wood working question

[Precision]

Sorta

I think I have shared, that I am now fight in a sport called Buhurt. Or Medieval Armored Combat.

We put on a close proximity of period correct armor and use close to period correct weapons to fight. Think MMA with armor and blades.
Anyway. I am a bit old to be truly competitive, but it is tons of fun / gives me something to do in my down time and gives me a reason to work out and stay in shape.

Seeing as I am a bit old to be competitive and I am very business driven, I have found an opportunity that I am attempting to make money with. When we fight with axes (specifically) two handed axes, the hafts (handles) break with regularity. As in sometimes in a 3 round (1 minute each) fight, 2-3-4 axes may be needed as the hafts gets broken several times.

The vast majority of people are using hickory, oak or ash hafts cut from solid wood. They just don't hold up as they break along the grain.
I have been testing laminating strips of wood. Taking Oak / Hickory / whatever hard wood, resawing it to 3/16" using titebond 3 and reassembling it with grain patterns reversed.

Up until now I have not been able to get wood longer than 44". two handed hafts run from about 40" to about 80". In group fights, some guys have hafts up to 120". I have the length issue fixed with scraps from a local lumber yard.

On the hafts longer than 36" even my laminated hafts break fairly routinely.

The solid longer wood will help past 44" but is there a magic thickness of the wood slats to maximize strength?
Are more 1/8" thick slats bonded together better than less 1/4" thick pieces?

I am clamping with wood clamps about every 4 inches directly to the slats. Is it better to cut some melamine coated plywood and place the glued slats between two melamines and clamp the melamine down, thus getting a more uniform pressure?

If I am resawing using a bandsaw, or tablesaw that is leaving a fine finish, do I need to sand both sides with 220 grit to make it smoother for a stronger bond?

I am toying with the idea of getting some of the ballistic fiberglass (1/4" thick) and using that as the center slat. But a 4'x8' sheet is $500. I don't want to spend the coin if that is not gonna help much.

Thoughts and thanks in advance.

[blackeagle603]

bamboo? thinking of material with that gives a bit more? Sharp impacts and brittle fractures seem to be the issue. Go for some elasticity?

just spitballing on first cup of coffee.

[Cobar]

Usually wood glue is stronger than the actual wood, so more would probably be stronger.

SCA fighters use rattan to beat on each other. Might be worth experimenting with.

EDIT:
Did a quick look at some buhurt weapons people were selling. I saw what looked like sinew wraps ( I am guessing to help with splitting).

Shrinking on a rawhide wrap might work well if your splitting is near the head and you can target that area. You could also attempt something like historical poleaxes using langgets (languets?) to keep the haft from splitting.

[Captain Wheelgun]

Would it be considered cheating to include a couple of layers of fiberglass or carbon fiber in the laminate?

[Netpackrat]

Would it be considered cheating to include a couple of layers of fiberglass or carbon fiber in the laminate?

I was thinking similar, only make the core out of unidirectional carbon fiber. But whatever composite layers you include, be sure they are uni. Fibers going across the length of the handle instead of with it, will just be wasted volume.

[HTRN]

Usually wood glue is stronger than the actual wood, so more would probably be stronger.

Make it out of laminate: if he only needs one or two, he can probably get what he needs from Boyds.

[BDK]

So…. Wouldn’t having the shafts break be a bit of a safety benefit, in case the forces get too high?

[Weetabix]

Seeing as I am a bit old to be competitive and I am very business driven, I have found an opportunity that I am attempting to make money with. When we fight with axes (specifically) two handed axes, the hafts (handles) break with regularity. As in sometimes in a 3 round (1 minute each) fight, 2-3-4 axes may be needed as the hafts gets broken several times.

I'm kind of with BDK - sounds like a safety feature.

I am clamping with wood clamps about every 4 inches directly to the slats. Is it better to cut some melamine coated plywood and place the glued slats between two melamines and clamp the melamine down, thus getting a more uniform pressure?

I'd think so. Turn a 2x4 on edge on each side. Kind of like a caul for gluing up panels, but parallel instead of perpendicular.

Usually wood glue is stronger than the actual wood, so more would probably be stronger.

Quoted for truth.

[Precision]

So…. Wouldn’t having the shafts break be a bit of a safety benefit, in case the forces get too high?

Not really. Our armor is SOLID especially for people who are axe fighting. Most of us doing that are wearing a Sugarloaf style helmet that is 3mm of hardened steel over the dome of your head and 2mm from the cheek down. There is a serious amount of padding and the way they fit down to the shoulders along with the chin strap helps to mitigate such issues.

Then you also have to think of the audience. They are sitting a few feet away (behind a chain link fence), but a flying axe head is not audience friendly. In group fights, there is less audience protection ... due to the "ring" being much bigger.

[Precision]

Would it be considered cheating to include a couple of layers of fiberglass or carbon fiber in the laminate?

The rules are silent on that except to say that any non-period items must be concealed.
example: If I wanted to wear a knee brace to help protect against ACL tears. Perfectly fine... as long as it is NOT visible.
I wear a technical shirt to help with sweat wicking and cooling which is perfectly fine as it is not visible.

I imagine if I put a 1.25" width of fiberglass between two pieces of 1.5" wood and added a thin slab of wood to cover the fiberglass which was glued to the two 1.5" wood pieces as cover. That would pass muster. At least until the thin veneer broke off. The other thing is if the fiberglass was kinda sorta wood color, it would probably be ok.

I could also cover with cordage which I do for part of the haft anyway.