I have been looking for a nice looking pigface helm for quite a while that would not break the bank.

I saw this one at get dressed for battle and it appears its a battlemerchant made helm as its available at around the same price.

http://www.battlemerchant.com/Helmets/Battle-...:2407.html

http://www.getdressedforbattle.co.uk/acatalog...ieval.html

and the similar ebay helm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...TQ:GB:1123

Does anyone have an opinion on their helms? Any opinion on their service? Shipping is pretty high to the USA but I was not able to find a USA distributor for this helm.

I also saw this helm on ebay and it appears almost the same helm (But apparently is only slightly different).

Any opinions on either?

I wont be using for SCA or anything probably just occasional re-enactments and display only. I do want something that looks nice and is somewhere historically accurate.

thanks

Hello Steven,

I have a buddy of mine that has used this same helm during a full contact tournament in Australia. You'll see in this video the pins came out...and throughout the event there were several times were the pins came undone :/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m0zRBeEPPU&am...AvES0wA%3D

I had asked him the same thing about this helmet and he told me to just save up for something that was custom made for me...and better quality ;)

Of course if you're using it to just wear around I think its " ok " The lines and shaping of the bascinet don't look correct to me...the top of the helm looks very rounded and the bottom looks to have a large opening that says "stab me here!" :eek: :p

Course this can probably fixable with adding an appropriate liner ;)

I have just one helmet by Ulfberht/Battle-Merchant (not that one, unfortunately). Nothing fancy, but they are solid. Quality is very similar to the GDFB helmets that KoA sells, which is a different company than the GDFB of your link. A bit confusing. :confused:

Battle-Merchant is a well known company this side of the pond. Sometimes their deliveries take longer than they should, but other than that, no complains.


By the way, I was told by GDFB Europe (same as KoA's) that in 2-3 weeks time they will have a new version of their Hounskull Bascinet. You may want to wait a bit to check that one out.

Can I also ask if anyone knows if the Ulfberth helmets tend to run big or small?

I want to make sure it fits good as the shipping is pretty steep.

My head measures 60cm's circumference and the medium they sell says its internal circumference is 66cms, so that looks like the right one. (Probably assuming I dont want to add padding).

The large is 70cm's which I think would be quite a bit too big for my head.

Be careful. In the Battle-Merchant web they say L size is 64 cm, and M 62. I think their measures are better (and more logical) than those of GDFB. You should ask for a confirmation.

http://www.battlemerchant.com/Helmets/Battle-...:2407.html

http://www.battlemerchant.com/Helmets/Battle-...:2406.html

Steven,
Kult of Athena is a US distributor for GDFB,You may want to check them out.Their pricing is good.Their customer service is great and will most likely answer all of your questions before buying.

http://www.kultofathena.com/gdfb.asp

Scroll down the attached page for all of the helmets that you been inquiring about + more.

I emailed kult of athena and the guy responded and said he could get me this helm. He said to respond with which size I wanted and he would send me a purchase link. I did that and never got a response. I even sent another followup a few days later and still no response.

Any who has dealt with kultof athena have this issue? Are they just super busy maybe? Its been over a week with no response.

So its been about a year. I did get the helmet from Kult of Athena, I just called them and got them on the phone and they got the helmet for me even though they don't normally carry it. It took a few months since they special ordered it but wow did it save a lot of money! I paid like 125$ for the helmet and only about 20$ shipping.

So the helmet...for the price I think it is fantastic honestly. Is it perfect? No, but the lines are pretty good and its pretty well made for a sub 200$ helmet. I haven't seen any pigface helms that looked near this good even at the 300$ range. How does it hold up to blows? No idea since I don't fight in it, have another helm for that.

Question for the experienced armorers on here....How do you normally get Vervelles off to affix an aventail? U bought the aventail but it did not come attached. I figured the vervelles were like screws but when I grab them with a wrench and turn them they just spin. Do they have to be peened out with a hammer? If so I would have to rip out the helmet liner since its stitched on..

Some pics

Vervelles don't unscrew. Perhaps a picture will suffice.

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Steven, I'm happy to hear you had a good experience with KOA and are pleased with the bascinet.

The lines on mine aren't perfect, the visor lacks some subtle shaping, and the breaths have room for improvement; but at $145 it's a good value. :)

As Mart showed, the vervelles do not unscrew. You place the aventail band holes over the vervelles and hold the works together with a waxed linen string strung through the vervelles.

You might end up sewing your own liner for comfort, even if the bascinet is just for costume. Mine was sewn and glued in place; not much fun to remove.

This bascinet does seem to hold up well to rattan combat. After a few years of fighting a handfull of dents are barely visible to the naked eye, but that's to be expected from any SCA helm. Fortunately, I've never had my "bell rung" in this helm.

Have fun modifying and playing with your new bascinet!