The Armour Archive

Has anybody done a study to see how much a piece of rattan weights, on average?

I know rattan varies in density, but I would guess that somebody has done a study to get an average and could quote a figure for an 1 1/4" stick, 36" long with the skin on. I don't have anything "normal" like that in my shop that I can weigh for a sample.

Or if you happen to have a piece of rattan of the size I described and a postal scale, just weigh the thing for me.

Some pieces laying around in my garage:

37" 20.55 oz
59" 30.50 oz
39" 24 oz
45" 26.5 oz

All are around 1 1/2" in diameter and have the skin on. It works out to just a bit over 1/2 oz per inch. I don't have any thinner rattan.

Chris

What a great question! I wish I had a scale... I don't think my bathroom one is sensitive enough.

I would love to see a bunch of numbers, including diameter / skin shaved for this.

The sample of 4 vary in density from .51 oz/in to .61. That's almost 20%

It probably varies greatly depending on the humidity of each stick. I had a mean value of .66 g per cu cm for several sticks and pieces of scrap that were laying around in the shop. From what I remember, it varied from about .62 to .69 g per cu cm depending on the piece.
Most of my sticks are greater than 1.75" and they were all measured with skin on. A uniform length of 1" was cut and the diameter mic'd out to figure volume for each piece which I convereted to cc, then the weight of each piece divided into that quantity.
Depending on how you tape it, will greatly affect the weight of your stick and can make all of your estimations of rattan weight somewhat moot.
-Cian

Cian of Storvik wrote:Depending on how you tape it, will greatly affect the weight of your stick and can make all of your estimations of rattan weight somewhat moot.
-Cian

I wouldn't say moot - although of course the tape is very significant. Most guys I know here (who care) use or less strapping tape on the end to change the balance. I like to actually carve my rattan broadswords into little clubs to get the weight out on the tip (I don't like using tape or leather or anything that's remotely squishy).

Does knowing the average density of rattan matter? Not much, I mean I still have to carve it/tape it to "feel" but knowing the range is interesting.

I've started to weigh my carved swords to see how one design compares to another. I'd love to have a baseline to compare my designs against. I know my designs are balanced differently than a round baton, but are some of them actually lighter? Since I'm weighing untaped wood, tape isn't really a factor for comparing designs.

I carved three identical swords: same size rattan, same length, carved in exactly the same way. One of the three is considerably heavier than the other two. The only possible explanation is wood density.

With such a wide variance in wood density, I don't see how it will be possible to measure one design vs another. I know that my type 15 design feels lighter than a standard 1 1/4 round baton, and the type 10 design feels slightly heavier (but still lighter than a flat-sided "cricket bat"), but I don't feel confident that I can assign an exact percentage to any particular design.

I'm giving up on this.

Moisture.

Ever pick up a 2x4 at the lumber yard, and then pick up another one that was waaay lighter or waaay heavier? Moisture content is huge in wood weight. Try re-weighing them in a few months and see if they're not closer in weight.

Thanks!
Christopher

Good idea, but I'm selling these carved swords. I don't plan to own them in a few months.