So you’ve decided that HEMA is fun and you are looking to make the investment into getting your own gear, but don’t want to break the bank on a full set of tournament grade gear (just yet). With this in mind I have put together a list of recommended gear for the beginner HEMA student. This list is far from comprehensive and represents the minimum amount of protection needed for intensive drilling and light contact sparring with synthetic training weapons. For higher-contact sparring with synthetics and/or steel training swords, or for participation in most HEMA tournaments, a greater level of protection is required particularly for gloves, torso and leg protection. Recommendations for higher level gear will be discussed in a future post, and is also subjective based on the fencers chosen discipline, fencing style and anatomy.
Generally speaking most of the equipment available at Purpleheart Armoury or South Coasts Swords has been well vetted by myself and other fencers in the HEMA community. Most of the their products are more than suitable to how we train at San Diego Swordfighters, so you’d be hard pressed to make a bad choice, however I have taken the liberty to draw your attention to some options that are both quality and affordable on a budget.
Fencing Masks:
Any 3-weapon or epee mask used for Olympic fencing is suitable for HEMA. As you develop your practice and start participating in higher intensity or tournament sparring you’ll want to invest in an overlay with back of the head protection for additional protection. You can pick one up at South Coast Swords or Purpleheart Armory their prices for masks are very competitive to those found on Amazon and other sporting good retailers.
Gloves:
Hand injuries are perhaps the most common in HEMA. Since most of us rely on our hands for our livelihood, hand protection is not something you want to skimp on. Unfortunately, the best solutions for hand protection are often run in the $150-$400 range. One thing for sure is that you should absolutely NOT use costume gauntlets, or metal gauntlets intended as armor pieces (with a few exceptions). Such gauntlets are often of inadequate, inconsistent quality or otherwise present a hazard due to sharp burrs and/or crushed metal. Here are my recommendations for basic hand protection:
Lacrosse Gloves:
Lacrosse gloves are well suited to low intensity HEMA, they are lightweight, provide good dexterity, and are designed to protect against hazards similar to that of longsword fencing. They are widely available and come in a variety of styles and prices. Unfortunately, they are really only designed for incidental hand strikes and not the same intensity as longsword sparring. Lacrosse gloves still remain a good option for budget HEMA gear. Try to look for options that have a rigid shell and dense padding and provides adequate protection of the wrist bones. To prevent crush injuries to the fingers, I highly recommend supplementing the gloves with these finger tip protectors from Purpleheart Armoury.
Red Dragon Gloves:
The Red Dragon Gloves are essentially reinforced lacrosse gloves intended specifically for HEMA. With a rigid outer shell covering the finger joints, knuckles, and wrist bone, they provide good protection and dexterity I’ve used them for years, have few complaints, and would be my #1 recommendation to new HEMAists, and are a good choice for light to medium sparring with synthetic weapons. Red Dragon gloves are also a good choice if your HEMA training extends beyond longsword into sidesword, sword and buckler, or rapier styles that require being able to separate the fingers. Red Dragons may also be allowed in some HEMA longsword tournaments, depending on the event and the ruleset being used. Just like the lacrosse gloves, I highly recommend supplementing these gloves with additional finger tip protectors.
Neck Protectors (Gorgets):
There are two ways to be seriously injured or killed in fencing with synthetic swords, one is getting struck in the eye, the other is getting struck in the neck/throat. Fencing masks do a good job of protection the former, but are inadequate against the latter. That is why wearing a neck protector is essential when practicing HEMA with any intensity. When selecting a gorget consider options that have a ‘bib’ in the front to fully cover the trachea and ‘wing’ extending outward to protect the top of the collar bone. Minimal gorgets without these features are better suited when also wearing a fencing jacket or gambeson.
Metal and Leather from Purpleheart:
I have not used this one personally, but have used many of similar design and construction. They are light on padding and the metal plates can be a bit uncomfortable, but they protect well and do a good job distributing the force of impact. This style of gorget is also a good choice if you are considering LARP, reenactment or Renaissance Fair in addition to HEMA since they have a historical look and design.
Lynx Neck Protector South Coast Swords:
The neck protectors provided by South Coast Swords are currently what we have in our loaner kit. They are lightweight and have good padding and protection. Also consider the ‘winged’ version which provides additional protection for the collar bones, but are a bit bulkier. They are a bit awkward, however, but for the price they are a good choice.
Elbow/forearm and Knee/shin Guards:
There are a number of options available from other contact sports, motor cross, biking or skating that can be found in sport shops or from online retailers. When considering non-HEMA specific joint protectors, you should look for whether the protector has a hard outer shell and sufficient padding to dissipate the force of impact. You should look to make sure that the cup of the guard has rigid protection on both the front and sides of the joint. You also want to make sure that the guard extends to cover most of the shin or forearm.
For HEMA-specific options pretty much anything offered by South Coast Swords or Purple-heart are more than adequate, so find whichever option meets the above criteria and fits your body type and/or budget.
Training Weapons:
I recommend as a beginner that you purchase your own synthetic sparring sword as soon as possible. This would allow you to practice and review at home as well as free up loaner swords for new students. Even though we have a number of them as loaner gear, I don’t recommend wooden swords as your first purchase. While wooden wasters are useful training aids in class, synthetics are more practical, safer and more durable. There are a number of steel sparring swords known as Federschwert available, however I don’t have specific recommendations for those since its greatly dependent upon each individuals fencers preferences and budget. More experience will allow you to make the correct choice to suit your preferences when it comes to steel swords.
The Blackfencer line of synthetic weapons from South Coast Swords have excellent handling and durability. Although I have not handled all of the available options they are very well regarded, so I don’t think you can really go wrong. I would however advise against purchasing the ‘sharp simulator’ versions since they are not practical for everyday practice.
Any of the Type III Penti style synthetic longswords from Purpleheart Armoury are also an excellent choice in terms of quality and handling. Purpleheart Armoury were the first to introduce quality training synthetic training weapons, so you really can’t go wrong with their selection.