The Armour Archive

Any one know where I can get some 1/4 inch closed cell foam? Thanks!

Charles the Brown

Kayak supply stores sell minicell foam that works great for padding and weapon forms. I go to Natahala Outdoor Center for my stuff. Here is the weblink to thier foam. They have .25 inch foam that you are looking for.
http://www.noc.com/store/item_10826.html

Bjorn

As a boffer fighter, I know tons of places, though my foam demands are probably greater than most.

Depending on how much you need, I would recommend either [http://www.foambymail.com[/url]Foam By Mail[/url], also known as The Foam Factory. They carry Minicell in large amounts, and orders over 50 bucks have free shipping.

Another good place is the great McMaster-Carr, which will have pretty much any type of foam you could want. They have Minicell, as well as EVAlite (crosslinked ethyl-vinyl-acetate), both of which make for really good padded weapons, at least in my experience, as well as great padding for helms, rugby pads, whatever.

1/4" = 6mm (or a reasonable aproximation there of) so you might consider 6mm Foamies. This is a closed cell art foam you can get at many craft stores (JoAnn's etc., A.C More and others) Multiple colors available and in convenient 9"x12" sheets. I can get 3 sets of balista fins out of a single sheet.

http://www.stainedglassoriginals.com/ki ... eets2.html

Sean

Mandrake Armoury carries the EVA foam in 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" thicknesses in 12" x 24" sheets.

http://www.mandrakearmory.com

Look under "Armour."

Regards,
Richard
Ansteorra

mouse pads! I use it for thin padding and it works awesome and is very durable.

Walmart!

The blue foam used under sleeping bags. Works great on helms, armor, and thrusting tips. Costs like $6 a roll.

Not sure if thats what your looking for, but it works!

Walmart blue foam ("Ozark Trail' brand olefin) is cheap and effective, but will break down very quickly. It's probably okay as padding in a helm or other piece of armor, but expect to be replacing it ever few months. On boffer weapons, it has to be replaced after 4-6 months of hard use, and if used as, say, an SCA thrusting tip or weapon head, it probably wouldn't last nearly as long. But it's easy to get and cheap, which are two points in its favor.

Just to add one thing to David's post.

If you have a problem with the foam breaking down, wrap it in duct tape. It ups the stink factor, but in my older helm I've had it padded with walmart foam for a year and a half, along with my armor.

Like he said, plus side is that it is cheap and you get quite a bit of it per roll.