ouch!

[Sir Wolf]

http://germanherald.com/news/Germany_in_Focus/2012-03-23/1389/Knight_Clubbing

[Ian]

That sucks!  Makes me want to get a bascinet with the segmented style occularum like this...  at least for live steel use. I suppose a very narrow tip and a very lucky shot (or unlucky) could still possibly get through, but I'd like my odds better.

[Sir Edward]

Youch! Yes, this is one reason modern fencing masks are still a good idea for most people who get into this stuff. But it's true, if you're trying to be authentic, it's hard to be sure your eyes are safe.

Something that can bridge the gap a little is the fencing helmets from Windrose:


http://www.windrosearmoury.com/zc/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=131

[Sir Wolf]

weld some perf plate on the inside of the helmet if your that worried about it ehhehe

[Sir Patrick]

That's what they did on Full Metal Jouster.

[Sir Brian]

weld some perf plate on the inside of the helmet if your that worried about it ehhehe

That's one of the reasons I'm occasionally checking eBay for an old beat up fencing mask so I can cut a section of the perforated steel mesh out and have it welded onto the ocularium of my great bascinet. Another way to avoid such tragedies is to have an adequate safety tip on your sword. 

[Sir Wolf]

or, now or comes to mind for those of us with common sense, or a little self control!! i've done "live steel" combat. that was just stupidity

[Sir Edward]

Well yes, everyone should stay under control. But accidents happen, no matter how careful you are.

[Ian]

When I was a kid growing up in Tampa we used to go to the Tampa Bay Area Ren Fest every year and witnessed one of the theatrical jousters have this happen to him with a splinter of shattered lance. A couple years later my mom was taking photography courses at the local college and there was a guy in her class with a deformed eye who went by 'Lance.'. Turned out it was the same guy!  He was very lucky in that the splinter did not penetrate his brain, only the eye. Next time I visit my parents I'll have to see if my mom still has the photos she took of the hit and the aftermath.

[Allan Senefelder]

When I was a kid growing up in Tampa we used to go to the Tampa Bay Area Ren Fest every year and witnessed one of the theatrical jousters have this happen to him with a splinter of shattered lance. A couple years later my mom was taking photography courses at the local college and there was a guy in her class with a deformed eye who went by 'Lance.'. Turned out it was the same guy!  He was very lucky in that the splinter did not penetrate his brain, only the eye.

Something similar happened back in the early 90's at the faire I used to have a booth at. A lance shard went through the occularum of the guys close helmet. He was taken out on the gurney, helmet on as the shard stuck out of the occularum of the helmet. He got very luck as it slide in under his eye ( it rode the bone surface of the occuarum of the skull ) rather than in into his eye so he keep the eye.

[Sir Wolf]

ya i know things happen. 2 friends were spear sparing and one hit the breastplate and he blocked upwards, it slid up and hit his eye. was ok after the hospital check but was scary

[Sir Edward]

Then of course there was a jousting fatality over in Europe a few years back. Same thing. Lance through the eye into the brain.

[Sir Brian]

True but I heard they violated a few of the essential safety precautions when that occurred. 

[Thorsteinn]

In this case it was a Rawlings Synthetic sword that did the damage.... and a helm that had eye slits that were too big. Even though I hear they may not allow face thrusts it's still true that shite happens.

Makes me glad for the SCA regs about 1" slits and 1.25" weapons. I actually won a Crown fight by stabbing a guy in the eye slot.

[Sir Edward]

Holy crap, I didn't notice it was a Rawlings sword. They're actually pretty soft plastic (too soft for actions in the bind, but very safe). I'm actually pretty surprised now. That's a pretty good thrust to get a fairly flexible plastic blade all the way into someone's brain.

But yeah, the eye slots are really too big for this. If you're using untipped trainers, there really needs to be a perf-plate or something.