Cosplay - Matching fencing foils

[joeranger]

Is there a material that I could use to make cosplay-ish fencing foils? Many cosplay weapons use foam, but they are thick enough to hold the shape.

Fiberglass seemed an obvious choice but you cant really work and shape it. I have two beautiful matching brass pommel/guards that I want to make a crossed sword wall display, but I don't want them to be real metal swords. Meaning, if someone took them off the wall and tried to melee with them, they could break, but not hurt anyone.

I think the secret to a real foil is that they bend not break, but that is a complex heat treating and steel carbon level that is way beyond my understanding. (Yeah, I am a forged in fire junkie)

 

[Strikerkc]

if you're just after a wall display, the simple answer would be to make them out of any material that kept it's shape, and then just permanently affix the foils to the wall display.

do you want cos-play swords, that display nicely? Are you after the "blade" foils, or the thin wire style ones, look wise?

 

[joeranger]

I am imagining the old black and white Errol Flynn movies where they grab swords off the wall and duel.

 

[JoshBot]

I know it would be expensive and complex, but my suggestion would be to make a mold and use a thin carbon fiber core (available at a fair price from Tap Plastics) then cast the blade in a suitable plastic/resin/rubber. Do some homework on this second part You want it to consider a LOT of factors in your build. I can not really make a recomendation because I dont know if you will actually be using it to dual, of it will get a lot of sunlight (uv) and if weight is a consideration. What about paint, how often are you willing to repaint it?. A solid carbon fiber or fiberglass blade would suffer from the same problem as a real sword and get banned by SOME convention staff as "dangerous."

I hope this helps.

 

[Uridium]

A fencing foil isn't dangerous really, they do not have a sharp edge and the tip is not usually pointed. Why not just buy some real ones.... You must be able to get some second hand, I've seen them at car boot sales in the past.

 

[RobertMuldoon]

Actually fencing blades can still break, because they’re fairly thin. I was in a sport fencing comp once and my opponent managed to break his blade which would have turned me into a kebab had I not been wearing Kevlar. Realistically though anything could break if you hit it hard enough. Fibreglass, resins, carbon fibre, etc can all shatter and crack and could cause injury if you’re not careful with them.

All that said, it it was me I’d just use a fencing blade. They’re easy to get a hold of, quite difficult to break under normal circumstances (it takes a lot of bending past their usual limit) and even if they are broken they’re still not sharp but they do become quite pokey.

 

[joeranger]

Wow, just checked ebay. You guys were right.

 

[Riceball]

Yeah, all fencing weapons are blunted, in the case of foils and sabres the tips of their blades are folded over, and in the case of epees they have a button on the end. This is also true for a lot metal HEMA practice weapons too, folded or round blade tips for safety with blades that are more flexible than their historical counterparts.