Foam Swords - Acquisition

There are a lot of places where you might acquire foam swords and boffer weapons. LARP Swords can be bought online. That is generally the first place people look when they want to buy something. Our alternatives to this would be to either make our own or to find a local vendor that provides these weapons. We’re going to see what awesome items we can dig up on the internet.

Having a sword or some other type of weapon is critical for LARPing unless you are going to be a mage or something. Even then though, you still probably want a weapon. Even a mage would probably want at least a staff or something. I could still see a mage wanting to carry a sword, axe, or mace just because they are so cool. There is a huge coolness factor in connection with most weapons. If you do happen to be a non-magic wielding fighter, a weapon is less optional.

Excalibur - Foam Sword

You can’t go wrong with excalibur. If you want a great foam sword, this is it. This is a foam version of Excalibur. It is a pretty standard style of sword that looks great. It has received great reviews from others who have tried it. It has a plastic core with a dense layer of foam covering that. It isn’t really supposed to be used for full power striking against unarmored opponents. It can be used for LARPing. It looks great and serves terrifically as a prop. You can almost certainly use it for light striking. You wouldn’t want to just nail someone with it using full force. Remember though that nothing that looks this good is really meant for full contact. If you want full contact you should check out some of the boffer sword options further down on this page.

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Viking Sword - Foam

If you are looking for a foam sword and want it to be a Viking sword, there are definitly options. For all of the Viking LARPers out there, this is a great choice. It is rated pretty well. People seem to like it. It is made from latex rubber foam. It is totally fine for practice fighting and LARPing. As always, don’t use full force when hitting an opponent with this type of weapon. Follow the normal rules. Basically all the stuff we said about the Excalibur sword above also applies to this one.

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Fancy Style “Bat” Sword

If you don’t want a simple sword and you need something a bit more “fancy” or elaborate, this might be what you are looking for. This is more of a fantasy style sword. It doesn’t look like anything that would have existed historically. That is cool and all if that is your thing. Personally, I don’t prefer it but many people do. If you are looking for a fantasy weapon or something that feels less plain, you might want to consider this. You can find a ton of other similar things as well. It is rated pretty well. It is made of latex rubber foam. As usual for this type of weapon: no full contact. Don’t go around hitting people with full force. Light hitting and use as a prop is totally fine. It makes a great LARP weapon.

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Medieval Crusader Sword

This is probably one of the coolest options we found. It isn’t really a LARP sword since it is made of carbon steel but you could use it as one so long as you don’t actually hit anyone. It would have to be used more as a prop. It also looks good on display. So those are your options with this one. Put it on display or use it as a prop. It isn’t strong enough to use as a real combat sword but it is way too dangerous to actually hit anyone with in a LARP context. It does look great though and if you want something that looks incredibly awesome, you might want to pick this. Remember, this one is NOT a foam sword (still great option though).

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Boffer Sword - The Lazy Option

This is the closest thing I could find to a boffer sword on Amazon. The idea isn’t to have something super realistic looking but more to have something that can be used to actually practice combat. These are actual practice swords for martial arts purposes. They could be used for any type of practice or game where you need to strike your opponent with a padded weapon. I DON’T actually recommend this particular item because a lot of people have given it negative reviews. People complain that it feels flimsy. This is not generally a complaint you get with DIY homemade swords of this type. If you are lazy and just need to buy something give this a try; it isn’t expensive. You will however get a much better, higher quality sword if you make your own. For a minimal amount of effort you can construct your own custom weapon out of PVC, foam, and duct tape that will probably be more durable.

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Boffer Sword - Build Your Own - Get Parts Here

OK, so if you were disappointed with the prebuilt boffer sword above you might want to consider building your own. This will take a tiny bit of extra time and effort but it is totally worth it. You still need to parts to build it. You can order everything you need from Amazon. Just grab PVC, Gorilla tape, and a pool noodle. Some minor assembly is required. We haven’t measured it out exactly as this will completely depend on your constraints. We will show you which parts you need to pick up and where you can get them.

PVC

The first thing you are going to need is a piece of PVC pipe. This is the used as the main shaft of the sword and is referred to as the core. The core can be made of other things as well. You can get creative but for now just stick with PVC if you want to create a basic boffer weapon.

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Pool Noodle

The next thing you are going to need is some type of padding. Usually people use a pool noodle for this. They should fit right over your PVC pipe. They may or may not require cutting depending on how big of a piece of pipe you have. These are a pretty important component of a boffer weapon and not to be left out. They are relatively cheap and easy to find.

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Gorilla Tape

After acquiring your other sword building materials you are going to need something to hold them together. For this we recommend using either duct tape or duct tape’s hairy cousin, gorilla tape. The gorilla tape will serve the purpose of holding everything together but also serves as somewhat of a layer of protection as well. Also, if your sword is ever damaged, you can just patch it up with more tape.

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Dual Sword Back Sheath

OK, so this one is just an extra item that we thought was really cool. A lot of people ask about being able to mount dual swords on their backs. If that sounds like the type of thing that you want to do, this is something you will probably want. It won't fit the bulky pool noodle size sword but it will fit a lot of smaller latex swords. Just check out the picture if you want an idea of the size. There are a couple of examples shown in the sheath.

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