Staffs and Longer Weapons

[wolfan]

Calling all crafty people

I am going to attempt making a staff, my friend and I (well he's better at it then I am) have made some boffer weapons already, but mainly swords and daggers. We haven't tried any of the long weapons.

So my question is, when making longer weapons (staffs, polearms, two-handers) what sorts of materials can you make the core of a staff out of to keep it somewhat light, but not have a lot of whip.

My other question, and this pertains only to staffs, do the grips need to be padded or unpadded or can they be both? And if they are padded how do you know where you're supposed to grip from, or does that mean that you could just grip anywhere, like choke up on the far end of the staff and use it like a makeshift polearm? Because that doesn't sound like it would work to me.

 

[tieran]

For cores your best option is kite spar, I think its .755 inner diameter... or at least close to that, for any of the longer weapons.

The grip should be unpadded, though I have seen ones made with grips that are defined by tape. But the center 6" of the staff has to be padded thicker than the rest of the staff... for some reason...

You cannot choke up on the end of the staff to use it as a polearm, you have to wield it within the defined grip areas.

 

[markusdark]

You cannot choke up on the end of the staff to use it as a polearm, you have to wield it within the defined grip areas.

As long as both hands remain within the center 3 feet of the staff, you can 'choke up' on it. I use a minimum length staff so if I grip the staff with both hands above one end's striking area, I can swing it like a bat (well not like a bat as you shouldn't swing like you're aiming for the bleachers but you get the visual).

 

[tieran]

That was why I said you can't choke up on the end of the staff. ;-)

 

[markusdark]

Ah, well sometimes 'end' can be misleading, especially with the old fashion staffs with the two bare grips and the 6" of padding in between. Nothing wrong with putting both hands in one of those bare grip areas - although it does sort of defeat the center padding issue I think.