"making" a baton tips

[shayvidas]

i'm not going to buy a baton because then if i'll end up playing with it it can actually kill someone..

what i'm going to do is going to buy a plastic baton which is roughly the same size, (60cm long)
and then since it's plastic i wanted to make it look and fill like a real baton...

first thing is looks,
to make it look more like the real thing i'm going to put on just a tiny bit of silver Rub'n'Buff just to give it that metallic look..
really really just a little bit..

but then it has to FEEL like a baton.. and that's my main problem..
it's a hollow plastic, so i was thinking about filling it with some kind of something, that would be cheap and still get the job done...
i don't want it to brake bones or anything.. but i do want to feel a baton when i'm holding it... (just a baton that's not really harmfull more playfull like)

as this is a prop and not just anything , i do need something that will make it heavier,

a friend told me about using plaster and fill the plaster up with some styrophone.. or somthing to make it a bit lighter, the main problem i have using this is that the plaster might brake after a few hits, even if it's gentle cosplay hits... and then it will just become powdery and move around and from that i'm a bit afraid since it will mabe make a sound and not "feel right"

then another friend told me to just buy a simple silicone, like the glue silicone everyone use that you can get for 2, 3, $ at home depo, like a simple white silicone and just fill it up with that... that sounds like a good idea but again i think it will be a bit hard putting the silicone everywhere inside the button since it has thie handle which will be hard to put it in there, and also maybe just silicone is a bit heavy for a baton?
what you guys think of this techniq?

i know the best option would be to buy an actual baton, then make a silicone mold of it and cast it reinforced silicone, then paint that silicone black.. and a bit silver on top...
main problem with that is that the Real baton will cost me around 30 Pounds, the silicone asumnig i'm going to need 3 Kg, would cost me around 80 Pounds, and then with all the rest of my stuff it will come up to 150Pounds just to make it...
so really i'm looking for the cheapest way and nicest to do this..

so any idea's on what to fill the plastic baton to make it feel heavier but still playable enough ?
what do you think of my overall techniq.. is it any good ?


really glad to hear your advice guys you are the best !!!

yours

Al

 

[ARKM]

If it has the "feel" of a baton via weight, it will be just as dangerous as a real wooden baton. Leaving it hollow and made from plastic will make it a hair safer as the baton itself will absorb some of the impact force. For commercially made practice nunchaku, it's thin foam padding over hollow plastic tubes that are of a smaller diameter than unpadded wooden batons. That's the only way it's going to be somewhat safe. Turns out you can get batons that way too. Here's a link...

http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Claw-Black-Escrima-Stick/dp/B0000CA2PL

However you may still find it to be too light. You could put wooden dowel inside the baton but that will make the hollow pipe not be able to absorb impact, which can cause it to break. The fact that it can't absorb shock very well any more and the extra weight will make it more dangerous. I know this from personal experience from doing this with practice chucks. Anywho, I hope that helps.

 

[shayvidas]

If it has the "feel" of a baton via weight, it will be just as dangerous as a real wooden baton. Leaving it hollow and made from plastic will make it a hair safer as the baton itself will absorb some of the impact force. For commercially made practice nunchaku, it's thin foam padding over hollow plastic tubes that are of a smaller diameter than unpadded wooden batons. That's the only way it's going to be somewhat safe. Turns out you can get batons that way too. Here's a link...

http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Claw-Black-Escrima-Stick/dp/B0000CA2PL

However you may still find it to be too light. You could put wooden dowel inside the baton but that will make the hollow pipe not be able to absorb impact, which can cause it to break. The fact that it can't absorb shock very well any more and the extra weight will make it more dangerous. I know this from personal experience from doing this with practice chucks. Anywho, I hope that helps.

so your suggesting me to add some wooden sowel and fill it with foam .. ?
will that work for me ?

 

[ARKM]

Basically all I'm saying is that to get the weight where you want it, it will most likely be unsafe to some degree. This is unavoidable, sorry. You have to decide what's more important, safety or the "feel" of it. You can't have both... but you can find a middle ground by getting rid of some of the safety for a little more weight.

Anything foam padded on the outside, like the baton I linked to and the nunchaku I referred to, are not going to quite feel right, even if you add dowel inside the plastic pipes for weight. Mainly because you are gripping squishy foam as opposed to hard wood. Anywho, I recommend that you experiment and find what works for you.

Another thing that should determine what you want out of the baton is what you plan on using it for. If it's to practice swings/spinning/katas/forms then you need the real thing. Some 1" diameter oak dowel from a hardware store is just as good as the "real thing". Just cut it the length you want and you're good to go. Plus, it's super cheap. If it's for cosplay/conventions then safety should be paramount and a toy plastic one should be fine. If it's for sparring, then the foam padded ones are probably your best bet.

On another note, once a person is good at spins (you know, all that fancy crap you see in movies that don't actually help (IMHO)?), that person can usually get away with using much lighter batons and still be good at spinning them.

 

[shayvidas]

Basically all I'm saying is that to get the weight where you want it, it will most likely be unsafe to some degree. This is unavoidable, sorry. You have to decide what's more important, safety or the "feel" of it. You can't have both... but you can find a middle ground by getting rid of some of the safety for a little more weight.

Anything foam padded on the outside, like the baton I linked to and the nunchaku I referred to, are not going to quite feel right, even if you add dowel inside the plastic pipes for weight. Mainly because you are gripping squishy foam as opposed to hard wood. Anywho, I recommend that you experiment and find what works for you.

Another thing that should determine what you want out of the baton is what you plan on using it for. If it's to practice swings/spinning/katas/forms then you need the real thing. Some 1" diameter oak dowel from a hardware store is just as good as the "real thing". Just cut it the length you want and you're good to go. Plus, it's super cheap. If it's for cosplay/conventions then safety should be paramount and a toy plastic one should be fine. If it's for sparring, then the foam padded ones are probably your best bet.

On another note, once a person is good at spins (you know, all that fancy crap you see in movies that don't actually help (IMHO)?), that person can usually get away with using much lighter batons and still be good at spinning them.

yea so i will have to forfit just some degree of safety...
it's mainly for sparring,
do you think adding this fishing lines small weights at the ends.. then fill it up with foam ..
will make it feel good enough for sparring without bending and with a nice feel to it ?

what would you do to a plastic button to make it better for sparring and feel ?

yea foam is the way to go on this one, but the toy one looks really close to the real thing so i'm going to use the plastic one and fill it and not make a new one from scratch...

 

[ARKM]

I never stated to fill it with foam. Normally the foam goes on the outside. However if your baton is made of flimsy plastic, I guess you have to fill it with something. Maybe there's a way to fill it with foam. Maybe the expanding foam from a spray can would work. *shrugs* I would not put any metal of any kind inside of it though.

 

[shayvidas]

I never stated to fill it with foam. Normally the foam goes on the outside. However if your baton is made of flimsy plastic, I guess you have to fill it with something. Maybe there's a way to fill it with foam. Maybe the expanding foam from a spray can would work. *shrugs* I would not put any metal of any kind inside of it though.

its a good comment on the metal.. foam alone is light as light gets so i have to add somthing to it...
maybe ill find a small diameter wooden rode and use it for the base then fill the rest with foam to make it more "stuck" in place... that might work.

foam alone is good choice but it will be rrally as light as light gets i think no ?

its a 60 cm rode with a small handle attached to it, how much foam for that size will weight... around 150 grams.. add that to the aprox 100 gram the rode weights and you get 250... im aiming more towards the 600-800 grams...
so a wooden 300-400 gram rode maybe ?