Sword Balancing

[Mastoner07]

To me one of the most important things about a weapon is proper balance. My current endevour involves making a historically accurate foam version of the Viking longsword, however, I have no knowledge of how to legally counter weight the weapon, so that the balance point lies closer to the crossgaurd than to the point of the blade. Any suggestions from more experianced craftsmen would make a tremendous difference in the quality of my weapon.

[BaiterofBAMC]

The best usual counterweight to use is duct tape. Mind you, you will use a lot of duct tape to do this. One warning, making a historically weighted longsword will make for a relatively slow Foam fighting weapon. Also many real sword techniques do not work when translated to foam. Good luck to you.

[Mastoner07]

Not necessarily historicly accurate by weight but by design. is there any way that a wieghted object could be attactched to the grip to make the grip wider and the sword weighted toward the hand?

[BaiterofBAMC]

Lets tackle this from another angle. What exactly are you planning to attach to a core for your counterweighting needs? You can add layers of whatever you want to add weight and size to the core. Some have done solder, nails, tape, rope, wooden dowels. Most fighters tend to have weapons that are properly counterbalanced. I personally use duct tape wrapped concentrically around itself to build up a handle to preferences.

[Mastoner07]

haha no real plan. just looking for ideas. and thank u thats a great help. so, no real limitation on what u can attach for counter weighting?

[Lord Valfryn]

Nothing that will be hazardous in use. You cannot use a metal core, but you can supplement your handle with metal, so long as it doesn't shred anyone up.

[Mastoner07]

Awesome. that answers my questions. when next the sun rises, i will head srait to the foam anvil

[Mastoner07]

Just finished up with coundter wieghting my pommel. used 2" powedered masonry nails. almost triangular in shape. placed them on a piece of duck tape bandolier style inter liking turning those triangles into rectangles, keeping about a millimeter between each nail. counterwieghting was an incredible success. heavier than coins and other nails, more compact that coins and nails. would recommend to anyone and only 5 bucks out of pocket from the local hardware store.

[Lord Valfryn]

Huzzah!