Making Your Sparring Weapon ~ The F.F.S. Boffer!
Posted by admin in Knives and other HardwareI have received a lot of positive feedback when I posted on my Essential Protective Gear.
So I though I would continue the series by showing you how I make my Sparring Knives….or “Boffers” as we prefer to call them.
The first image shows the items that make up our Boffer. It consists of a “Pool Noodle” foam cylinder (make sure you get the ones with the hole in the center. I bought a whole lot of noodles once only to notice that the centers were solid!?!?@###!!!
The other item is a plastic composite rod……it is also hollow. PVC rods are not recommended; as they can shatter into dangerous shards, which could potentially make it into a dangerous weapon. This particular rod is supplied to me by a friend John, who works in the “Hydraulics” industry.
The writing on the side of the rod is as follows:
26723 Vinidex MAXAIR Compressed Air Pipe S1 DN 25X3 5 SDR7 4 PN25.
I’m not sure how easy it is to get…….but if you cannot find it, Rattan cane which is light, can be a good substitute.
The lighter the sparring equipment the better, as you don’t want to translate the heavier weapons to “energy” when you are starting to hit hard and fast. The Rattan will only work for knives. If you try to do the same with sticks, it will hit too hard.
My philosophy on sparring is to wear minimal gear. We have found that by using our Boffers we can get away with just wearing helmet and gloves; there is no need for body armour.
Our preference for this is twofold:
1) It is a lot cheaper for my students, as they don’t have to outlay a lot for protective gear.
2) The lack of body armour means that there is still respect for the weapon.
(I have seen countless times were combatants are wearing so much armour, that all they concentrate on is striking their opponent as many times and as hard as possible – there is no attempt to defend any of the attacks, and it becomes a “caveman” event).
With minimal armour, you will need to develop effective defensive and counter attack skills. This is very important in a realistic scenario where “double kills” with weapons are a real possibility.
Other substitutes you can use for the “core” rod in your Boffer can be – cut down fishing rod blanks or cut down ski poles. The important factor is that they do not break or shatter into sharp objects, and that it is light in weight.
So the construction of the F.F.S. Boffer is as follows:
Image B1 – Cut the Blue Rod into a length of 250mm (this can be changed to suit your personal preference). Cut the foam Pool Noodle to length of about 150mm (again this can be changed).
Image B2 – Shows how much you should insert the Blue Rod into the Pool Noodle.
Note* Make sure you leave a gap of about 40mm from the tip of the pool noodle to the tip of the blue rod. (If you install the rod right up to the tip of the pool noodle, then expect injuries during sparring.)
Image B3 – Slice an off cut from a separate foam noodle, and stuff that in the gap you left at the tip of the Boffer. This will act as a cushion, and help absorb shock.
Image B4 – Now wrap the entire Boffer in gaff tape.
Note* It is important not to tape the Boffer tightly.
Make sure you just “pat down” the gaff tape on the surface.
I usually just put a single layer of tape on.
(If you bind it tightly it will more likely to injure your opponent during sparring.)
Notice that I tape the “blade” of the Boffer along its length rather than across.
Image B5 – I then finish the Boffer by taping Ice Hockey Grip Tape on the handle.
Image B6 – Voila……an F.F.S. Sparring Boffer!
Ray Floro