Make Your Own Weapons

RiderOnTheStorm

A recent thread got me thinking about this. What weapons can we make easily? Other threads talk about prefered weapons, rather than what is pratical or available.
So Imagine ZA day has arrived, so you dont have chain-guns, flame throwers , tanks or castles to hand. What can we all easily make? What can we do with common knowledge or with a little help?

I realise this thread could descend into boderline incitement to violence, so NO blueprints for handguns, actual weapon designs, bomb design etc.. , NO chemical formulas for zyclon b or TNT ..... nothing illegal please .... just common sense, and keep it legal.

My suggestions is for swords or machetes. I know its debatable how efficient they will be in ZA Day (and ignoring the contimation from blood splatter) but they are easy to make. Any sharpened piece of metal (use an angle grinder) and a nice wooden handle and bobs-your-z-killer. As this is a rough hand made tool, it will get dull quickly and easily break .... so make a few!

Bows & arrows are easy to make . The quality of the arrow is the most important and will take a bit of pratice to get good quality ones. Again, the usefullness of bows in un-skilled hands is highly debatable.

Anyone got more?

degrassinoel

couple of really simple ones would be, snapping off a broomhead and using the sharp end of the stick.
Same with chair legs, the heavier the better.

The things ye could do with duct-tape, a set of kitchen knives and broomhandles!

Zomg Okay

I've a steel pole in my room off a weightlifting set. It's solid and the weight is balanced out. That'll be my first port of call: Take the weights off the ends and hit Zeds with it. There's also a hatchet for the firewood and some other bits in the utility room.

Finally I have an airsoft pistol and a holster for it. I'd have it on my leg on the off chance it would quell a bandit's enthusiasm. Even if it didn't, those pellets sting if you aim for the face.

I wouldn't be relying on anything DIY until I was forced too, tbh.

southcentralts

I would have said the baseball-bat with nails in it, but it has got me wondering if a zombie would be more susceptible to head injuries, I mean we can still function with a nail in our noggin (though not very well and probably best to remove it) so would a zombie really die under the same circumstances, might be best to go for the blunt force trauma.

And as for sharp objects I don't see the value in them, very difficult for a samurai to sever a limb with years of training and a proper samurai sword, you will be more likely to get your weapon stuck in the zombie.

Witcher

I already have 2 guns so I'm ahead of the game:pac: But they're only going to be useful until the ammunition goes.

But apart from that I've a hatchet and an old sword type bayonet. Then the standard claw hammer etc if I was stuck for a weapon:P

Longswords etc wouldnt be as useful as people think, guy I know showed me a collection of swords saying they would be good for zombie killing, they all had rat tail tangs IOW they were useless:P Most replica swords are the same, unless you have a good, sharp, light sword with a proper tang then you might aswell leave it behind.

Something like this is ideal, has a range of uses.

km71domino

hurley sticks and golf clubs are common

Tzar Chasm

I have a pike.

and a shotgun

RiderOnTheStorm

yup, i love the Fubar ...

what about a shaolin spade? It is used by the Shaolin wushu monks and it is simple, plain and unsophisticated. Its just a spade with sharpened edges. You can hammer and sharpen your own spade / shovel using your existing diy tool kit. With this you can fight the Z's without them getting too close, and you have lots of momentum to possibly decapitate. Again, this will take pratice.

Duff

I have a genuine katana in my room and my bro has big airsoft rife, ball barings for ammo and aim for the eyes.

Rhinocharge

A pool ball wrapped in 2 pairs of footie socks, a folding combat shovel (sharpened) and a maglite torch, 3 "D"cells model or bigger for close quarters.
An old fashioned hand catapult/sling shot for medium to long range.
Silent, accurate, deadly and ammo can be literally picked up off the ground.
Pebbles, nuts, bolts and shot can be cast if need be using old lead etc.
Major plus with these, is with a bit of practice even kids can use them.

A ball & chain could be easily made with a heavy brass padlock, a short chain & half a pickaxe handle.

Just about any weapons used in medeval times.

endacl

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

I have a pike.

and a shotgun

Distract them with a fish. Then shoot them.

Nice......;-)

RiderOnTheStorm

I like the idea of the medieval weapons. I think we will have to use a lot of thinking & methods from this era after ZA day.

But what weapons can we make now (or shortly after ZA day) with over the counter meterials? The likes of a pike or sharpened shovel is good (keeps the Z at more-than-arms-lenght while you kill it). Many thanks Rhino for the tips on know how to make a morning star. Exactly what I was looking for in this thread. I reckon any heavy object on a chain will do (as the spikes are not necessary against Z's), and the padlock does not require me to be able to weld a lump of iron to a chain!

Remember, Z's can only be 'killed' by decapitation or major trauma to the brain. Chopping off an arm / leg will not do it. Stabbing them with various knives or spikes will not do it. Arrows will have no effect unless they pierce the motor-controlling part of the brain. Z's dont have normal nervous system or circulating blood, so inflicting pain or major blood loss wont stop them. Hitting them in the eyes with arrows / bullets / ballbearings wont work. Even fire is debateable. Unless it destroys the brain (or incenerates the body so that the brain cant move it) fire is just your enemy, as it makes the Z a walking torch chasing you!

Anyone got ideas for traps / defences to place around your house / castle? Keep it simple, and for the purpose of this thread, please keep the materials to those readily available to Joe-Soap (me!)

Zomg Okay

More than a few of those weapons would be more dangerous to you than the Zeds if you weren't trained to use them. Especially the nunchuku, swallow and morning star.

ScumLord

km71domino wrote: »

hurley sticks and golf clubs are common

Or better yet a custom made battle hurl.

RiderOnTheStorm

These are 2 knife / machete / short swords I made recently. They were made with the intention of learning the in's and out's of blade making. I hope to make a larger one soon.






They are 20" long (blade 14"). The metal is mild steel (avail from most builder providers), and is 30mm x 5mm . They are much heavier than I expected. I sharpened 1 side and the tip with an angle grinder. I got a nice sharp edge but I think if I were to use it with any frequency it will dull quickly. I split a nice wood handle (from a brush) and used cabinet bolts to secure it to the (full length) tang . Then I filled the gap with wood filler. If I had a thicker brush handle I would have tried to recess the tang into the inside of the handle. Maybe next time. I may wrap the handles with either hurly tape or nice string.

Tzar Chasm

Mild steel is good for practice but you should be trying to find some alloy or stainless when you want to make a serious blade, i'd recommend that you continue practicing tho, especially hammering an edge as this is preferable to using an anglegrinder, then you can practice tempering & case hardening.

Have you built yourself a forge?

RiderOnTheStorm

thx for the input Tzar. Yea, stainless steel is somewhere on my horizon to do. I avoided hammering an edge becaue I dont have means to heat the metal. As I said, this is a learning process. I thought getting a strip of steel about the right shape, then putting edge on it and handle on would be easy. Its amazing how many small things there are along the way to this end!

My mext proj is a longer sword. About 36" and shaped like a katana. I am thinking of using heat to bend it a bit. Maybe dig a shallow pit and put coal fire in it. or use a gas cylinder and rig up a long oven. To actually do the bending, I am thinking of having a template of the shape I want secured to a thick plank of wood, and then use a car jack to bend the metal....... I wonder how many small things will have to be overcome in this proj!

ScumLord

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

My mext proj is a longer sword. About 36" and shaped like a katana. I am thinking of using heat to bend it a bit.

Would bending it not weaken the cutting edge? Your basically pulling the metal apart along that edge.

RiderOnTheStorm

the cutting edge is applied after the bending. so hammering or sharpening it would re-form any 'stretch' ..... thats my understanding anyway. Its how the original katanas are made (bent first , sharpened after). The bend is not much. 2" off true straight on a 3 foot blade.

nimrod86

I always thought bladed weapons are both more useful, and generally cooler to have!

This here is what I'd grab first cause It's what I have out in the shed!



The two knives and their sheaths in the picture were made by me. Mild steel that I'll get around to hardening, and mahogany handles. Made the small one as a test, and then put more work into the larger. The machete is nice to use, heavy but swings well, sharp too, but not shave yourself, cut small trees to bits sharp yes, (or hopefully Zombie skulls/necks for that matter!). The chain saw, well, I put that in cause I think it looks badass, imaging getting a hit with that!, the pointy metal stick coult be thrown? used for impaling? and the scythe and axe were in the shed at the time, so I threw them in too!

Zomg Okay

Trust me, you don't want to use the metal chain. It is very easy to injure yourself with a weapon like that, you'd be helping the zombies rather than hindering them.

Tzar Chasm

a DIY Forge is a relativley simple thing to make.

heres a quick runthrough that you should be able to achieve in a suburban environment
Materials Required;
Shovel
Tinder
Coking coal
Large Webber Barbque
Drill with holesaw
Hair dryer
flexible metal pipe
metal working tools

Method

1) Dig hole bigger than barbque
2) Dig chanel to botom of hole for pipe
3) Fit pipe into chanel
4) Drill hole in bottom of barbeque
5) Fit pipe into hole in barbeque
6) Put barbeque in hole and fill around
7) Attach hairdryer to other end of pipe
8) Fill barbeque with coke and tinder
9) Light
10)Turn on hardryer
11)Once coals are good and hot you can proceed to work metals

simples

ScumLord

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

the cutting edge is applied after the bending. so hammering or sharpening it would re-form any 'stretch' ..... thats my understanding anyway. Its how the original katanas are made (bent first , sharpened after). The bend is not much. 2" off true straight on a 3 foot blade.

I thought the bend in the Katanas comes from the difference in the metal front to back and happened during cooling.

RiderOnTheStorm

Nice collection, Nimrod. Food for thought there.

Thx for forge guide Tzar. Hairdryer is great addition!

Scum, yes, the katana blade is covered with clay (2 types) and then heated (until its the colour of the rising sun) and then its allowed cool. Its the differential cooling of metal and clays that cause it to bend. I am no metalurgist, so I dont know if the edge produced on the side when cooling this way or when heated & bent while hot will be of the same quality. I am not going to experement with ancient samurai ways. I am happy enough to bend the metal and sharpen it. It will do for Zombies!

Tzar Chasm

Yep, wiki confirms that one, the quenching process causes the bend, Katanas are a composite type sword, very complicated to get the metals fused probably not something for a beginner, a good old fashiomed medieval Broadsword should be fairly straighforward provided you can get a reasonably long and thick bar of stainless.

Hammering and hammerwelding are the skills I'd practice first if I was learning again, quenching, blueing, tempering & hardening are stuff that are easy to learn but hard to perfect.

if you are really interested I'd recomend that you try and find yerself a working forge and just observe for a few days, most of the lads still working these days are more than happy to teach you a few of the tricks of the trade.

Tzar Chasm

oh yeah, one tiny little thing that will make hammerin steel easier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk

hammer to that tune

you may have heard the expression

'2 to the anvil one to the steel'

basicly when you hammer steel you should have a rhythm going and the hammer ringing before you hit the piece you are working ( if you sat down with my Grandad he'd give you a detailed explanation of the theory behind this, Me I just take his word for it)

thats as near as dammit the correct rhythm, plus its a really good tune.

RiderOnTheStorm

thx Tzar , some good stuff there.

I have seen (in movies & TV) folk hammer the anvil before the metal .... often wondered why ..... that my target for Google this afternoon sorted so!

RiderOnTheStorm

If we get Zombies that can only be killed by severing the brain-stem (or major brain trauma) - ie the type of Z's we anticipate - then I dont think a bow / crossbow / catapult will do the job. What ranged weapon could we make from common equipment & materials that will?

Is there anything that can 'kill' a Z at a distance?
Gas powered cannon and bowling balls?
Throw a net over them and dispatch them shortly after?
Spring loaded golf-ball rifle?

Zomg Okay

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

then I dont think a bow / crossbow / catapult will do the job

A bolt fired off a crossbow could penetrate steel plate armour back in the day. It's introduction to the battlefield caused the downfall of the knight class because these prized, heavily armoured troops were getting cut down at a distance. I think it could manage a skull.

The Mongols were able to out perform the crossbow using their bows. So a bow could suffice in the right hands.

When you say catapult, do you mean a full blown one? That would do the job, no worries. Assuming you could find and transport boulders and figured out how to aim and operate the catapult, it would be a relatively simple matter to stick it in your base and fire it at approaching hordes. If you were on target, you'd crush several and at the very least render them immobile.

ScumLord

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Scum, yes, the katana blade is covered with clay (2 types) and then heated (until its the colour of the rising sun) and then its allowed cool. Its the differential cooling of metal and clays that cause it to bend. I am no metalurgist, so I dont know if the edge produced on the side when cooling this way or when heated & bent while hot will be of the same quality. I am not going to experement with ancient samurai ways. I am happy enough to bend the metal and sharpen it. It will do for Zombies!

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

Yep, wiki confirms that one, the quenching process causes the bend, Katanas are a composite type sword, very complicated to get the metals fused probably not something for a beginner, a good old fashiomed medieval Broadsword should be fairly straighforward provided you can get a reasonably long and thick bar of stainless.

I looked into it, there are two metals. An extremely hard (therefore brittle) external layer and a softer (therefore stronger and bendier) internal core giving the sword the best of both worlds in terms of having a super hard blade that won't shatter. Pretty difficult to make all right, most modern blades are a compromise one way or the other with softer metals overall being more manageable.

You can look into case hardening though, there are ways of chemically treating the surface of the metal to give it a hardened shell beyond just heat treatment. It may take some experimentation to get a good balance though, too much hardening could lead to the outer surface chipping off.

nimrod86

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Spring loaded golf-ball rifle?

OMG!!! THAT IS AN AMAZING IDEA!!!!

Might try make one of these after I get back from my holidays!

Thanks for the idea!

nim