Liverpool HEMA

Historical fencing in Liverpool

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Equipment

Arnold and Wojciech working through an exercise. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2024.

Contents

Borrowing equipment

The club has a good supply of equipment so that newcomers can borrow things like training swords and fencing masks in the beginning. There are no equipment hiring fees, and no need to book gear in advance.

If you have your own fencing mask already, please do bring it with you. It will be much more hygienic and comfortable if you use your own mask.

Where to buy

Where to buy protective gear

Our online shop is the Academy of Historical Arts online shop and Liverpool HEMA club members with an up to date membership are entitled to discounts on many items.

There are other places to buy protective equipment, but we have no agreements in place with them for club members to receive discounts. Needless to say, we would rather you buy from us and support the club! We won’t be upset if you make the decision to buy from somewhere else, that’s not a problem, but it would be nice to support then club whenever it is possible to do so.

(Please note: importing to the UK will require that you deal with customs and import VAT.)

UK shops

  • The Knight Shop (Please note: our club is not signed up to receive a club discount from the Knight Shop.)

International shops

Manufacturers

Where to buy training swords

The best place to go for training swords is probably to the Knight Shop, although you can also buy training swords directly from manufacturers if you feel willing to handle the process of bringing a sword through customs!

(Please note: importing to the UK will require that you deal with customs and import VAT.)

UK shops

  • The Knight Shop (Please note: our club is not signed up to receive a club discount from the Knight Shop.)

International shops

Manufacturers

  • Ensifer – Poland, premium and expensive, makes steel swords
  • Albion Swords – USA, premium and expensive, makes steel swords
  • Black Fencer – Spain, cheap and cheerful, makes synthetic swords
  • Sigi – Slovakia, reasonable, makes steel swords
  • Aureus Swords – Poland, premium and expensive, makes steel swords

Where to buy books

There are many different HEMA publishers, as well as many self-published authors. No single shop is able to carry all the different titles, so you may have to look around for a while before you find what you are searching for.

(Please note: importing to the UK will require that you deal with customs, although books are 0-rated for VAT.)

UK shops

  • The Knight Shop (Please note: our club is not signed up to receive a club discount from the Knight Shop.)

International shops

Second-hand equipment

Members of our club frequently have old equipment they they are willing to sell on at a discount. We are perfectly happy for members to do this, and we even have a second-hand equipment page on our website where people are welcome to list items that are looking for a new home.

What to buy

What to buy: protective gear

Quick summary

What to buy in order:

1. the first thing you need is a fencing mask of your own!

2. the second thing you need would be gloves

3. next, back of head protection, because your head is still important

4. next, a gorget, because your throat is also important

5. finally, a jacket, because bruises aren’t so much fun

6. thereafter, you could be looking for joint protection, padded trousers, chest protection, shin guards, etc – although a groin guard tends to be a cheap and valuable investment that would be worth getting as soon as possible!

1st – fencing mask

fencing-mask
Red Dragon CEN 1 fencing mask with SPES back of head protector.

If you decide that this is the sport for you, then you need to buy your own fencing mask as soon as possible.

The minimum quality of fencing mask that we accept is a CEN level 1 fencing mask in good condition, although we recommend a CEN level 2 mask if possible. (more information about ratings and what they mean)

For your first mask, we happily recommend:

  • Red Dragon CEN 1 mask

For a more protective CEN 2 mask, our recommendations include:

  • Leon Paul Coaching Mask
  • Allstar Masters mask
  • Red Dragon Tournament mask

2nd – gloves

The next piece of equipment that you will need to buy for yourself is a decent pair of gloves to keep your hands safe.

For good quality gloves that will keep your hands much safer, even at higher levels of intensity, these are the gloves that we recommend:

  • Sparring Gloves (mitten model)
  • HF Armory Black Knight gloves (mittens)

Other heavy / heavy-ish gloves that some people like:

  • SPES “Lobster” Heavy Gloves (please note that these are huge, albeit quite protective)
  • Thokk WeaponMaster gloves (lighter and more comfortable, not as protective)

For budget, entry-level gloves (the absolute minimum for sparring, and intended only for low intensity and gentle practice):

  • Red Dragon HEMA gloves

For general comfort while drilling, not suitable at all for sparring:

  • Any light, leather (or leather-like), padded gloves

3rd – back of head protection

The back of the head needs protection, even if the hits are accidental. Also, more padded on the mask will help to protect against headaches and more problematic head injuries – not that we tend to hit hard, but every so often an accidentally harder strike can land on the mask.

For a good quality, well-padded overlay with back of head protection, we recommend:

  • SPES “Unity” leather mask overlay
  • Red Dragon leather mask overlay
  • Superior Fencing armoured plastic helmet

For a budget, entry-level back of head protection with no additional padding, the following is acceptable:

  • SPES “Vectir” back of head plate (but there’s no padding, so one of the overlays above would be better)

4th – gorget

A gorget is a useful piece of equipment, but it is not necessary to buy immediately.

Our top recommendation for a gorget is the following:

  • Vytis gorget

Alternatively, if you would prefer a gorget with additional padding for the collarbone, then we might recommend:

  • PBT gorget
  • Superior Fencing gorget

5th – jacket

A padded jacket is a useful piece of equipment, but it is not necessary to buy immediately.

For a good quality jacket that is quite safe to use in any training situation up to and including high intensity sparring, we recommend:

  • SPES AP 350N jacket
  • SPES AP NG 800N jacket
  • SPES Hussar NG 800N jacket

If you would like a lighter jacket, then we might recommend:

  • SPES AP Light 350N jacket
  • SPES AP Light NG 800N jacket

Re-enactment gambesons, motocross protection, “sparring hoodies”, and suchlike are not suitable for our purposes. Modern fencing jackets without any padding are also not suitable for our needs.

When buying your jacket, please do remember that our club colours are blue and black.

6th – other pieces

You could buy these pieces at any time, really, since they tend to be cheap and they will help you protect bits that can be quite vulnerable. Men might reasonably make the choice to prioritise getting a groin guard nice and early!

Groin guard: we recommend:

  • SPES groin guard
  • Red Dragon groin guard
  • Any competent groin guard that fits, really!

Elbow protection: we recommend:

  • SPES “Shell” elbow protectors to go over a jacket
  • Superior Fencing padded elbows
  • simple skateboarding elbow protectors (if you want something before you get a jacket)

Knee protection: we recommend:

  • Knee Pro UltraFlex III knee guards
  • Superior Fencing padded knee guards (with side wings)
  • Red Dragon knee guards (with the side wings)

Shinguards:

  • It is quite popular to use field hockey shinguards from any local sporting goods store, and to slip them inside your long socks.
  • Alternatively, any other shinguards that strap onto your leg should be fine.

Padded trousers:

  • SPES Locust 350N padded trousers
  • Red Dragon padded trousers
  • SPES Hussar NG 800N padded trousers
  • Superior Fencing padded HEMA trousers 350N or 800N

Fancy trousers:

Absolutely not required! But, if you are taken by the aesthetics of 16th century puffy trousers, then we might recommend:

  • SPES Meyer puffy pants
  • Superior Fencing pluderhosen
  • Bloss pluderhosen
  • High Hill Pants lansquetón
  • Leo Caligae “The Pseudohosen” historical fencing pants

Chest protection: we recommend:

  • Any competent plastic chest protector for fencing should do the trick.

What to buy: training swords

When it comes to buying swords, you have a huge array of choices. Many training swords are good options, but there are also many makers and models to be avoided.

Plastic training swords

black-fencer-longsword
Black Fencer longsword

The Red Dragon synthetic longswords are what we have for loaner swords at the club. They are light, they are flexible, and they are balanced nicely. They are not very expensive.

The Black Fencer synthetic longswords are heavier and more rigid than the Red Dragon synthetics. They are almost twice the price of the Red Dragon synthetics.

Steel training swords

Main recommendations:

  • Regenyei Armory “standard” feder (medium blade, broad schilt)
  • Regenyei Armory “museum replica” feder
    • this is a particularly good choice for the source material that we study
  • Regenyei Armory “short” feder (medium blade, broad schilt)
    • shorter blades are a very good choice for shorter people!
  • Sigi “Shorty” feder
    • shorter blades are a very good choice for shorter people!

Other makes and models we might recommend:

  • Aureus Alexander
  • Aureus Swoosh
  • Regenyei Armory “light” Trnava feder
  • Albion Meyer
    • an expensive import, unless you are likely to find yourself in the USA
  • Albion Liechtenauer
    • an expensive import, unless you are likely to find yourself in the USA
  • Kvetun feder
    • this is better for taller people, not so good if you are a shorter person!
  • Sigi King
  • Sigi Concept

Swords to avoid (do not purchase these)

The following makes and models of swords are known for being unreliable or unsafe. It is best not to waste your money on them, and instead to purchase one of the models recommended above.

  • Anything made by Hanwei
    • the quality control is just so unreliable, there is little trust that it won’t break during use
  • Tinker Pearce blunt longswords
    • these are also made by Hanwei, so they suffer from the same quality control problems
    • if you buy a sword from Tinker Pearce himself, then that is perfectly fine! But that is not something you will be able to find cheaply or easily in the UK.
  • Kingston Arms feders
    • these are also made by Hanwei, so they suffer from the same quality control problems, and are generally not very well balanced anyway
  • Any feder by Regenyei with a “strong” or “heavy” blade
    • these are simply not safe in the thrust and it is not responsible to use these with your training partners at our club
  • Any feder with a schilt that is spiky enough to cause injury to a training partner
    • we definitely prefer broader schilts with rounded corners in this club, wherever possible

What to buy: books

Recommended reading

AHA German Longsword Study Guide

Recommended reading, to supplement what we do in the lessons:

Further reading

Other books to consider:

  • Dierk Hagedorn. Jude Lew: Das Fechtbuch. VS Books, 2017.

Translations available free of charge

For going directly to source material, and reading translations, there is no better resource than the Wiktenauer.

Additionally, our chief instructor has published some translations on his website at KeithFarrell.net.

Conclusions

It may take a while to gather all the equipment, but that is not a problem. You don’t need to dress up like a tank for your first sparring session; it is always best to keep the intensity low until you are able to perform well in that situation, and then allow the intensity to rise commensurately with your skills. Some people may not feel the need to acquire gear such as jackets for several months, although others may be more eager and will acquire it more quickly.

With your protective equipment, it may feel restrictive and uncomfortable out of the box. When you start adding pieces, you may notice significant build up of heat, and it will probably not feel natural. Unfortunately, you just need to stick it out, sweat into it a little, and let it all soften up and “break in”, like a pair of leather shoes.

Although the equipment is expensive, it tends to last for quite a long time, especially if you use it at a light intensity or just once a week. Most of the chief instructor’s personal equipment has been in use for at least two years, sometimes in use for 12-16 hours a week of high intensity sparring practice, and has gone to regional, national, and international events, where it has also seen use in tournaments.

Although the idea of paying £120 for a fencing mask or £150 for a pair of gloves may seem painful, consider that you may well get two or three (or four or five) years of use out of them, and that during this time they will allow you to participate in your chosen hobby to the degree to which you wish to participate, in safety. There is little point in buying the cheaper option to save some money, then feeling unable to train the way you would like to train, and then go home with a broken finger anyway; that would suck, and would be a waste of money. Good quality equipment is not cheap, but is not mega expensive either, and will last while keeping you safe.

Finally, if you have any questions about equipment: just ask!

If learning to fence with the longsword appeals to you, then give it a go!

Read about what to expect for your first session.

Then book your attendance, and come along!