Homemade Aluminum Sword?

[chouston]

I'm the technical director for a small private high school and have inherited several aluminum swords from the previous theater director. He had someone make these swords out of 3/8" x 1 1/2" aluminum stock (Sapa 6061-T6511 extruded alloy) at 3' 7" total with a hilt of the same material welded 9" from one end. They are not sharpened in any way and seem to be pretty sturdy. Filing and sanding seem to have been used to take care of burrs. However, he's actually used these for stage combat. I was quite nervous about this use of these swords since they are homemade and not subject to any testing or QC. I'm thinking about tossing them since this director is no longer teaching theater. I would like to get thoughts on whether or not to trash (or recycle) these swords, or if they can actually be used. (That would really surprise me if they could.)

 

[josh88]

Do you know anything about swords in general? If you do and know what to look for when it comes to wear and tear I say go for it. Aluminum won't be as durable as a steel sword but there are certainly other aluminum blades out there being used. When it comes down to it, the best stage combat blades are home made too (albeit in a forge and by professionals) so if you don't want to risk them breaking and injuring someone, (a risk you run even with quality blades) don't take it and get rid of them. There's a bunch of liability risk there, and if somebody got hurt the construction method would easily be extra ammo for a lawyer. The nature of their construction means that they could be awesome, or could be accidents waiting to happen. If you know how to maintain swords and keep an eye on what they are doing and how they are holding up you should be able to take them out of service before something like that happens. Without seeing what they look like I can't judge.

Long story short, there's always a risk with weapons and if you take proper safety steps and monitor the weapons you should be alright. Take precautions, don't include combat unless you have somebody qualified to instruct and choreograph and above all, always side on safety.


Via tapatalk

 

[Van]

I'm with Josh on this one. There is no more inherent risk in using Aluminum swords, you just don't want to use them against steel swords. Aluminum like that does not tend to shatter which is good. I use Raw cold steel for a lot of the blades I make. I have also used aluminum. The only disadvantage with the Al ones is the sound imho.
I strongly reiterate waht Josh88 said, Don't do combat unless you have a trained choreography. < and I don't mean some yahoo who once took a tae kwon do class>

 

[venuetech]

IMHO you should just recycle them. I had a number of swords like this, built for a community production and later donated to the HS. I recycled them , never have missed them. A weapons locker helps to control things, I keep anything that resembles a weapon in that locker, including Nerf swords.

 

[BrianWolfe]

There is often a need for non-combat swords to be worn or used as stage decoration. Keep them in stock and mark them as not for combat.

 

[porkchop]

I'm not sure I would use them for any type of combat, but prop swords seem like a pretty useful thing to have around. If you're not convinced that they can be used for combat use (and I don't blame you for that) what would make these different from any other prop that you might want to keep around that students are likely to irresponsibly play with?

 

[erichart]

A couple of theatres I know use aluminum blade swords for stage combat. They're usually made of aircraft aluminum (7075). They have to be maintained after every use since they nick pretty easily during blade-to-blade combat.

When I was working at the Public Theater, we had a huge collection of swords but no way of knowing how stage combat-worthy they were. We had a qualified fight director (J. Allen Suddeth) go through them and pick which ones were good and which were bad.

As Brian pointed out, even the bad ones are still useful since you may need non-combat swords for decoration and background characters. As long as you can keep track of which is which, you may wish to just keep them all.

 

[gafftaper]

Since you would never use them for combat without hiring a professional fight director (who would most likely tell you they are not safe to use), I would keep them for props. There are many safe uses.

 

[chouston]

Thanks to everyone. You all pretty much confirmed my feelings on the subject. I'll keep a few swords for decorative non-combat use, but the rest are going away. Thanks again!

 

[gafftaper]

Thanks to everyone. You all pretty much confirmed my feelings on the subject. I'll keep a few swords for decorative non-combat use, but the rest are going away. Thanks again!

Call a couple of local community theaters/college theater departments. A sword donation could be a great way to get in their good graces and build a relationship of sharing props.

 

[StNic54]

I'd also look at a RenFair, flea market, or anything else that might be visited by sword-needing uber-nerds. Maybe DragonCon or ComicCon participants would need a prop.

 

[josh88]

It makes me wish I was nearer to texas. I'm always looking for new additions to my arsenal even if its a "don't use this" type of an example. if you don't have someone specific to give them to I might be interested in a couple or however many you have depending on what they look like and how much shipping would cost. pm me if you need someone.