<html><body><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div>I could be clearer, I think. Replace the mechanism that holds up one of the leaves, and break that leaf off the table with the victim's head.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><hr id="zwchr" data-marker="__DIVIDER__"><div data-marker="__HEADERS__"><b>From: </b>"Don Taco via Stagecraft" <stagecraft@theatrical.net><br><b>To: </b>"Stagecraft Mailing List" <stagecraft@theatrical.net><br><b>Cc: </b>taco@peak.org<br><b>Sent: </b>Thursday, February 8, 2018 6:59:20 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [SML] Break-away table<br></div><div><br></div><div data-marker="__QUOTED_TEXT__"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div>I think I'd try to sell the idea of a drop-leaf table with the mechanism disabled or removed, patched together with just enough balsa struts to hold it together until impact. You might still destroy a table, but it could be reset nightly, and would always break cleanly, without ragged cut edges, and look good when restored.. </div><br><br><hr id="zwchr"><div><b>From: </b>"Paul Anderson via Stagecraft" <stagecraft@theatrical.net><br><b>To: </b>"dale" <dale@cybercom.net>, "shood td" <shood_td@yahoo.com><br><b>Cc: </b>"Paul Anderson" <panderson@hope.edu>, "Stagecraft Mailing List" <stagecraft@theatrical.net><br><b>Sent: </b>Thursday, February 8, 2018 6:10:08 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [SML] Break-away table<br></div><br><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Thanks for replies. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I thought breaking the whole table was a bit over doing it as well. Not sure if he wants that sort of melodrama or what. This is in ongoing discussion at this point. Just looking for possible ideas for construction.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I'm hoping that I don't have to build a whole bunch of tables. But just one with a couple replaceable parts that break.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Paul</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 7, 2018 at 5:20 PM, dale <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dale@cybercom.net" target="_blank">dale@cybercom.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid;"><div>
<div>Never tried building one myself. You want to literally break the entire table in half or just break some of the boards of the tabletop? I will observe that in real fights with normal tables the things that normally break (other than the bones of the fighters) are the legs of the tables. </div><br><div>The old West movie saloon fight scenes tended to use ordinary tables from the cheap furniture store with key structural parts mostly sawn through. The stuntmen would wear padding under their costumes and land exactly where the cuts had been placed. </div><br><div> The chairs that got smashed over someone's head were made with balsa wood, also with precut weak points so that even with their low mass, they would still smash nicely. Also, the old West movies could do things in those preOSHA days that we cant do now. </div><br><div>Dale</div><br><br><br><div id="m_-4554976209202597870composer_signature"><div style="color: rgb(54, 79, 103); font-size: 88%;" dir="auto">Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone</div></div><span><br><br>-------- Original message --------<br>From: Paul Anderson via Stagecraft <<a href="mailto:stagecraft@theatrical.net" target="_blank">stagecraft@theatrical.net</a>> <br>Date: 2/7/18 15:01 (GMT-05:00) <br>To: Stagecraft Mailing list <<a href="mailto:stagecraft@theatrical.net" target="_blank">stagecraft@theatrical.net</a>> <br>Cc: Paul Anderson <<a href="mailto:panderson@hope.edu" target="_blank">panderson@hope.edu</a>> <br>Subject: [SML] Break-away table <br><br><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Think round and old west and saloon.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">What if I wanted a table that could break in two with a [fake] head slam? </div><br><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">More or less normal construction with a balsa board down the middle?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Normal-ish construction with a saw cut (or crooked) break across the middle held by thin strips of something like pine ore lauan underneath?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">If it has side rails-as many/most tables do-they would have to be able to pull away from legs or also break.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I haven't seen much in terms of how-to info online that didn't look just plain hokey. Has someone done this other than the movies or is there a URL for better information than what I have come across so far?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Thanks,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br></div></div>-- <br><div class="m_-4554976209202597870gmail_signature">Paul Anderson<br>Technical Director for Theater<br>Hope College<br><br><br></div>
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</span></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">Paul Anderson<br>Technical Director for Theater<br>Hope College<br>Holland, MI<br>616-395-7104</div>
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