RECOMMENDED GEAR

IT ALL STARTS WITH PROPER EQUIPMENT

Fencing can be an expensive sport and investing in the right gear is very important. You don’t need to buy all your gear at once to start training with us but piecing together quality kit over time is important.

Below is a list of equipment we recommend to those looking to train with us. These are items that have either been used in our club or come recommended from the historical combat community.

SYNTHETIC TRAINING WEAPONS

PENTTI LONGSWORD

Longsword continues to be one of the most popular HEMA disciplines. We found that PHA’s synthetic longsword to be durable, balanced, and flexible enough to be safe in the thrust. A worthy replacement of wooden training swords.

SHOP SYNTHETIC LONGSWORDS
BLACK FENCER LONGSWORD

Black Fencer makes hyper durable and realistic trainers. Their cord-wrapped hilts are known to last for years of hard use and many prefer BF due to their realistic and historical blade shape. Great flex for thrusting while being just a bit more authoritative in the cut.

SHOP BF Longsword
PENTTI LANGES MESSER

Shorter blades have less force in the cut but can hurt when thrusting due to their stiffness. PHA does a great job solving this thrusting issue with their Pentti Langes Messer. Fast and agile but flexible enough for safe thrusts.

SHOP SYNTHETIC MESSERS
RAWLINGS SWORD TRAINERS

Rawlings trainers are one the best affordable training swords available. They go by a lot of other names such “Knights Shop” or “Red Dragon” training swords. These swords are found in multiple flavors to include arming, basket hilt, messer, and longswords. Rawlings blades are flexible and can provide a good platform to drlll and spar with for half the cost of other synthetic swords.

SHOP ALL RAWLINGS SWORDS
PHA KATANA

Wood swords have been the main training tool of Japanese sword martial arts for centuries. Hardwood can be unsafe for sparring while bamboo is shaped differently from real katana. PHA’s Pentti V4 Katanas are shaped like the real sword with enough flex to safely spar at full force.

SHOP SYNTHETIC KATANAS

WHY PLASTIC SWORDS?

SAFETY AND COST
Historical combat can be an expensive hobby and many choose to start with a synthetic nylon sword. These can cost just half of what a sparring steel sword would cost and is a great way to get started without breaking the bank .

QUALITY AND SAFETY

These are not toys! Synthetic swords are fast replacing wooden swords because they are safer and last longer. The blades of special nylon are designed to flex (as many real swords do) making them FAR safer to spar with than their wooden counterparts.

Thrusting full-force with hardwood training swords can still cause serious injuries even with protective gear.

Being both non-metallic and non-organic also makes them near impervious to rust allowing them to last for years. REMEMBER: Protective gear must still be worn when sparring the nylon swords.

Currently, we recommend Purple Heart Armory’s Pentti line of synthetic swords in multiple styles ranging from Katanas to Longswords. Our club has extensive experience with these swords and find them to be durable, fast, and safe. We are open to testing and recommending other brands as well!

If you would like to talk to us about reviewing and possibly recommending your fencing products, please CLICK HERE