The Armour Archive

Greetings.

It seems I need to build me a pell after all, which I am sure will make my wife IMMENSELY happy.... as there is nothin else she would like better than another voluminous piece of SCA related stuff in the house.

Now here in the DC area it snows in the winter, and my practice time -if any- would be in the evening after work and the kids are in bed, or during the weekend, so I need a pell that I can use inside my garage in winter and drag/move to the yard in the summer.

Can anyone suggest a pell design that would suit my needs?

Thanks in advance.

Rowan

My favorite pell was an old army duffel bag filed with old roled up carpet reminents.
You can swing it for a moving target and put strips of duck tape on it as targets.
I like to hit the tape strips at the same angel as the tape.
Post pells are nice but the eat rattan even if you pad them.

Barry

I used a 40# punching bag in my garage. It was only $39 and worked great

The best pell I have used is 3 pieces of dock rope (the 3-4" thick stuff) about 4-5 feet long. I just duct taped them together and put a chain at the top to hang it.

The rope gives some and feel like hitting a person. There is no bounce back and it doesn't tear up the rattan. Not very hard to move and stores pretty well.

Uric

Blackoak wrote:The best pell I have used is 3 pieces of dock rope (the 3-4" thick stuff) about 4-5 feet long. I just duct taped them together and put a chain at the top to hang it.

The rope gives some and feel like hitting a person. There is no bounce back and it doesn't tear up the rattan. Not very hard to move and stores pretty well.

Uric

Wow that is creative, though not everyone has access to that type of rope. How do you take/use that outdoors?

I am temped bt the punching bag, but there is nowhere to hang it in the middle of the yard, and te wife is NOT going to let me plant a pell maypole in the middle of our yard... (maye on the side?)

Thanks!

Rowan

I too wanted a pell that I could use both indoors and outdoors.. The indoors being my basement... Daylight basement with access to the backyard.... Cost me about $30, almost everything from Home Depot.

1. Peeler core cut to 6 feet.
2. 2 90 bags of concrete.
3. 1 galvanized bucket...
4. Duct Tape
5. 8 or 9 pool noodles from the Dollar Store (1 dollar a piece)
6. 1 moving blanket that I had.....

From the picture below (I know it's fugly, but I need to retape it and it has some water in it because it rained last night.........) You can see I origianlly had set it in an Orange bucket from Home Depot, but the base was not big enough to keep it from rocking, even with 90 pounds of concrete.... So I moved up to the galvanized tube from Home Depot and another bag of concrete... The thing with the Redy Mix concrete, you don't have to mix it, just pour it in and add water from the hose, it will solidify.... Next, tape the pool noodles around the peeler core and then the moving blanket and then more tape... Between the pool noodles and the moving pad, you will not damage your sword at all.... BTW, I own a hand truck, that is how I move it.....

[img]http://home.comcast.net/~tfhanson/images/Garbage/Pell.jpg[/img]

I made one like Tor's, except with two 12" "arms" held on with stainless steel L-brackets, so it's a cross (ie: has shoulders). Also, I used pressure treat. I leave it outside in winter, drag it through the snow to an open part of the yard, and concentrate on footwork and balance.

I dug into the ground about 3 or so and planted this monstrosity. My neighbors were definitely curious what the tattooed white boy was going to do with something that looks like the gallows..

If I had a tree I would have dropped a chain around a good firm branch and hung it from there. With trees being scarce aside from smaller ones I made something that worked for me. My knight swears by the tree pell. He said he trained with one and would get it worked up and spinning quite fast. My squire brother has a tree pell now and I am envious of his setup.

If you are to hang a bag for a pell I suggest a bigger bag. This particular bag is set up that all but the chains are equal to my legal target area. The upper section of the bag I've taped with red to help me work on my targeting of my squire brothers and Knight's shield shape top.

I'm with Joseph. I have a tree pell and love it. Buy a cheap punching bag you can destroy. Duct tape as needed.

The one thing I like about a free standing pell as opposed to one that hangs... Is that it does not hang... Some of the "stuff" I like to throw involves the sword passing over the head of my oppenent... I can practice that stuff with a free standing pell....

I guess one of the good things about a hanging pell, you don't have to worry about hitting yourself in the face with a missed wrap and no helm on......

I like the classic wood pole covered in rope....sir Hassan has a interesting twist to this....behind the main pell he has two smaller ones....This is great for practicing pass-bys and breaking through a line and hitting the secondarys.

13" tire filled with concrete. In the center extend about 12" a piece of 1/2 inch rebar.
Over the rebar you slide a 4x4 bored in the center with a 1x2" bit.
Cover 4x4 with carpet.. When you want to move it. Pull up the 4x4 and roll the tire to where you want it.

Joseph wrote:My neighbors were definitely curious what the tattooed white boy was going to do with something that looks like the gallows..

Joseph, the tree pell may be more medieval, but the "scaffold and chains" look is more metal.

When my pell was half-completed, I had a human-sized wooden cross standing in my backyard. My neighbor came by and I said, "It's not what it looks like, I swear." She said, "It's cool, I'm Faithful." She and I don't talk much anymore...

Rowan, I hang my rope pell very similar to the was Joseph has his hung in his post. I agree that a cheap heavy bag is also good if you don't have the rope.

Uric

Angusm0628 wrote:13" tire filled with concrete. In the center extend about 12" a piece of 1/2 inch rebar.
Over the rebar you slide a 4x4 bored in the center with a 1x2" bit.
Cover 4x4 with carpet.. When you want to move it. Pull up the 4x4 and roll the tire to where you want it.

Angus, you seem to have a winner here because of the indoor-outdoor rolling capability.

How do you get a 12" bit? is that enough support for a 6 foot tall 4x4?

I am wondering if some sort of socket of some type could be used to insert the 4x4 into it so you don't have to drill it.


Awesome ideas gents!

Thanks!!!

1/2" paddle bit with a 12" shank works just fine to drill out the 4x4 I don't know of any insert type device for it.