h a l f b a k e r yBone to the bad.
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When I ask Sergei and Larry about "carbon fibre properties", they
tell me "Good tensile strength but Brittle", inter alia. |
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So, your mace works well until first vigorously parried. Then
you're suddenly brandishing a broken stick of carbon fibres, aren't
you? At that point, my money's on [8th of 7]'s oiled leather conk-
bludgeon. |
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There is, it's called a pugil stick. |
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Tie a boxing glove to a broom handle |
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Excellent for Scooter Jousting ... |
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// my money's on [8th of 7]'s oiled leather conk- bludgeon. // |
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It's not ours; it is the property of Hercules Grytpipe-Thynne, originator of the infamous "Punch Up The Conk" scheme intended to make money by encouraging the sale of Moriaty Nose-protectors. |
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We share the misgivings about the employment of carbon-fibre composites in such an application. A vigorous parry impacting on the shaft might well result in a catastrophic failure. Further, it is extremely difficult to detect critical overstress in such components by non-destructive testing. A component can be severely damaged and on the point of failure yet show no external symptoms. |
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We would suggest the best design is a hollow titanium shaft married to a steel head with tungsten-carbide points and weighted (if necessary) with depleted Uranium. |
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//We share the misgivings about the employment of
carbon-fibre composites in such an application.// |
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I'll broadly agree here, although you could design around
some of these deficiencies. A shaft with a pultruded
carbon composite core under tension with a material
chosen for impact strength around it could work. |
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//We would suggest the best design is a hollow titanium
shaft married to a steel head with tungsten-carbide
points and weighted (if necessary) with depleted
Uranium.// |
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Hollow titanium has no place when people are waving
steel about. As a thought experiment, imagine I were to
wander down to the bike section of our hospital's parking
facility. The nice indoor one with cameras, not the tree
nearest the door I use. What would happen if I were to
take the big wrench we use for the gas cylinders and give
the various composite and alloy frames a healthy whack?
I'd lose my job probably, but my point would stand:
Hollow titanium and carbon are vulnerable to wrench
attacks. |
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Your mace shaft has an interesting mix of load demands.
The compression, bending & tension from using the
weapon in an idealized environment aren't that great.
Certainly nothing like those of a bike. You could get away
with a bit of old bamboo or something. Thin walled
titanium with a bit of butting near the head could be
made very light and stiff, but do you want that? Golf
clubs don't go that route, I think you want the shaft to act
as a spring. You can get a bit more velocity, and it takes
the worst out of the impact shock travelling back down
the shaft. For this effect a relatively thin carbon fibre
composite rod would work nicely, apart from the other
thing... |
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People are waving steel about, they might be deeply
unsporting and aim for your shaft. Rather than controlling
gentle loads from swinging the head around, now a dirty
great sword is supplying concentrated shock loads to the
surface. Titanium and carbon are dreadful here. So, I'd go
with something like 1/2" diameter S7 tool steel for the
shaft. Should have a bit of whip about it. No problems
with hidden over-stresses in S7. It's either fine or it isn't. |
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The shaft has to be suitably resistant to side impacts from an edged weapon, without significant distortion; the mass needs to be kept low, so that kinetic energy can be concentrated in the head (while retaining acceptable balance); and it shouldn't be excessively stiff, to limit the shock transmitted back down the handle to the user (hence the chain link on the ball-and-chain flail <link>). |
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A polymer-wrapped kevlar outer jacket would be good for absorbing impacts (and could be replaced between combats) and a tube of S7 steel within it would have flexibility and resilience, while allowing different balancing masses to be installed and positioned along the length. |
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In stead of a shaft, go with a close-wound spring - carbon fibre or titanium. |
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Absorbs any heavy blows, traps sword-blades, may be prone to chipping. |
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I think that if you find yourself fighting with (or against) a
mace, things have already gone quite the wrong way. |
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// go with a close-wound spring - carbon fibre or titanium. // |
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... both of which are valued for their stiffness. So, no. Definitely not. |
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// Absorbs any heavy blows, // |
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... meaning that much less energy is transferred to the target ? No. |
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// traps sword-blades, // |
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Very, very bad idea - your weapon is now encumbered, and your opponent has a longer lever-arm to work with to attempt a disarm. You might break his blade, but then your weapon is still partially encumbered, and now unbalanced, and he still has the stub of his blade to slash and parry with. |
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The big risk would be being unhorsed. The "snatch" if the blade is "captured" would mean all of that momentum is transferred to your hand and arm ... |
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// may be prone to chipping // |
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Handy for a fish and chip supper after the joust, the. |
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the reason for titanium or carbon-fibre is lack of weight, not stiffness, but there'd be enough of that to ensure the mace isn't a wobbly thing. Possible point on the sword-catch. |
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