Chapter 1: Introduction to Foam Work for Specializing in Swords – DRAFT
Chapter 1: Introduction to Foam Work for Specializing in Swords
The purpose of this chapter is to explain how to create your own training swords. There are several methods out of several different materials and in probably countless styles of design. Here I want to start with foam as it’s the cheapest form with easiest access to materials and tools, many of which can come from the dollar store.
And for the purposes of making a basic training sword, they don’t need to be fancy or costly, they just need to be sword shaped, have a bit of heft, and ideally, decent balance to get started.
Foam is a cheap material, it’s safe to get hit with, it’s readily available, easy to work with, and it’s a great starter material for people wanting to learn how to build things, even if it’s just for cosplay or for our purposes. This chapter will go through the types of foam, picking the best foam, some designs including designing your own, and then putting it all together.
By the end you’ll have your training sword and the skill to make other foam projects, as well as an introduction to progressing your crafting skills in general.
Understanding Foam as a Material
There are many types of foam that can be used for crafting and I’m going to cover a series of them and list their pros and cons before settling on the one that I personally think is best to build training swords from.
EVA Foam: EVA foam is ethylene-vinyl acetate foam. It’s soft, flexible, and tough and is used in several places from costumes and toys to sports equipment.
Pros:
- Flexible and easy to cut, shape, and glue.
- Light but tough, great for costumes and props.
- Can be heated and molded.
- Takes paint and finishes well.
Cons:
- Can be prone to tearing if it’s too thin and not handled gently.
- Fumigation is needed when heat shaping because of fumes.
- Unless treated with flame resistant finishes, it’s flammable.
Polyethylene Foam: PE foam is a versatile and widely used foam in a variety of industries. Packaging, insulation, flotation devices, autoparts. It’s versatile stuff.
Pros:
- Excellent shock absorption.
- Moisture and chemical resistance.
- Durable so it’s good for projects requiring a sturdy base.
Cons:
- It’s more difficult to cut and shape than softer foams.
- The texture can make finishing difficult.
- It’s also pretty flammable and melts under high temperatures.
Polyurethane Foam: A versatile foam used in a variety of industries due to light weight, durability, and insulative properties. Because of how it’s made, it can be made in a variety of densities.
Pros:
- Available in both rigid and flexible forms, useful for many applications.
- Easy to carve, shape, and sand.
- Takes paints and finishes well.
Cons:
- Protective gear is necessary for sanding because of the dust produced.
- Sunlight and solvents can cause it to break down.
- It’s flammable and can produce toxic fumes when burned.
Extruded Polystyrene Foam: XPS is a rigid material with excellent insulative properties and thermal performance, it’s moisture resistant, and tough. It’s made of polystyrene resin through an extrusion process. Many cosplayers and the like prefer this material for making props and other things.
Pros:
- Very light and easy to carve and shape.
- Great for large volumetric projects that aren’t heavy.
- Cheap and easy to find.
Cons:
- It’s brittle and can break easily under stress.
- It’s hard to get smooth without lots of additional finish coatings.
- It’s very flammable and melts easily while emitting harmful gas.
Memory Foam: AKA ViscoElastic Foam is a polyurethane foam treated chemically to increase its density and viscosity. It’s best known for mattresses, conforming under bodyweight and body temperature to give a custom supporting shape.
Pros:
- Excellent for custom cushioning.
- Great for projects that require impact absorption (footwear, armor).
- Tough and long-lasting.
Cons:
- Heavy and challenging to work with.
- Due to its relatively high density and reforming properties it’s not super useful for crafting.
- Can also be flammable and poisoning when high heat is applied.
Craft Foam Sheets: Typically made from Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), not to be confused with XPS above, or Polyethylene foam, these sheets are easy to cut, shape, and decorate. They come in a range of colors, thickness, and texture.
Pros:
- Easy to cut, glue, and handle, making them excellent for beginners.
- Wide range of appearances.
- Light, flexible, and great for small or decorative projects.
Cons:
- Not durable, prone to wear and tear.
- Not strong or worth using for load bearing.
- Flammable and meltable under high temperatures.
Overall, foam is safe (if you don’t burn it without ventilation), easy to handle, shape or change, cheap if you do screw up, and very beginner friendly.
Compared to wood or metal, it’s far superior for beginners, and getting walloped with a foam sword hurts WAAAAY less.
Essential Tools
My dear old Dad used to say, “ALWAYS PLAN AND HAVE ALL YOUR TOOLS AND MATERIALS SET UP AHEAD OF TIME AND THEN THE PROJECT WILL BE A BREEZE”. And he lived by that philosophy, most of the time >_>. We built our first hotwire foam cutter when I was 12 or 13 years old out of PVC and some other stuff. It was not the last one he ever built because we moved a few times, and you lose things when moving in my family.
Anyway, working with foam for crafting requires a handful of tools for cutting, shaping, and manipulating the materials effectively. The list is thus:
- A Utility or Craft Knife: Your main tool; this should be retractable, or at least easy to swap blades from. The grip should be comfortable to hold since you might be using it for long periods and comfort makes precision much easier to achieve. IT SHOULD SHARP. SHARP, SHARP, SHARP. “Dull blades cost fingers” as Dad used to say.
- Scissors: Another necessary tool, these too should be kept razor sharp to enhance precision and save your hands. I like to have regular scissors and precision scissors for different cutting tasks.
- Hot Wire Foam Cutter: This is what I was discussing earlier. It’s an electric tool used for making precision cuts in foam. It’s basically a heated resistance wire that melts its way quickly and cleanly through the foam, allowing the cuts to be smooth and controlled. It’s good for thicker or denser blocks of foam and precision if you have a steady hand. DON’T CUT WITH THESE WITHOUT PROPER VENTILLATION.
- Crafting Heat Gun: This is not your bathroom hairdryer. It’s like its hulked-out cousin. A heat gun is useful for softening foam temporarily and shaping it, bending it, or embossing. You need to be cautious with it to avoid overheating or damaging the foam, and probably should also only do it when well ventilated.
- Foam Brushes and Rollers: Rollers are the go-to tools for applying glues and adhesives, paint, and various other coatings to foam surfaces. Smooth, even coverage with no brush marks.
- Embossing Tools: Embossing tools, such as ball styluses or embossing pens, can be used to create designs or patterns on your projects by pressing or indenting the material.
- Ruler or Straight Edge: This tool is essential not just for measuring, but for marking things accurately before you start cutting. You can ensure your cuts are straight and precise with proper alignment, and they can also provide a stable edge for folding.
- Cutting Mat: A self-healing cutting mat is essential for saving your table-top from damage. They’re also useful as they come with grid lines and angle markings for when you’re marking or tracing on the materials allowing for precise measurements without having to mess about. Most also come standard with length numbers for acting as quick makeshift rulers.
- Sandpaper and Sanding Blocks: Sandpaper, or blocks, are handy for smoothing edges and surfaces after cutting, especially with less-sharp tools or occasionally when you’re melting. You can use it/them to help get cleaner finishes and remove imperfections and burrs. They can also prep surfaces to receive paint and other coatings and come in many grades of coarseness depending how smooth you want to make things.
- Safety Gear: When working with foam, or any other materials, proper protective gear is essential. ALWAYS wear your goggles, usually wear your gloves (unless you need your fine sense of touch, but even then, be careful), and keep yourself properly ventilated or respirator-masked up when working with anything remotely toxic fume-wise. If you don’t know if something is toxic or dangerous, always assume it is.
This is the basic armory you need for effectively tackling most foam projects easily and precisely. You may need others depending on specific project requirements, so keep that in mind.
Setting Up a Safe and Effective Workspace
My Dad used to say, “Do your best with what you’ve got, and build up from there.” Which is good advice. But he was always proud of the fact that you should have a spacious, safe, and comfortable workspace if you can, especially when working with sharp tools. So now we’re going to talk about setting up a safe, organized, and productive workspace.
Assessing Your Workspace Requirements
Figure out how much space you have available, and how it’s set up. You need a workbench, which ideally is an actual bench but could be a table, a cleaned off kitchen table, a folding table (which are usually pretty cheap from the hardware store), or even a freshly made bed so there’s no uneven surfaces (though its squishiness may compromise what you’re doing).
Make sure your lighting is adequate, you don’t want to be working in the shade or the dark, especially if, like me, you’re getting older, and your eyes don’t work so well anymore. Bright light from every angle is important. So long as the light sources themselves, or their cords, aren’t in your way. Never use chemicals (paint, etc.) or heat on foam unless you are in a WELL-VENTILATED AREA. Not just corner window fans either, ACTUAL venting. A fume hood, outside (a covered area should be fine, like a camping gazebo), or a large warehouse type space with lots of good airflow. And make sure your electricity is handy close-by. You don’t want to be running more energy drawing power tools through 50+ feet of extension cord and risking screwing up your projects, your tools (expensive), or causing a fire (way more expensive).
Plan for adequate storage of your tools so they’re not in the way when not in use (put them away when you’re done, and keep track of anyone who borrows them), and keep them clean and in good repair.
Keep your materials in secure situations that match their guidelines. Cool, dark, dry, and well-ventilated spaces seem to be a go-to for most materials. Ditto for when you finish your projects. Have spaces for them or get rid of them (sell them if you are selling them or give them to whomever you made them for), if they’re your own, as is the case for our training swords, consider a wall-mounted rack of some kind.
Safety Precautions
PPE, personal protective equipment, is essential for ANY crafting or building you’re doing. In the case of foam crafting, it should be goggles to keep you safe from shrapnel (fragments of a utility blade in the eye don’t feel great), and cut/puncture resistant gloves, GOOD ONES. I’d even add making sure they were heat resistant to a point, so you don’t have some piece of plastic stick to you like napalm if you accidentally melt it. If you’re going to be painting or chemically treating your foam, use a ventilator mask. I use a double filter respirator mask from the hardware store. That’s in addition to ventilation, not instead of. I also like to wear a crafting apron just as shrapnel or spillage armor, and it usually has pockets which can make hauling tools and such about convenient.
Fire safety is up next, make sure you’ve got adequate and recharged extinguishers handy if you’re working with heat, chemicals, or electricity. And make sure the extinguisher is rated for electrical fires or whatever chemicals you’re working with. I know a lot of this might seem like overkill or common sense, but sometimes if nobody says anything, people just don’t think of it, and I’d always rather be too prepared and not need it than not prepared.
Full on tool safety is beyond the scope of this book, but general advice is never cut towards yourself, make sure all your tools are sharp and well maintained, don’t use heat or open flame near things that are explosive or especially flammable, NO HORSEPLAY EVER AROUND THE TOOLS, put everything away properly.
Setting Up Workstations
Ideally, you have the space to set up multiple workstations, like in a garage or basement or something so that you can switch between tasks safely and without a huge time constraint or hassle of putting everything away and taking everything out. If you DO have to constantly set up and take down your stations, try to do all your work in batches. All the line drawing and pattern making all at once, all the cutting at once etc. This requires in depth planning, but you should have done all the planning from the get-go.
Cutting Station
Your cutting station should have the cutting mats and other covers set up already to shield your tables etc. You should also have all your tools readily accessible but kept safely when not in use. Use blade guards and properly put things away, especially if you have small children or pets that get into things. If possible, I like to tether my tools to their storage spot with a piece of cable so that they can’t get lost (I am absent minded as all get-out).
Shaping and Heating Station
This station will ideally be outside or in some well open space with good fans, or even under a fume hood. Your heat guns and hot wire foam cutters should have the same rules as your cutting tools, but also have readily available power sources with not too many extension cords or power splitters. Have fire extinguishing equipment handy.
Make sure you keep all your heat resistant molding shapes and surfaces here too, all well-organized. As you make more things from foam, you’ll no doubt make or come across more jigs and other molding shapes, so it’s good to start with an organized space from the beginning. I use a big tote.
Painting and Finishing Station
This station is another that should be outside or follow the super well-ventilated rules of the heating station. Make sure this area either uses lots of paint cloths (even just old sheets or dollar store ones you don’t care about wrecking will work) or has surfaces that you’re fine with getting paint covered.
Ideally you want a stand where you can hang things on wires so you can spray them down from every angle, and you possibly want bug netting in this area if it’s outside because bugs can and will land on your stuff and get stuck just to annoy you.
As always, make sure you have organizational stands for brushes and different paints and finishing products so everything is handy and you don’t have to go digging, this will save you so much time.
Workspace Maintenance and Cleanup
On a weekly basis, you should do a regular inspection of all your tools and equipment. These routines are important, they’re the reason why militaries are so effective. They’ll also keep you safe; a checklist of all your materials makes sure they’re not left in dangerous areas prone to catching fire or exploding, make sure your tools are sharp and in the case of electrical ones, not going to short out and zap you or start a fire.
Wash or replace your spill-cloths regularly, especially if you’re working with potentially toxic or flammable paints or finishes. Have a roll of highly absorbent shop paper towels handy all the time and don’t be afraid to use them. And regularly wash and dry your work surfaces as appropriate.
When disposing of waste, your soiled paper towels, wrecked paint cloths, trashed aprons, whatever, make sure you know your local laws and bylaws for getting rid of that stuff. Most places it’s okay to throw small amounts of standard household materials in the garbage, but many places require you to take special precautions, especially for rarer (and therefore harder to dispose of) materials, or anything flammable or overtly toxic. The last thing you want to do is hurt or kill someone by accident.
Conclusion
Be safe, be clean, be organized. Have good routines. Follow the law.
Storage and Handling of Materials
This section is all about how my life got flipped turned upside down…no, sorry, having 90’s flashbacks haha. It’s actually about how to safely store and handle material as the heading says. Foam materials sometimes degrade over time, especially in hot, moist, or UV ray exposed areas. This can lead to them giving off toxic fumes and just breaking down and losing their structural integrity, or changing colors and looking gross, or at least not like how you wanted or expected.
Assessing Material Requirements
Even though all foams are different, fundamentally they have similar storage requirements; keep them dry, keep them cool, and keep them in the dark. Research the specific types of foam you’re working with to see if they have requirements beyond that, but they probably don’t.
The foams you work with most or like to use best should take up most of your storage space. Storage space is good for materials because it saves you on time having to go to the store repeatedly for new projects, and it lets you buy materials in bulk or on sale for a later use, which can save you a TON of money.
Storage Guidelines
As I touched on, you want your foam safe from extremes of temperature and moisture. Generally, I wouldn’t store my foam outside or in a garage in any way. But a closet in the home is best if it’s dark and not right near a heat register. If you live in a humid area, you might want to consider a dehumidifier (they actually have little dehumidifier buckets for RVs that are passive, requiring no electricity, and relatively cheap and fit perfectly in closets and cupboards).
Storage orientation is the next thing we’ll discuss. When you keep foam sheets lying down, it might not always be perfectly flat, but if you hang it, gravity holds it that way. Even just standing it up stably is better than lying it down and it takes up far less floor space. If you foam is on spools, you can lie them horizontally and stack them vertically, or stand them up next to each other. If you have the right rolls, you could even stand them up vertically and stack them to make use of the full 3d space of your storage area.
Another piece of advice that seems obvious, but still gets forgotten, is don’t store your foam near heavy objects or sharp edges if you can help it or store those things near your foam. Heavy objects fall and break things and sharp edges snag. It’s not worth the cost risk.
Be sure to implement an organizational system for your foam. Start by grouping types, then size/thickness, then color. It makes it so much easier to get a task started and finished because it removes so many barriers and bottle necks that cause procrastination.
Handling Procedures
When you’re lifting and carrying sheets of foam, especially large and heavy ones, use proper lifting techniques. Lift with your legs, not your back, don’t overreach, don’t arch your back, don’t lift passed or over things if you can avoid it (move that chair in front of the foam-closet out of the way!).
Posted in Drafts, How to Be a Green Tunic Hero and tagged Drafts, Swords by Brent