Fencing Masks

[Inigo]

I had a play in a fencing mask at the Dawn Rievers tourney last night (year?).

In conjunction with a leather gorget, these provide excellent protection to the face, throat, top and sides of the head. However, they have a gaping hole in the back of the head that is really asking for trouble. We had a couple of near misses and I think it likely that someone is going to wear one in the back of the skull if they aren't supplemented with some additional protection at the back.

[stephan]

ive found wearing a padded arming cap helps toi a degree

prehaps some kind of hardednd leather plate is in order ?

[Nathan]

Or a 14C "secret" like what was used under great helms

Nathan

[David Isdale]

Apparently, fixing a cheap welding mask to the back works pretty well. Not something I've experimented with though (yet ^_^)

Cheers,
David

[Inigo]

We had about 6-7 people in fencing masks at Dawn Rievers on Monday evening sparing for about 3 hours solid. There was lots of good fighting and it's certainly added a lot to the fighting by allowing horizontal head shots and thrusts to the face and throat. Fencing masks aren't padded much on the top so shots directly down onto the crown of the head tend to hurt more than a cut to the side of the head or thrusts to the face. I'd like to experiment with putting a back on a fencing mask, but the one I'm using belongs to my wife...