Testing and notesArticle by Caius ManHeavy TestingWhen I made my first prototype I beat the holy hell out of the thing, to the shock and amazement of the other milite that was working in my garage that day. I attacked a ¼" sheet of plywood as though it were the cause of all misery in the world. Repeated thrusting would not get the tip of the sword to dislodge or even show noticeable damage to the felt, other than a bent tip from the 1½" of unsupported felt that existed in that prototype. When I tried to test Hibericus' smashed helm theory I found that extraordinary aggression was unable to cave one of the "Trooper" helms I have littering my junk pile. I am not a weak man; I use a hammer for a living. The other milite pointed out that anyone he saw trying that hard to smash a helmet in an actual battle reenactment should be imprisoned. The heinous helmet was fine, buffed even, but the sword suffered. Because of the adhesive backing in the first felt strips I used, they tended to separate along these strata when swung for an impact and the rods came out one side. Obviously, this would be potentially catastrophic in a reenactment. Thus I attempted to move the construction to the next level and the hot glue and stitching became part of the process. More TestingAfter the reinforcement, the tests were repeated. The weapon again preformed admirably in thrusting, showing no damage and beating the heck out of the plywood without actually damaging it either. The helmet test went well this time too, the sword surviving well even when hit against the protruding ear guards. The super cheap-ass brow guard on the Trooper helm took a mild deformation after about 20 repeated blows to the same area. This sort of weapon testing is an excellent workout, by the way. I then tried beating on the brass rim of one of our legion's Scuta and was unable to damage the shield or the felt gladius significantly, although I did discover that it is hard to clamp a shield in place that you are beating profusely, and I banged my shin at one point when the board went flying. C'est la vie. One Final Discovery from the TestingMore testing with my fellow millites resulted in one more modification to the process. We discovered that the overhead swing natural to the spatha could result in the pommel becoming a weapon if the opponent comes in too quickly. Fortunately this was discovered against an armored opponent, but it has still caused us to modify the pattern of the Needlelfelt to include felt grips and pommels. By covering these in colored leather, I was still able to get the look of bone and wood without the hardness and potential threat. I believe that leather wrapped felt will work nicely for the hafts of headed weapons too, but that is for the next article. |