Axel Petterson Fencing Jacket

The Axel Petterson Fencing Jacket is one of the most commonly used upper body protection in HEMA circles.
It’s based around medieval gambesons and modern fencing jackets. It comes in several different variations in both protectiveness and price. You can find several reviews on the SPES website.

Review by Matt Easton:

Review by Aidan Blake:

HEMA Reviews review:

Spanish review with some close pictures:

Review by Ben Halliwell:
http://artofthesword.blogspot.hu/2012/12/kit-review-axel-pettersson-fencing.html

Nice review with several other equipment by Michael S:
http://indesidc.blogspot.hu/2012/06/histfenc-review.html

Link to the shop:
http://histfenc.com/productcart/axel-pettersson-fencing-jacket-v-1-2

HEMA Equipment Stores

PBT Historical fencing:
Mostly protective gear, developed/adapted for HEMA.
http://pbthistoricalfencing.com/

Historical fencing gear (SPES):
All kinds of historical fencing gear, gloves, protectors, coats, weapons.
http://histfenc.com/

HEMA Shop:
All kinds of training weapons, synthetic and steel, protective gear, etc.
http://www.thehemashop.com/

Blackfencer:
Synthetic swords (longsword, arming sword, sidesword, etc.)
http://www.blackfencer.com/

Absolute Force Fencing Gear (all kinds of protective equipment):
http://www.absolutefencinggear.com/shopping/shop.php/cPath/111?osCsid=m4a6g2nmb4t2jh1choj0u3i486

Regenyei Armory (all kinds of steel weapons):

Homepage

Viktor Berbekucz (all kinds of steel weapons):
http://www.berbekuczviktor.hu/angol/angol.html

Sparring Gloves (protective gloves for HEMA):

Home

Arcensis
http://www.arcensis.es/

SPES Forearm&elbow protectors

The SPES Forearm&elbow protectors are the best of these kinds of protective equipment I used so far. They provide excellent protection all around the forearm, while only marginally impairing mobility and adding weight to the arms. The only minor problem is with the protective cups on the elbow, when using it without a coat underneath. Unless you have huge elbows it will be quite loose, but if you wear a jacket under it (as you should) it is not a problem.

Review by Aidan Blake:

Review by Ben Halliwell:
http://artofthesword.blogspot.hu/2014/04/kit-review-spes-forearm-and-elbow.html
They are available from the SPES site here:
http://histfenc.com/productcart/forearm-and-elbow-protectors-v-2-0

Also from HEMA Shop:
http://www.thehemashop.com/

Sparring Gloves

Sparring Gloves are currently the best known hand protection in HEMA circles. They provide different types of gloves. The first one is a 2 fingered type, where 4 fingers are protected together, while the thumb moves independently. The 3 fingered type separates the 4 fingers into two 2 finger groups, providing a little more mobility.

I’m using my own pair for a couple of months now, and so far they were excellent! They served me well during the IIC tournament, and I use them in weekly training too.

Some notes on using them:

– get some sort of underglove, preferably fingerless, like biker or weight lifting gloves

– if your jacket has some sort of built in forearm protection, get a short cuff type

– I found them with a simple SPES elbow cup to be enough protection for my forearm

– they take some time to break in

– if they don’t fit you well they are horrible, so don’t base all your opinion on one time when you borrowed one 🙂 if it doesn’t fit you well it will be a bad experience

There are several reviews on-line about these gloves, I will list a few.
HEMA Reviews (both type):

Aidan Blake (3 fingered type):

Review by Meg Floyd:
http://hemanews.com/2013/09/01/gear-review-fechtschule-gdansk-sparring-gloves/

The gloves are available from the website and also from their Facebook account.

Home

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sparring-Gloves/335927113168223?fref=ts

Red Dragon knee&shin protectors

These knee protectors are based on motorcross gear, but work quite well for HEMA fencing too. They come in one size, but you can adjust them to your legs with the straps.

I use them for longsword, sidesword and rapier fencing, and they protect well against blows and thrusts to the legs. There is a small problem with them sliding down toward the ankle, but it’s not a big deal. They are a lot less bulky than some of the hockey leg guards I used before and very light too.

Video review by Matt Easton:

Available at:

http://www.thehemashop.com/index.php/

Red Dragon Gloves

These gloves come in two sizes, 12 or 13. They were developed primarily for entry level hand protection, and mostly to be used with synthetic swords (Rawlings, Blackfencer, etc.).

I ordered a pair of them in 2014, December and used them for around 5 months for practice and sparring with steel (Péter Regenyei made feders) and plastic swords (Black Fencer LSW longswords and Rawlings). My experiences so far are mixed.
They provide quite good mobility of the fingers, but the wrist mobility is very poor.
The protection is quite good for a 5 fingered design, but the side of the index and pinky finger and also the fingertips are very lightly protected. You can solve this problem with using some sort of fingertip protector set, like the one made by SPES, but only for size 13-s. For size 12-s I found the protectors to be too big and couldn’t really fit them in.
They are also a bit too bulky, mostly because of the huge strap on the back side of the glove, which can also get stuck into swords crossguards and other things.

The biggest issue is with durability. They literally fall apart on occasions, when used with steel swords and require a lot of maintenance just to keep them in one piece. The main problem is with the stitching which fails under moderate or heavy use.
They are at a great price, compared to other options on the market right now (middle of 2015) but with these durability issues I can’t recommend them for steel longsword sparring and only half heartedly for synthetic sparring. I think while they might last a little longer with synthetics the stitching would still give up quickly. For side sword the main problem is with the wrist mobility, otherwise they are quite OK.

The pair on the picture is mine, I had to make some small repair to the last plate on the index finger, to keep it in place.

Video reviews by Matt Easton:

A video about modifying these gloves for bolognese (sidesword) fencing by Ilkka Hartikainen:

Available at:
http://www.thehemashop.com/

Hi!

I set up this blog for the purpose of getting easily available information about HEMA Equipment.

My goal is to provide information about gloves, coats, sparring weapons etc. and to update it when I have more experience, or if I receive opinion from others.