The Armour Archive

Hello,

A local fighter called to ask me this question and I didn't have a clue. Someone out there sells a flanged mace that is essentially 4 pieces of EVA architecture foam flued to a rubber hose. The hose is wedged on the rattan and padding is added if necessary for the appropriate kingdom. I think it is "By my Hand" that sells these.

My local fighter wants to do something similar with an axe head to a rubber hose so he dosn't end up ruining it every time he replaces the rattan.

Does anyone know what type of glue will form a good bond between weapon grade foam and rubber hose and does anyone have recomendations for the type of hose to use.

Thanks in advance.
Sean

I wish I had a better answer, but for neoprene foam I used liquid nails. The advantage is it also fills gaps, and it holds well...

It may be some type of industry spacific glue for foam or something more common like barge cement.

I made a ax this way and used some good epoxy. I put the weapon head in a vice used some ratchet straps to hold the hose on the piece while the epoxy did its job.

Donngal

Just FYI since I don't know what type of glue would work, but the By My Hand Designs weapons heads are not EVA architectural foam. They are black crepe. Very similar, but more dense than the EVA.

EVA sheets bond well with most contact cements. Flexible waterproof versions like Barge All Purpose Cement are easy enough to come by. Construction contact cements tend to be inflexible once cured and so bonds have a greater tendency to delaminate under repeated hammering.

The "crepe" mentioned is probably SBR "nuron crepe" used in soling sheets. (like the soles of Hush Puppy type shoes) It makes superb impact weapons for SCA combat. I made quite a few axe and mace heads with it.

Oh, yeah. All these products bond better when you rough up both surfaces before applying adhesive. They all oxidize to some degree after manufacturing and so benefit from exposing a fresh surface to form the mechanical bond. Anywhere from 40-80 grit paper does the trick.

Have fun with that!