Dethe writes “When I was a kid, I had the foam swords called Boffers, that my step-father and I could take our aggressions out on one another without hurting each other. Now my kids are 5 and 9 and they want to play with my bamboo shinai (practice swords), but they could definitely get hurt with those. I was intending to look around to find a source to buy the old boffers and instead found this site with instructions for making boffer swords, daggers, axes, and more from PVC, pool noodles, and duct tape. Also rules for boffer fighting, maintenance, and more. We’re going to build a whole boffer arsenal and turn the neighborhood kids loose with it.” Link.
4 thoughts on “Make a Boffer…”
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As someone who’s used boffer weapons in a LARP, I can tell you you’re better off with fiberglass or bamboo as the core. Graphite-epoxy may also work, but I’ve never tried it.
In the event an overenthusiastic person is swinging the weapon,, the core can break, and PVC tends to break with sharp edges that cut through the foam padding.
This link is perfect, and it’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ve seen some of these things around, and they look like a lot of fun with the kids, but I had no idea how to put one together.