Dag Weapons Guide - Tutorials

Dagorhir Weapons Guide

Weaponsmithing Tutorials (Reviews by Jack Angelfoot) -beta version-

Whether you are a new recruit, looking for your first weapon set to join the ranks of warriors at a local event, or a war-hardened veteran, looking for new ideas for to build that perfect weapon for Ragnarok, I hope that this list will be useful to you. 

Please email me with any other Dagorhir/Belegarth tutorials, materials, or retailers that should be included.  But remember, these tutorials are exclusively for the authentic combat-style medieval LARPS such as Dagorhir and Belegarth.  That means the weapons must be safe, even at a full “baseball bat” swing. 

- Jack Angelfoot

Single-handed melee weapons

---Short, Medium, and Long Swords

A.    *** Eryndor’sTraditional Blue (Flash) – The initial design that about 90% of the old fighters (Jack, Riylan, Cynar, and Morric included) made as their first sword.  And it is still good today.  Just don’t put on the horizontal pieces of duct tape around the blade.  That part is obsolete. (Slightly buggy flash video.)  BEGINNER – SIMPLE 

B.     ***½ Disentie’sTraditional Blue (Video) – A variant of the traditional blue.  Three-part tutorial on YouTube. (Link directs to playlist.)     BEGINNER – SIMPLE

C.     **** Hanzo’s WideSandwich-Blade – A classic design.  Features a nice smooth blade.  Uses blue foam on a ½” fiberglass/kitespar core.  Has a barstock counter-weighted handle. (Pay attention to Alric’s comments.) BEGINNER – MEDIUM 

D.    ***** Alric’s 3rdGen Blade – Generally regarded as the best in modern sword tech. A two piece variant of the one piece blade.  Uses 4lb. and 2lb. microcell on a ½” fiberglass/kitespar core, with a Marine Foam stabbing tip.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

E.     **** Falkrix’s Single-bladed Cutlass – An innovative and interesting design to produce a single-edged sword that looks and works great.  Was written to use pretty much whatever materials you can afford.   ADEPT – SIMPLE-INTENSIVE

F.      **** Roman Box Sword – A traditional blue sword made with high-end materials (2lb. microcell on a ½” fiberglass/kitespar core) and designed for longevity.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

G.    **** Brutus’ Short Sword with Stabbing Tip (Videos) – An excellent high-tech sandwich style sword.  If bestdagstuff.com was still open, it would be a premier source of raws and kits.  Ahh well.  The tutorial is still excellent.  Two videos, disappointingly low res. (Link directs to playlist.)     ADEPT – INTENSIVE

H.    **** Athron’s Indestructible Sword Pommel –   This is a good baseline pommel for any weapon.  As you improve the materials used, you will also make it more indestructible.  I recommend this as a good guide for a pommel on any basic weapon.   BEGINNER – SIMPLE

I.       **** Marine Foam Stabbing Tip – For a reliable, high quality thrusting tip on all swords.   ADEPT – INTENSIVE

J.       ***** Bro-gar’s Faux-Pro Blue Sword – Basically the same tech as Alric’s Tutorial, but with better pictures.  Uses 4lb. and 2lb. microcell on a ½” fiberglass/kitespar core, with a Marine Foam stabbing tip.  Again, the best in modern sword craft.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

K.    ***** Bro-gar’s Faux-Pro Hilt – A continuation of the Faux-Pro Sword.  Rope wrapped and counterweighted.  You can’t go wrong.  (Still, cotton rope would be a better grip than nylon.) ADEPT – INTENSIVE

L.     ***** Jared’s Reinforced Crossguard and Wood Handle – For those who would rather use a part of their sword to block that red shot, rather than their wrist.  Yeah, this is just wildly amazing.  MASTER – EXTREME

---Flails (classical ball and chain)

A.     ***½ Eriador Bag Flail – A basic diagram-only tutorial on how to build a standard bag flail.  Because there is no description to go with the diagram, make absolutely sure that your flail meets the letter of the rules. BEGINNER – MEDIUM

B.     ***** Jack Angelfoot’s Bag or Rope Flail Supplemental – This one-page, fully-illustrated tutorial is designed to assist new Dagorhirim with securing the flail-head to the flail shaft in an effective, long-lasting way.  The basics of both bag flails and rope flails are shown.  Use the courtesy padding portion of a mace tutorial (e.g. Brother Nolen’s Barrel Mace) or another flail tutorial to pad the shaft.  I had to give it five stars; I wrote it.  ADEPT – MEDIUM

C.     **** Brother Nolen’s Grips and Pommels for Blunt Weapons – Brother Nolen’s counter-weighted grips and pommels are excellent for keeping control of any omni-directional weapon.  (Do not use for directional or bladed weapons, e.g. axes or swords.) BEGINNER – SIMPLE

---Maces, Clubs, Axes

A.     ***   Disentie’s Spiral Club – A design for a blue foam and PVC spiral wrap club.  I am not certain about the longevity of the spiral wrap design, but if someone has more information, let me know.   Three-part tutorial on YouTube. (Link directs to playlist.)     BEGINNER – SIMPLE

B.     **** Jari’s Axes – A very nice and solid axe tutorial that is both descriptive and straight-forward to follow.  Use the nice materials, (½” 2lb. microcell and charcoal foam) and consider fastening the base axe-head onto the core with Marine Goop rather than Gorilla glue.  ADEPT – MEDIUM  (Alternate Link)

C.     ***½ Aratari Axe – Similar to Jari’s Axes, but adds a stabbing tip and loses the leather.  If you use this tutorial, I highly recommend adding the leather reinforcement from Jari’s guide.  Also, consider using Marine Foam for the stabbing tip instead of open cell.  ADEPT – MEDIUM

D.     ****  Brother Nolen’s Flanged Mace – Brother Nolen knows his maces.  This is the very imposing-looking Flanged Mace.  Brother Nolen’s materials list can easily be upgraded by using ½” 2lb. microcell whenever he refers to “closed-cell foam”  or “camp pad.” BEGINNER – MEDIUM

E.      **** Brother Nolen’s Barrel Mace – Brother Nolen knows his maces.  This is the very highly functional barrel mace.  Brother Nolen’s materials list can easily be upgraded by using ½” 2lb. microcell whenever he refers to “closed-cell foam”  or “camp pad.” BEGINNER – MEDIUM

F.      **** Brother Nolen’s Grips and Pommels for Blunt Weapons – Brother Nolen’s counter-weighted grips and pommels are excellent for keeping control of any omni-directional weapon.  (Do not use for directional or bladed weapons, e.g. axes or swords.) BEGINNER – SIMPLE

G.     ***** Jack Angelfoot’s Speed Bat Tutorial (Video)  – It has become very popular for crossover gamers to use a weapon they describe as a “speed bat.”  It is essentially a club that is not top-heavy and has almost no weight.  The speed bat is not a medieval weapon.  Sticks were not used in medieval war, therefore speed bats are usually not considered Dagorhir legal.  But if you absolutely must build yourself a speed bat despite my warning, follow the above tutorial.   BEGINNER – SIMPLE

---Daggers

 (The best way to make a dagger is to make a minimum-length sword with a good stabbing tip.  But for those who want shorter, stab-only stilettos, check out the guides below.)

A.     ***  Critter’s Dagger (Video)  – A clean and simple foam-football dagger.  Try to cut your foam more evenly than in the video and it would be much better with 2lb. microcell as opposed to blue foam.  They didn’t put a cloth cover on the dagger in the video.  Don’t forget that step.  Two-part tutorial on YouTube. (Link directs to playlist.) BEGINNER – SIMPLE

B.     ***  Narnian “Overkill” Dagger – Super-safe, super-squishy nerf-football dagger tutorial.   Should still be viable, even though some of the materials are old school.  The best way to make would be using 4lb. microcell for the cap by the core and 2lb. microcell for the cap by the open cell. (Alternate Link with pictures.)  BEGINNER – MEDIUM

C.     **** Spiderling’s Awesome Daggers  – A slightly longer, narrow, stab-only dagger design that has a hand guard.  You have to scroll 1/5 down the forum page to see the tutorial and then almost to the end to see the finished picture.  BEGINNER – MEDIUM

Two-handed melee weapons

---Bastard Swords and Great Swords

(usually, most double-bladed sword tutorials will work for making a red sword, if you increase the length and the core width accordingly.)

A.     ***** Brotherhood of the Red – This is not a classical tutorial so much as a forum for red-weapon fighters throughout Dagorhir.  They have tutorials, guides, and hundreds of years of combined advice.  You have to request an invite.  

B.     ***** Alric’s 3rd Gen Blade – Generally regarded as the best in modern sword tech.  A two piece variant of the one piece blade.  Uses 4lb. and 2lb. microcell on a ½” fiberglass/kitespar core, with a Marine Foam stabbing tip.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

C.     **** Graymael’s Great-Sword Advice – A tutorial with very little in the way of tutoring.  Gray simply gives the basics on how he built his own sword, which considering the source (the term “Godfather” comes to mind) makes this required reading for any would-be red-weapon foamsmith.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

D.     **** Marine Foam Stabbing Tip – For a reliable, high-quality thrusting tip on all swords.   ADEPT – INTENSIVE

E.      ***** Magnus’ Longsword – A min-red (4’) sword made from all modern materials with the sandwich design.  But, I would add an armor-grade leather support to keep that cross-piece from tearing off, as well as assisting with the blocking. Also, you can use PlastiDip as opposed to the liquid latex.  A fabulous tutorial.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

---Bladed Polearms, Glaives, Gisarmes, Halberds (Long reds)

A.     ***** Brotherhood of the Red – This is not a classical tutorial so much as a forum for red-weapon fighters throughout Dagorhir.  They have tutorials, guides, and hundreds of years of combined advice.  You have to request an invite to join.   

B.     **** Jari’s Axes – A very nice and solid axe tutorial that is both descriptive and straight-forward to follow.  Use the nice materials, (½” 2lb. microcell and charcoal foam) and consider fastening the base axe-head onto the core with Marine Goop rather than Gorilla glue.  Simply extend the length of the shaft and the size of the head to make a halberd.  ADEPT – MEDIUM  (Alternate Link)

C.     ***** Alric’s 3rd Gen Blade – Generally regarded as the best in modern sword tech.  A two piece variant of the one piece blade.  To make this into a gisarme, simply use a longer shaft (8’ bandshope pole) and add courtesy padding along most of the shaft except for the handle.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

D.     **** GvK Single Bladed Glaive (PDF) – A nice 2^nd Generation single bladed glaive.  3^rd Gen. would use marine foam for the stabbing tip.    ADEPT – INTENSIVE

---Two-handed Hammers, Axes, and Clubs

A.     ***** Brotherhood of the Red – This is not a classical tutorial so much as a forum for red-weapon fighters throughout Dagorhir.  They have tutorials, guides, and hundreds of years of combined advice.  You have to request an invite to join.   

B.     **** Die Tsuchi, Warhammer – A red warhammer to club your friends with.  It would be better (and lighter) if  4lb. microcell was used for the close layers and 2lb. microcell was used for the edge layers.  Also, either be more exact with the cuts or trim the final hammer body so that it is not as jagged.  That way a more form fitting cover will still look good.  ADEPT – MEDIUM 

C.     **** Belegarth Hammer – A basic red warhammer.  Again, would be better with modern materials.   ADEPT – MEDIUM 

D.     **** Brother Nolen’s Barrel Mace – To extend this tutorial into a warclub, merely lengthen everything (especially the courtesy padding) and build it on a bandshope pole.   BEGINNER – INTENSIVE

---Spears 

A.     ***½ Grumio’s Nerf Football Spear Tutorial (Video) – Grumio builds a classic open cell spear which was high-tech for its day.  Still legal.  Two-part tutorial on YouTube. (Link directs to playlist.)   ADEPT – MEDIUM 

B.     ****  Alric’s Low Profile Spear – A rudimentary cross-section guide to creating a low-profile spear head.  A good weapon, but not an especially detailed tutorial.   ADEPT – INTENSIVE

C.     **** Magnus’ Spear Hook – An excellent guide to adding a hook to your spear for shield opening.  You have to scroll a ways down the page to see the tutorial.  ADEPT – MEDIUM 

D.     ***½ Eryndor Spear Tutorial (PDF) – A basic spear design using a mixture of high and low end materials.    ADEPT – MEDIUM 

Shields

---Foam-core Punch Shields

A.     ***  Bluefoam Spiral Coreless Shield – The easiest shield tutorial in the books.  Merely wrapping a strip of blue foam around itself until finished.  Makes a nice looking, sturdy shield.   In order to make this a “punch” style shield, use Grumio’s tutorial (below) to put in the handle, rather than using straps.  BEGINNER – SIMPLE

B.     **** Grumio’s Coreless Punch Shield(Video) – The classic way to make a punch shield out of blue foam or ½” 2lb. microcell. With only slight alterations, can be used to make a shield out of one piece of Maxyor foam.  Three-part YouTube tutorial.  (Link directs to playlist.)  BEGINNER – MEDIUM

C.     ***** Nieros’ Curved Punch Shield – Another punch shield made out of blue foam or ½” 2lb. microcell. But this one is designed to have a nice curve, making it more protective and aesthetically more pleasing.   ADEPT – MEDIUM

---Rigid-core Strap Shields

A.     ***  House Manticore Strap Shield – A classic cored strap shield.  This tutorial will work for either blue foam or ½” 2lb. microcell.  But there is a step left out.  Remember to glue one layer of foam to the back of your shield.  Otherwise, you will leave a lot of skin and blood on the hard core.  BEGINNER – MEDIUM

B.     **** Eriador Wood-Core Shield – Another basic cored strap shield.  This tutorial will work for either blue foam or ½” 2lb. microcell.  But there is a step left out.  Remember to glue one layer of foam to the back of your shield.  Otherwise, you will leave a lot of skin and blood on the hard core.  BEGINNER – MEDIUM

---Shield Variations 

A.     ***  Bluefoam Spiral Coreless Strap Shield – The easiest shield tutorial in the books.  Merely wrapping a strip of blue foam around itself until finished.  Makes a nice looking, sturdy coreless strap shield.  Straps seem a little weak.   BEGINNER – SIMPLE

Ranged Weapons

---Bows

A.     There are a million bow-making tutorials available on the internet.  Most only require a few hundred dollars worth of tools and materials and you will end up with a nicely finished wooden bow in a few months or years.  And, if you are lucky, one of your first three might be legal Dagorhir weight.  Historically, almost nobody takes that option, they buy a bow.  Hence my shock and surprise with the Backyard Bowyer.   Look below to learn how to make yourself a bow that looks and works every bit as good as a wooden bow, has more durability, greater longevity, and costs only a fraction of the time and money of making a comparable wooden bow.

B.     ***** Backyard Bowyer Elven Bow (Video) – A 5’ length of schedule 40 PVC (standard) becomes Legolas’ recurve bow which draws at 45 lbs.  Wow.  Just wow.  If you use this tutorial remember to add length until the draw weight reduces to 35 lbs.  MASTER – EXTREME

C.     ***** Backyard Bowyer’s YouTube Archive – I was the greatest skeptic.  I have arched in Dagorhir for more than 10 years, I have accumulated about one-and-a-half thousand clean competition kills with the bow over the last four years.  I have always used a fiberglass wood hybrid bow, and I didn’t buy that a simple PVC bow would be as good.  But just view a few of these videos and hopefully you will be as shocked and amazed as I was.  Good hunting!

---Arrow Heads

A.     ***** Brutus’ Modular Arrow Head (Video) – Because arrows have the potential to be the most dangerous weapon in the game, always consult an experienced foamsmith before making your first arrows.  This is a good and safe method of making modular arrow heads.   Two-part tutorial on YouTube. (Link directs to playlist.)  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

B.     ***** Eryndor’s  Arrow Heads (PDF) – Because arrows have the potential to be the most dangerous weapon in the game, always consult an experienced foamsmith before making your first arrows.  The Eryndor arrow head is not a modular head.  To make them modular, build the same head on a CPVC tube as in Brutus’ video.  This is a good and safe method of making arrow heads.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

C.     Kingdom members:  Consult Jack (me) before you build your arrow heads.  Jack will make sure your arrows pass and – even more importantly – are perfectly safe. 

D.     Note from Jack:  there is no “cheap,” “simpler,” “faster,” or “3-star” way to make arrows for Dag.  Arrows can and do target the head.  So if you make cheap or easy arrows, people will get hurt.  Make the arrows right or don’t make them at all.  And Silk, myself, or any of the others will fail your arrows in an instant at Ragnarok if they could hurt someone.   Also Note: There are plenty of arrow tutorials out there using cheap stuff like “blue foam” and worse, “couch cushion.”  And I refuse to put any of them on this page if they don’t use both modern materials and a safe design.  I’m an arrow bigot.  Sue me.  I like being able to see out of both my eyes. 

---Javelins

A.     ***  Alric’s Javelin – A simple javelin made from ⅜”  fiberglass and blue foam.  BEGINNER – MEDIUM

B.     **** Arrakis’ Javelin – A more complex javelin made with .602”kitespar, blue foam, marine foam, and charcoal foam.  ADEPT – MEDIUM

---Rocks

A.     **  Stell’s Nylon and Scrap Rocks – Create functional rocks from a pair of nylons and the loose foam scraps you have from all your other weapons.  Use opaque nylons or your rocks will look disturbing.   BEGINNER – SIMPLE

B.     **** Shaped Rocks – The axe-style “throwing weapons” for other games, made completely out of foam, will work for rocks in Dagorhir, if they conform to the rules.  Remember, they will be measured around two axis to see if they conform with the 4”diameter.  Cloth should cover everything, because it all is a potential striking surface.  Do not try these without consulting foamsmithing experts.  ADEPT – INTENSIVE

C.     **  Generic Foamfighting Rocks – A rather bland tutorial about how to stuff foam scraps into a cloth pouch.  Not particularly helpful, but there is not a lot out there for rocks.  BEGINNER – SIMPLE

Advanced Foamsmithing

---Plasti-dip Weapons

A.     ***** Wynar’s Super Mega Awesome – The Godfather of all plasti-dipping tutorials.  This is where you start with plasti-dip.  Cut corners at your own peril.  Persevere and you will ascend to be a truly great foamsmith.   MASTER – EXTREME

B.     ***** PlastiDip Artists – This is the facebook forum for some of the greatest PlastiDip weaponsmiths out there.  They have a lot of great information, beautiful weapons, and exceptional skills.  They have tutorials, guides, and dozens of years of combined advice.  You have to request an invite to join.   

C.     **** Fayne’s Brushing Tutorial – Fayne shows us some advanced painting techniques for making our plastidip weapons look more real.   MASTER – INTENSIVE