Flexible Baton

[Red Beret]

I wasn't sure what to call this, but flexible baton is OK for now.

It's a concealable, cheap, effective people whacker.

To make it;
Take a length of garden hose 30-40cm is good, (thats what I used, other hose will work) and seal one end, either by heat sealing it shut, or bogging it with resin or car body filler etc. Make sure it's secure.

Next fill the hose with lead, in the form of shot, sinkers or whatever you have on hand. When the hose is almost full, seal up the open end in the same fashion.

Put a few wraps of duct tape on one end to form a grip, and that's it.

You may wish to add lead only down one end, and fill the rest with lighter filler (pressed tissue paper etc), to add to the "whipping effect", but I find this method works well enough.

Something else I have done is, put a few short nails through the hose along it's length, secure them in place. I used "knead it" steel to secure it in place.

It's nothing fancy, but anyone can make it, it's easily hidden down your trousers, up a sleeve etc, and if fucking hurts. A few well positioned strikes should drive the point that you want to be left alone.

Nothing to write home about, but another tool in the tool box. Let me know what you think.

[sparkchaser]

The same can be done with parachute cord braided in a square braid, but instead of lead shot I've used very large ball bearings.

[nbk2000]

'http://www.donrearic.com/impacttools.html'

[Hirudinea]

I wasn't sure what to call this, but flexible baton is OK for now.

It's a concealable, cheap, effective people whacker.

Whats the matter, a gym sock full of pennies not good enough for you? That costs a less than a dollar including the pennies! :D

Nah, I'm just kidding, it sounds like a good idea.

[Jacks Complete]

Surely two feet of lead pipe is easier?

[Red Beret]

Yes, two feet of lead pipe would be easier, but, this weapon is flexible and lighter, allowing for quick snappy follow-up shots, whilst still being heavy enough to pack a fair puch. Plus it's more concealable.

Hitting things with a solid metal pipe can be hard on the hands. Which is why I thought up this. When you strike with this, it flexes, providing longer target contact and allowing you to follow through cmpletely, thus delivering more energy to the target.

[Charlie Workman]

British thugs have long used a similar weapon made from a piece of heavy steel cable or wire rope. They wrapped it in tape to keep the wire ends from unraveling. They called it "Flex". I believe the cable was one inch diameter or larger.

"To paraphrase Aristotle, life is a gas!"
-Gidget

[neo-crossbow]

Long live the kosh.

Actually lead shot can be used to weight all sorts of things, I've also seen baseball caps with some sheet steel in the brim (with blade edge ofcoarse) shot in ties, detachable pockets etc.

Good thread

[FUTI]

I saw on Discovery Channel a show where they compared old hand weapons mostly Chinese and Japanese origin sticks, blades etc. I was amazed by deep analysis they done, not just simple physics like force on impact, sweep area, momentum etc., but also control of weapon, amount of energy transfer and stuff that talk about weapon usefullness. If you look that show you could pick few usefull ideas about how to design good handheld weapon for your purpose.

[Alexires]

Yeah, I saw that one too FUTI, and I was pretty impressed...


Until they reached the conclusion that the Katana and the Shuriken were the best weapons.

The Katana I can understand, but there was no calculations done for Shuriken.

At the end of the show, they compared a bow to a Shuriken and said the Shuriken won?

Bullshit.

On another note, where they had all those people in a choreographed fight with the weapons was pretty cool.

[c.Tech]

A good soft flexible material that can be used for not only a mouldable weapon but also body armour and other uses is the material inside rib caps which is soft and mouldable under normal conditions but as soon as any pressure is applied (a strike to the head) the material hardens.

It can be moulded into pointy shapes, around your knuckles or into a bar, the best bit is it wouldn’t look like a weapon if you were searched on the street because nobody knows it will go hard on impact.

'http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/051204_ribcap.html' here is an article on the material and its use in sports protection.

[Jacks Complete]

You can do this with cornstarch paste. See http://youtube.com/watch?v=7xUyRHM4eto as an example. You'd have to put it in a tube.

Red Beret, I don't think you have handled a lead pipe. Hold it as hard as you like, and whack something. No vibration, it simply deforms. Very heavy, a great stunning weapon, it will easily break an arm.

Charlie Workman, I've not seen that in general use ever, but a few feet of steel armoured cable is a nasty weapon, it's about 3/4" thick. I've also seen weird things like a spring from a chair, 1/2" thick, steel, still covered in fabric. Hits hard, but also very flexible. Very rigid until it starts to bend, then it flexs easily. I've also seen car aerials and 6mm earth wire used.

Going back to the original post, I'd suggest having a little air space so it stays flexible, and also drill and pin the end cap, or it will likely spew it's contents out if you do a long overhead strike.

[c.Tech]

That corn starch looks a little weaker than what I use to play with as a child, maybe they added a bit much water.

Sorry for going a little off topic here but how about cornstarch bullets the same as ruber bullets? Put them behind a charge and when they blow out they will form balls (big and small) which would harden on impact.

[knowledgehungry]

Red Beret, I believe that your device would be more aptly named, "Homemade Black Jack" as that is what your weapon sounds like.

[Red Beret]

Yes, home made blackjack would be more accurate, it's probably closer to that than a baton.

Jacks Complete- Thats true I haven't handled handled a genuine lead pipe, we don't have them here (in common use). I see your point, no vibration, just bends and absorbs shock.

In regards to the ends being pinned, I did that on the second one I made, waited 'till the steel putty was almost set, and put a self tapper in.

C-tech, I have made one of those "corn starch" rounds, in 12g. Just made it up (the paste) and placed a plastic bag corner in an opened up shell, poured the slurry in, twisted, sealed, then closed up the shell. Couldn't find anyone to test it on, or anyone who would fire at me. A little different to what you mentioned but same principal. I imagine the 12g type would be a decent non lethal round, perhaps a little dangerous? In non lethal terms I mean. :rolleyes:

[Cindor]

It can be lethal if it hits you in some areas of your chest (like your heart).

[Jacks Complete]

A simple punch to the chest, if it arrives in the right fraction of a second, will stop your heart dead. There is a 15ms time window every heartbeat!

Nothing is "100% non-lethal". Even nothing!

What might be interesting would be to take a bike chain and run it up and down the insides of a jacket. This would only flex in one direction, so blocks of a blade would work fine either way, and stopping a bat or strike would work very well one way, and less so the other. With a few moments to free it, you then have a bike chain to hit people with, or use as a 'duster.

[random136]

Jack's Complete, while I see how your chain idea would fend off an edged weapon (by the same principle that chain mail functions), I fail to see how it would hold up against a blunt weapon such as a bat. Physics tells us that the energy absorbed by one object will transfer to another object when one collides with another. The bat would just beat the chain into your anatomy, especially considering that the chain does not exert a uniform pressure on your body, what with the rings having narrow edges and all.

The use of a chain as a weapon however, gets my total respect; especially if you choose to weigh down the ends of that chain. There’s a reason why nunchakus have become illegal in many jurisdictions around the world. When used properly, even a humble pair of wooden nunchakus held together with horse hair or leather strips (like the nunchakus of old) could exert more pressure per centimeter squared then most modern hand to hand weapons.