Don't Stick Your Neck Out

I've started to see a scary trend during armor inspections over the last few months: gorgets that don't pass. And it isn't even that they're failing because of a lack of padding, it's because they don't cover enough of the neck. If you read the regs, they're pretty clear:

For heavy rapier and cut and thrust rapier[Artemisia does heavy rapier], additional throat protection is required; it shall consist of rigid material, as noted above, covering the entire throat, and shall be backed by either puncture resistant material (as a hood), one quarter inch (1/4") (6 mm) of open-cell foam, or their equivalents. The cervical vertebrae shall also be protected by rigid material, provided by some combination of gorget, helm, and/or hood insert.

Like I said, it's pretty straight-forward: the neck has to be covered by a rigid material. The problem I've been seeing is gorgets that are way too short for the wearer. For those who don't know, they way marshals test gorget protection is to have the fencer lean their head back and then look under the mask's bib. Ideally, we won't see any skin. If we do, then it becomes a judgement call for the marshal. If the marshal can't fit a finger in the gap, it's probably good, if they can fit one or more fingers in, it's a bad thing. Now, last weekend at Whipping Winds, there was a guy with a gap that I could fit my entire hand in. Not only that, but he was tall (taller than me, in fact) so the odds of taking a shot to the gap was better than average.

Like I said: a bad thing.

Now, the best fix for this problem is to find a good armorer and have him custom-fit you a good gorget. Unfortunately, good armorers can be hard to find, and when you do, there's a good chance they will be busy. That leads to the next best thing: trying on a gorget before you buy it to make sure it fits. Yes, that means no buying off the Internet. But it also means that you won't have to fiddle with it to make it work.

Okay, so how do you know if it fits?

• Does it fit around your neck with enough space for padding?


• Can you turn your head and tilt it from side-to-side as well as nod it forward and back?


• Does it cover your adams apple?

If it meets those three criteria, go grab your mask and try it on with your gorget and have a friend look to see how many fingers they can fit between the gorget and the mask. If they can't fit a finger in there, you're good.

Those are the best ways to correct the problem, but there are those of us who can't afford a new gorget or whose neck is too big or too long and just can't find one that fits, which leaves you with trying to fix what you already have. Here are a couple of ways you can do this. The first is to get a piece of heavy leather that you can slide behind the front of your gorget to give you the necessary protection. The upside to this trick is that it fully meets our equipment standard, but it has the downside of being another piece of equipment to keep track of.

The other answer - and probably the least desirable - is get a coif that fits either over or under your mask that will cover your neck. This has the advantage of covering the armor requirements for the back of the head, but it's downside is fairly major: it doesn't really correct the problem, it hides it instead. All it does is keep the marshals from seeing the gap. And be warned: if you go with the coif and it covers your entire gorget, odds are that a marshal will try to choke you to make sure you are wearing it. But don't worry, as soon as they feel your gorget, they'll stop squeezing.

And since my solution to a slightly short gorget is to wear a coif, this is definitely one of those "do as I say, not as I do" moments.

Balance

In my last post, I talked about how armored fighters don't tend to be impressed with rapiers, and made the comment that they don't even like my 36". Sounds conceited, I know, but...

Many moons ago, when I was a happy newlywed, I did a study on period rapiers and how they compared to their counterparts in the SCA (you know, I might just have to resurrect that study because that was back before we expanded beyond schlagers). Basically, I compared the blades based on length (blade and overall), weight and balance. The short of it was that the SCA failed miserably. Too short, too light and with our balances waaaay off. The only group that consistently got anything right was the epee fencers. Surprisingly enough, an epee balances almost exactly the same as a period rapier. Go figure.

Anyway, when I built my 36" schlager, I based it off of that study (practice what you preach). It was still too short (this was before longer blades were readily available) and about a pound too light, but the balance was nearly spot-on. Okay, it's not quite tip-heavy enough; I need to shave about a quarter-ounce off the pommel. Not perfect, I admit, but darn close to the balance being in the 22-25% of the total length range that my study showed was the norm. In short, my 36" feels like a sword.

Here's how balance works. The more tip-heavy a sword is, the quicker it is. But, the less tip-heavy (pommel-heavy?) a sword is, the easier it is to control.

Think inertia and momentum. A tip-heavy sword takes more power (strength) to get going, but once you've started it moving, it keeps moving on it's own. A pommel-heavy sword is easier to get moving, but you have to apply power the whole way through. That's what makes a tip-heavy sword quicker.

Now, when it comes time to stop a tip-heavy sword, you actually have to use your power to stop it (think trying to stop a hammer in mid-swing). Not so with a pommel-heavy sword. All you have to do with one of those is stop applying power.

So the trick with a sword is to balance speed and control. If all you're ever going to do is point drills, you want a sword that's pommel-heavy. Likewise, if all you care about is getting your blade going fast, you want it as tip-heavy as you can get. The tendency I've seen up here in the north is for slow, easy to control swords with their balance point at or below the quillons. While this does improve tip control, it makes the blade slower than a snail on valium. Not a good thing if you're up against some young buck who's just chugged a case of Red Bull.

As you can probably tell, I like my balance point out in front of my quillons. This does mean that I have to work harder at tip control and that I do need a bit more wrist strength. But, hey, I'm old and slow and need all the help I can get. And besides, it's period.

The hockey stick from heck

As anyone who's encountered me in the last six months knows, I got myself a new sword for Christmas: a 40" Alchem with as much curve as I could get. The responses I've gotten to the sword haven't been mixed, so much as polarized. Although the majority of responses seem to be at one end of the spectrum.

Almost no one's response to the sword has been meh. Everyone seems to either love it (the majority) or hate it (Yes, there are a few). Okay, that's not quite true. There are quite a few people up here who hate it - or at least hate fighting against it. That's probably the most common response, "I hate that #$%^ thing! Where can I get one?" The scary part is that that's against someone who doesn't really know how to effectively use a curved blade.

I think the most interesting part is the reaction I've gotten from armored fighters who've played with it. Now, the usual reaction of a heavy being handed a rapier (even my 36") is a look of confusion, followed by a fairly meh response. Not with this thing. Oh, you still get that initial look of confusion ("Why does this wire weenie think I'd care?"), but it's followed by a look of concern as they realizing they're starting to have unnatural feelings towards a rapier, and finally, a big, ear-to-ear grin.

You see, the Hockey Stick from Heck (so dubbed by Don Adam, one of the sword's first victims) not only looks like a sword, but it balances like a sabre (no, it's NOT a scimitar) should and it's approaching the weight of what a sword should be. When you hold it, you know it wasn't meant for thrusting. You feel it wanting to slice and cut and get in close. Or, as one knight put it, "I couldn't use this. Someone would get hurt. I'd use it the way you're supposed to."

Which leads to my problem: how do I use a sabre as a sabre, but still fight legally and safely? I mean lopping off body parts is pretty frowned upon by the SCA, at least in the rapier community. Sure, I can keep using it as a standard rapier, but even that's got its problems. The tip is 4" to the left of where it should be, for starters. What I need to do is find a manual on sabre (period, preferably) and try and modify that for positive pressure.

The only problem is that I'm not sure where to begin. What would be a good style? Kendo? Kali? Sabre? All of those are edge-intensive forms, but which would work best? And where do I even find the manuals?

Anyone have any ideas?

In case of emergency...

In an ideal world, armor inspections are that brief moment before you fight when the marshals comment on how wonderful your equipment is, but in reality, armor inspection is when you discover your tip is shot or yes, you really did leave your gear out in the rain. These discoveries often leave fencers scrambling around, looking for the stuff to fix their problems. The answer to this problem (other than actually going over all of your gear before hand) is to have an emergency kit.

These don't have to be very large. In fact, all you really need is three items:

1. Spare tips. You need at least one, but I recommend one for each of your blades, plus one to share.


2. Scotch pad - for cleaning surface rust from your blades. Again, you need one, but it doesn't hurt to have a spare to loan out.


3. Tape. Remember: whatever type of tape you use, it must contrast with both the blade and the tip, so silver and black tapes are out. Which means that your basic duct tape and electrical tape are out, unless you get different colors. I recommend white athletic tape. It's durable but rips easily and is visible enough for use in torchlight tournaments.

Those are the basics, but some other items that would be a good idea are: a multi-tool (always a good thing to have),a set of needle files, and duct tape (if it's not part of your basic kit).

These simple items will fix just about any problem you'll encounter on the field. Of course, if you want to go overboard, you can throw in spare blades, spare guards, handles, pommel weights, etc. but those are probably just as easily left back at camp.