Board Thread:General Nerf discussion/@comment-37595644-20190118073954/@comment-27306930-20190222062214

Far be it from me to hijack this thread, because I'm really interested in the main topic. But I find the whole topic of Stefans equally interesting because they are quite literally the least agreed upon non-standard in the NIC.

When Stefan Mohr came up with the original idea, they were full length. He was just looking for a cheap way to make his own darts, back in the day when the only option was expensive Nerf Streamlines. But somehow over the past 18 years that got conflated with half length darts, cut downs, and a variety of manufactured Short Darts.

When I made my first Stefans there were only two generally accepted types: hot glue tips, and felt tips. They were all half length, either weighted with BBs or #6 washers, and made from foam backer rod slugs. I preferred BBs myself. You just touch a soldering iron to the top of the slug and it melts a small divot into which you place a BB. Then throw a self adhesive felt disc on top and you're done. (That's mine there on the left - not perfect but perfectly functional)

Real pros made the Hot Glue variety, often with more exotic varieties of polyurethane rod. Many set up elaborate molds to make dozens of domed heads out of hot glue, then attached them to the ends of their foam slugs. (Check out second from left)  They are actually quite nice, just a pain in the butt to make. Frankly, I prefer to buy them.

Shortly after that, all sorts of darts calling themselves Stefans started showing up. Some were 3/4 length, some were hot glue, some had Elite dart heads, some were cut down FVJs, the NIC went crazy with darts calling themselves "Stefans".

So the only thing that can be said about "Standard Stefans" is they are generally homemade. Mostly from polyurethane rod. Their lengths can vary. Their heads can vary. Their weights can vary. Except for those that don't. And they generally aren't compatible with blasters that have a dart post because they are commonly made from solid slugs. Except for those that aren't.

Other than that, sky's the limit. A commercially manufactured full length dart with a blue urethane body, and a conical rubbery orange head with a vent hole, could rightly be called a "full length Elite Stefan". Or better yet, an "Elite Stefan clone" 😉