Something silly: a Walking Dead weapons "rant"

[Majer]

Yes, the ethanol attacks the plastic parts in the fuel system (in small engines) and is Hygroscopic, It sucks moisture out of the air and causes corrosion in the fuel system of fuel injected engines which causes more problems.The gas just doesn't last as long. The Military reserves are pure gasoline and is kept in storage with I believe an inert gas to keep it from going bad.

[Dirty Bob]

I buy gas -- from the QT stations -- with no ethanol for my lawn mower. It's more expensive, but worth it, and I don't need a lot.

Plus, if you see Peter Jackson's gross-out zombie movie "Dead Alive," you learn that a lawn mower is useful against zombies!

Do NOT watch this if you're squeamish or easily offended!

[Dirty Bob]

As far as "practical" medieval weapons, I like my yard edger. It's a steel tubular handle with a small, thick, rectangular steel blade welded on, sort of like a flat shovel. If I sharpened the three edges and extended the handle to about 5 feet with a hickory tool handle, it would be a fearsome polearm. I'd probably add a dull spike to the butt of the pole, so I wouldn't have to set it down: I could just jam the spike into the ground. It would also give the little poleax a mean butt stroke.

The easiest medieval polearm to make is a classic flail, with a long handle and short piece of plumbing pipe attached to one end with a few links of chain. The beater hits like a sledge hammer, even after a short swing, and it whips around shield edges and upraised blocking arms. The problem is controlling it. A flail is a good way to be unpopular with your friends, unless you're very good with it.

A homemade "mace," with a heavy, short piece of steel plumbing pipe slipped over a heavy-duty handle and pinned or wedged in place like an ax head, would be more practical for most people than a machete, ax or sword. You could even put a short, thick spike in the business end. Used with a small- or medium-sized round shield, it would make engaging one or two walkers a pretty easy affair.

[PegLeg45]

 

[Big Frank]

I buy gas -- from the QT stations -- with no ethanol for my lawn mower. It's more expensive, but worth it, and I don't need a lot.

Plus, if you see Peter Jackson's gross-out zombie movie "Dead Alive," you learn that a lawn mower is useful against zombies!

Do NOT watch this if you're squeamish or easily offended!

I didn't even click on that yet and already have a smile on my face. I remember this scene. But I didn't know Peter Jackson had anything to do with it. I don't think I really heard of him until the Lord of the Rings movies.

There's one pump at a gas station near where I go to ride my ATV that's labeled "recreation gas" or something like that. It doesn't have any ethanol in it, but sometimes I do after a ride. That gas is really expensive and I don't know where to buy any like it close to home. I think a gas station on the other side of the city still sells racing fuel but I'm not wasting money on that when 87 octane works just as well.

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

As far as "practical" medieval weapons, I like my yard edger. It's a steel tubular handle with a small, thick, rectangular steel blade welded on, sort of like a flat shovel. If I sharpened the three edges and extended the handle to about 5 feet with a hickory tool handle, it would be a fearsome polearm. I'd probably add a dull spike to the butt of the pole, so I wouldn't have to set it down: I could just jam the spike into the ground. It would also give the little poleax a mean butt stroke.

The easiest medieval polearm to make is a classic flail, with a long handle and short piece of plumbing pipe attached to one end with a few links of chain. The beater hits like a sledge hammer, even after a short swing, and it whips around shield edges and upraised blocking arms. The problem is controlling it. A flail is a good way to be unpopular with your friends, unless you're very good with it.

A homemade "mace," with a heavy, short piece of steel plumbing pipe slipped over a heavy-duty handle and pinned or wedged in place like an ax head, would be more practical for most people than a machete, ax or sword. You could even put a short, thick spike in the business end. Used with a small- or medium-sized round shield, it would make engaging one or two walkers a pretty easy affair.

I bought an AMES 4" scraper with a tempered steel blade, to do my edging and scrape grass off the cracks in my driveway. The snowplow on my ATV will float right over the grass sometimes instead of staying on the concrete. At least my old plow did. I only plowed snow once all last winter, and not at all yet this winter, but the new plow seemed to work better the one time I used it. The sticker on the scraper says 4" but the forged steel blade is actually 4.5" wide, much thicker than a typical shovel blade and maybe a bit heavier. The 53" long handle is hefty like a good shovel handle and is riveted into the socket. Mine is kind of a dark brown straight-grained wood. It's North American hardwood but I couldn't say what kind. Possibly some type of walnut, not tan, like ash or whatever is in the pictures. It has a slight bevel on the end of the blade from the forging and trimming process. I think I'll be sharpening that up. It would be very easy to grind a single bevel about 8" up both sides of the 9" blade. It would be a "killer" brush ax. The overall length is 62.75″ which puts it below my chin when I stand it up. That's a great length for a pole weapon IMO. If my poleaxe was cut down to this length it wouldn't be so unwieldy, but it's still heavy.

https://www.ames.com/product/scrapers/2683000-4-5-in-scraperchopper/

[tombogan03884]

I buy gas -- from the QT stations -- with no ethanol for my lawn mower. It's more expensive, but worth it, and I don't need a lot.

Plus, if you see Peter Jackson's gross-out zombie movie "Dead Alive," you learn that a lawn mower is useful against zombies!

Do NOT watch this if you're squeamish or easily offended!

DUDE !   NEVER, EVER trust a chick with prominent canines .     
Especially if she's cute.   


As for edged weapons I've REALLY gone "Dark side", I've got a Glock E tool.   
And an axe, Hand forged companion since my teen's.   

[Timothy]

K9’s don’t bother me as much as the pronounced Adam’s apple!

[Dirty Bob]

I bought an AMES 4" scraper with a tempered steel blade, to do my edging and scrape grass off the cracks in my driveway. The snowplow on my ATV will float right over the grass sometimes instead of staying on the concrete. At least my old plow did. I only plowed snow once all last winter, and not at all yet this winter, but the new plow seemed to work better the one time I used it. The sticker on the scraper says 4" but the forged steel blade is actually 4.5" wide, much thicker than a typical shovel blade and maybe a bit heavier. The 53" long handle is hefty like a good shovel handle and is riveted into the socket. Mine is kind of a dark brown straight-grained wood. It's North American hardwood but I couldn't say what kind. Possibly some type of walnut, not tan, like ash or whatever is in the pictures. It has a slight bevel on the end of the blade from the forging and trimming process. I think I'll be sharpening that up. It would be very easy to grind a single bevel about 8" up both sides of the 9" blade. It would be a "killer" brush ax. The overall length is 62.75″ which puts it below my chin when I stand it up. That's a great length for a pole weapon IMO. If my poleaxe was cut down to this length it wouldn't be so unwieldy, but it's still heavy.

https://www.ames.com/product/scrapers/2683000-4-5-in-scraperchopper/

Excellent choice! If you were going to subject the handle to the stresses of chopping, I'd suggest covering most of the socket and about a foot or so of the handle in epoxy and wrapping the whole area in strong cord, followed by soaking the cord in more epoxy once it's in place, like the black-handled knife with the brass guard in this picture:

The wrapping will help distribute the force when the blade hits something. It's also water- or blood- or goo-proof.

K9’s don’t bother me as much as the pronounced Adam’s apple!

Ah, yes. I was in 3rd Fleet (with some time in 7th Fleet as well). We know We've uh...heard about such things. But that was a long time ago.

The last hours of my last ship:

Dirty Bob

[tombogan03884]

K9’s don’t bother me as much as the pronounced Adam’s apple!

More concerned with MY pronounced Adams Apple.
I've become attached to it over the years.