Post by Sakurai Takamori on Sept 3, 2005 8:31:04 GMT -5
Ever since I joined the SCA, I have tried to make my armour and weapons look as good as they could.
I've never been a fan of tattered tape on weapons or visible duct tape holding critical armour components together.
(This has been a challenge with the armour seeing as I'm a bit ham-handed at construction
)
In terms of making SCA combat swords look good and stay looking good, I have a question.
A friend has been experimenting with heat-shrink tubing over the length of the blade instead of the obligatory tape.
This is the same stuff used by electricians to seal wiring bundles together and comes in various sizes....up to and including a nice katana diameter.
It also comes in a variety of colours....including steel-ish as well as a rather attractive black (my personal fave for my weapons) I seem to recall one that comes with a ready made stripe of contrasting colour down one side which would work for the blade demarcation.
The surface of the weapon, once the tubing has been heated and shrunk, is uniformly smooth and resilient....but not hard like, say, siloflex (which I gather is now verboten for most Marshals).
Add a strip of contrasting tape to denote the blade ede and voila a very nifty looking sword that won't be quite as easily chewed up from the edges of nambam shields but is still be safe to use.
My question, (long-winded though it has become) is : is this still legal?
I know some kingdoms have differing rules on the treatment of weapons.
Has anyone heard anything about this heat-shrink stuff?
I'm hoping it's acceptable because with a decent looking tsuba and a little care with the tsuka-wrapping, and this tubing stuff completes the look to produce a darn sexy looking katana IMHO)
Thoughts?
Takamori
I've never been a fan of tattered tape on weapons or visible duct tape holding critical armour components together.
(This has been a challenge with the armour seeing as I'm a bit ham-handed at construction
)In terms of making SCA combat swords look good and stay looking good, I have a question.
A friend has been experimenting with heat-shrink tubing over the length of the blade instead of the obligatory tape.
This is the same stuff used by electricians to seal wiring bundles together and comes in various sizes....up to and including a nice katana diameter.
It also comes in a variety of colours....including steel-ish as well as a rather attractive black (my personal fave for my weapons) I seem to recall one that comes with a ready made stripe of contrasting colour down one side which would work for the blade demarcation.
The surface of the weapon, once the tubing has been heated and shrunk, is uniformly smooth and resilient....but not hard like, say, siloflex (which I gather is now verboten for most Marshals).
Add a strip of contrasting tape to denote the blade ede and voila a very nifty looking sword that won't be quite as easily chewed up from the edges of nambam shields but is still be safe to use.
My question, (long-winded though it has become) is : is this still legal?
I know some kingdoms have differing rules on the treatment of weapons.
Has anyone heard anything about this heat-shrink stuff?
I'm hoping it's acceptable because with a decent looking tsuba and a little care with the tsuka-wrapping, and this tubing stuff completes the look to produce a darn sexy looking katana IMHO)
Thoughts?
Takamori
