstay2]

hey i am wanting to make my own sword and im just wondering is it safe to say that ur foam is about 5mm thick?

[morfmir]

The foam I use is 8mm. If you can only get 5 mm and you feel that the sword is to thin with 5mm foam, just use 4 or 5 layers til you feel it has the right thickness. /Thomas

[evenstay2]

thanks =)

[justjimAZ]

You have done a very nice job with this. I have made many, many foam weapons for various purposes and am very impressed with your results here.

[FFVIIBOY]

well since its suposed to look like Sting and also cuz its a tutorial on makin a sword id like to know if youd join my group the Fellowship of The Ring and put this on
PS i am seriously suprised that no one else made a group called the Fellowship of the Ring

[seabananers]

maybye cuz its a straight rip lord of the rings like if you play world of warcraft and make a hunter named Lagolass then people call you a b****
just sayin

[FFVIIBOY]

ahh, kids trying to cut each others heads off with swords the size of their bodies

[Brother_D]

 Wow, these would make some sweet movie props.... Thanks!

[yourworstnightmare]

i love warhammer yours is awsome 

[yourworstnightmare]

 for the handle and reinforcing would 1/2inch pvc work as well if i figured out how to pad it

[Mirime]

Awsome I like it
though the girls wepon remark is kind of how shall i say it  sexist
my sister an i love to sword fight and we made swords out of knex now that was
and still is fun!!!
Still awesome dude

[skimmo]

larp is cosplay of roids

[Nostoc]

 The result is quite awesome. I would recommend against using bamboo for the core though.

When bamboo breaks, it produces sharp ends. Having already seen in LARP people with broken weapons hit once or twice before noticing, i'd use another substance

we often use fiberglass rod with floormat foam, and PVC tubing with Pipe insulation.

[BgRdDragon]

 Very Cool! It is Much Better Then Your Last Tutorial, and All the materials Can Be found around the house.

[Morningshadows]

Awesome!

[craftsman]

 what exactly does your runic it spells aitawimui but what does that mean?

[morfmir]

It means "Ash made". The inscription is known from a lot of iron age and viking findings. The straight lines is not i's it is space. Some times in runes inscriptions you see lines as a divider of words but most times it is dots.

The Rune looking like F is not only A but it is also the symbol of the Ash tree. And my viking alias is Ash (Ask in Danish)

/Thomas

[craftsman]

 That's pretty cool where did you learn all of this

[anthonyman75]

the powah of the enterwebs can teach anything, cmon u should know that by now.

[AresPredator]

Great project and very good looking blade, man. I usually make mine with pipe insulation (see the image below. Not easy for kids, though), but I'll probably use the holiday season to try my hand at making a few weapons according to your model. Good work!

(changed the picture below per request)

[red-king]

 the hilt looks really good.

[Biohazard1194]

Thank you for this instructable, Morfmir! This design looks much, much more safer then my wooden swords. They also look better. I have one question: Where can I find that pipe foam? Google just gives me links to Pipe Insulation...

[morfmir]

Glad you can use it. Yes this is very safe, I have no problems in letting my kids play with it with out any supervision.

The pipefoam I use here is from a sittingpad. But you can use pipe Insulation instead. The reason why I use this kind of pipefoam is only because I could not find pipe Insulation.

/Thomas

[no swear-man]

when does the shield come out

[morfmir]

next week I expect.

/Thomas

[no swear-man]

kewl thx






               P.S. I absoultly LOVE the sword

[aborior]

This makes me smile.

[biggy smalls]

i prefer galdiator style fighting. i use just a 1" di. broomstick handle and pipe insulation tubing, and foam pommel. they work great and are nearly indestructable.

[Kosmicon]

Cant wait for the Shield!!

[MrL33TPenguin]

 Thanks so much for this!! I need to make weapons from the Vikings for Honors and because I don't have a large forge so this is perfect! Thanks for this again :D 

[bluesquirrel]

To be completely honest I first thought that the sword I saw in the thumbnail for this i'ble was a replica sword of sting that would be used as the template, not the finished product.  These look utterly fantastic!  Cant wait to try and get my younger cousins making blades themselves that way they have some safe swords to wail on one another with, instead of  the wooden ones they use now XD

[Juklop]

Your swords are pretty awesome. I myself have been making some LARP boffer weapons but I use a totally different technique that can be seen in this tutorial. fanwar.com/making_weapons_mastercraft.htm

I will take a picture of my swords eventually.

[MadBricoleur]

Wow, thanks!! That's really cool. The kids in the last few pictures are really lucky to have someone to make them things like this... :D

[RunsWithExplosives]

I suggest that instead of cutting it folded (I find it less precise) that you darken your line. Then fold the paper in half so the line is inside. Finnally you should rub the paper with something hard. When you open the paper you will have another line that is simmetrically identical to the one you drew.

[cowscankill]

Cool! I want to hit some people!

[Abhorsen]

Awesome! 5*

[roblin90]

Love it! Can't wait for the Warhammer!

[morfmir]

Thanks, I enjoy making this guides, glad you like it.
I think the warhammer will come after the shield.

This time I will have patience and wait for it to appear, I know it will show up soon when you, my subscribers, get the message.

/Thomas