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SG6 Bradford |
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News and Updates |
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SG6 Bradford |
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Latest News, Links and Updates |
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SG7 Arrives in Hull! Location SG7 in Hull, East Yorkshire, on Monday evenings, under Neil Johnson, covers Fiore's dei Liberi's dagger and wrestling, some modern comparative material, Irish stick fighting, Bartitsu and other stick-based styles
Charitable Idiocy! Paul volunteered to wear his armour to work in aid of McMillan Cancer Relief £290 raised.
Translations Liechtenauer’s longsword section in the works
Fightcamp! Schola Gladiatoria’s annual event is now scheduled for July 24th—26th near Birmingham. More details at:
Fortune and Glory! The Bradford Telegraph and Argus paid a visit to a training session and made Colin throw Paul around in armour for a while. read the story |
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HEMA GROUPS
Historical European Martial Arts Coalition - HEMAC
British Federation for Historical Swordplay - BFHS
Company for Historical Combat— English Martial Arts group run buy the affable Martin Austwick
Boar’s Tooth Fight School — Liechtenauer and Lutegerius tradition armed combat with one of the finest martial artists in the country
Kunst Des Fechtens— Group of clubs studying Liechtenauer tradition arts in England, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden
Safe Self Protection - Effective self defense, from the inside - out
EQUIPMENT
Fencing Masks—this should be the fist purchase for all students. We supply club masks, but there are limited numbers, and they get sweaty! They should be rated for “3 weapon” use and should have a completely metal mesh. You can spend a fortune on a mask, but about £50 is a fair price. Be careful with Ebay masks, as some may be damaged or in poorer condition than they seem (dents bashed back into shape etc). Remember, this protects your eyes, so it is worth getting a decent one.
We can recommend Leon Paul fencing masks, as the contour fit system means that they are some of the most comfortable masks on the market. Leon Paul also have a 1st rate reputation for quality and customer service.
Leon Paul — The contourfit system means that these masks are better for people who wear glasses. All-round the best masks on the market Allstar Masks — Fairly standard club masks in a range of colours
Gloves are a very personal matter, as there is a huge range of protective gloves on the market. It all depends on how much protection you need, and how much you are willing to spend. As a rule, don’t spend more than £50.
Body armour is, again, a personal thing. However, the club plastic chest protectors retail for around £20 from various supliers. Female chest protectors are in the same price range.
Moving up the scale, decent motorcross armour can come in at about £50. Knee, elbow and forearm pads can be had from many sources, although escrima sparing kit is recommended. The key is to look for things that will not restrict your movement and will stop injury, but not necessarily pain.
Gambesons are excellent protection for shinai sparring and can be had for very little outlay.
The Padded Armour Company—High quality custom made garments with excellent customer service. Members receive a 10% discount Steel Mastery — lower quality but still decent and quite cheap. Look for their eBay shop Field Hockey Body Armour—for those who need a lot of protection. This is also an option for practicing armoured fighting without the expense of steel armour.
All this said, the best protection - other than a mask - is to not get hit!
Longswords - At the lower end of the market, there are few options for training swords. Most swords you will find online are absolute rubbish and are not safe to spar with. We call these “wallhangers” as that is generally all they are good for. A phrase you will see a lot is “battle ready” this has no actual meaning in terms of standards, and is often used to make inferior swords seem more attractive. Likewise, some swords which are perfectly safe for re-enactment combat or stage combat are unsuitable for HEMA for a variety of reasons.
For a good starter weapon, we can recommend the following swords:
Hanwei/Paul Chen practical hand and a half for around £80 The Grange—Specialist HEMA suppliers. There is nothing they sell which they have not tested themselves.
Flagellum Dei Mercenary/Captain swords for around £120 (chose the normal blade option “for drills”)
For a step up in quality, handling and lifespan, try St George Armoury Mark Vickers makes fantastic swords for around £300, all to custom specifications. He does have a long waiting list, but occasionally offers swords for immediate purchase at a discount where other orders have fallen through.
Albion Swords - The Meyer and Talhoffer models are of an exceptional quality and are tailor-made for HEMA. They are “off the shelf” but are none the less great training tools.
Heron Amoury longswords come recommended, but we have not personally handled any in a HEMA training context.
While we do not discourage you from buying a quality sharp sword for test-cutting at home, we will not allow sharp weapons of any description into training.
Modified shinai are also available through Paul for £40.
OTHER LINKS
www.medievalartandwoodcraft.com Fran and Paul’s other hobby—making stuff. Furniture, HEMA equipment and artworks |
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