Am I the only one that was bothered by the comment in the Swordfish injury report about the lack of standards for neck protection? :\ It seems to me that between the larynx and various major blood vessels, neck protection would be second only to eye protection in importance.

So, I thought I'd start this thread. What do you spar with, and what do you use to protect your neck during sparring?

I primarily fence rapier, with occasional longsword, and this is my gorget. Except for being once gauge lighter (18 ga sheet steel, iirc), it's a standard SCA rattan gorget. I wear it over a 4-layer hood just in case a shot comes in up under the bib of my mask. It's about 15 years old at this point.

A friend has one too, and he took a shot hard enough to "oilcan" the steel and flake off a square inch of lacquer. He suffered no ill effects. I also find that hard face hits are distributed between the brow pad and gorget.


[ Linked Image ]
100_0158 by rapierlynx, on Flickr

[ Linked Image ]
100_0159 by rapierlynx, on Flickr

I use a one for pretty much everything and anything at the moment. An old video of what I use can be found here.

A bit of overlap between the front and back pieces wouldn't be a bad idea, but otherwise it looks like it should be effective, especially if you replaced the thongs with straps and buckles.

[ Linked Image ]

whats the difference between a bevor and a gorget?? does one just cover more than another? or is one more laminated?

This is a brigadine gorget I made from a kit that came from Windrose armoury. I customized the kit quite a bit though & used only the metal plates & general pattern in the end.

The heavy 14oz. leather around the neck backed with sheep shearling is suprisingly comfortable & protective.

andrew man, i hate to tell you. but u really should get more sun. your kinda looking pale. maybe you should eat moer as well, your nothing but bone man

This is an old gorget by Matt http://www.madmattsarmory.com/inv_neck.php. I have modified it rolling the top edge and heat blueing it and some other minor mods. I just started playing SCA Cut and Thrust and this lets me play.

The second one is in progress, it is a modified pattern from Talbot http://talbotsfineaccessories.com/books/metalwork.html

It will be either scale or brigandine and will not be as nicely decorated as Andrew's very similar pattern.



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