SCA fighting with closed face helms

[Milan H]

The closer the eye opening is to your eye the easier it is to see. That's why klapvisors are easier to see out of than houndskulls.

Respectfully I can't agree with the Hundskulls being harder to see out of. If it's made right you should have the occulars closer to your eyes, since the nose of the helmet gives you room to put your nose and mouth. Couple with holes in the bottom of the occulars, and the slanted grim eyes, I would suspect that it would actually provide superior vision over the older klappvisor design, plus better deflection of thrusts and cuts to the face. Most hundskulls I have seen are not shaped well at all, whereas klappvisors are much easier to construct.

That I feel is the biggest reason you see better from a klappvisor over a hundskull.

Cheers!

[Karl Helweg]

Even a well fitted closed face helm is harder to see and breath out of but they look so much cooler. You just have to weigh what all is important to you. This helm currently has two faces and I am finishing up a hound-face.

My only advice is fit it well and strongly consider also having a good grill faced helm as needed.

[Tomburr]

I think it is important to point out that not all closed face helms are created equal, so to speak.

I fought for several years in a closed face greathelm. The eye holes were 9/10", with round breath holes approx. 1/8" each. It was some sort of blend between a Normanesque crusader helm and a later Pembridge style. Basically an onion-top bucket with eye holes.

At any rate, I had a very hard time coping with the limited visibility. Far too much was going on outside my line of vision, IMO. (I had the helm as close to my face as I dared, my nose almost touched at all times.)

The breathing was an even bigger issue, because it got so humid and hot inside, made worse by the fact that my face was almost touching the metal in front of it. It felt like I had very little air circulation going on. I never got used to it.

Also, since my helm had no visor, I had to remove it every time I wanted to take water/Gatorade/snacks/cool air. That got old.

I fought in tournament, practice, and war in this helmet. I had a rough time every bit of the way.
Probably just me.

Then I switched to a barbute with a slightly enlarged, barred opening.
I feel right at home now. The open breath slot and widened eye slot made a world of difference, and I feel like I can breath and see again. I didn't realize what a distraction my old helmet had been, and how much my ability to fight was affected. Again, it's probably just my problem that I could not adapt to the restrictions of the first helmet. However, that is important when you're talking real money.
My point is simply this: try out a few different closed face helmets before you buy one. You know what to expect from the different types mentioned here, so see how they feel, and take that into account before deciding anything.

[Amanda M]

Although the visibility factor is real enough in many helms the breathability is mostly psychological.

The air you draw in through a closed helm is just as rich as you get through a bargrill. Perhaps warmer and moister. But the oxygen is still there, and therefore the potential for energy while fighting.

This is something I've been giving a lot of thought myself since my new helm will arrive sans bar grill. I know that having something on your face often psychs people out and they think they can't breathe, like a firefighting SCBA or hazmat mask etc.

[Iain (Bunny) Ruadh]

This might come off odd, but I fought in a bar grill for many years. This last year (June) I had my knee broken during an unbelt practice so I had some time to sit out. After the Doc's sign off in October I'd shifted my harness and visor over. I'd fought in this visor for a couple of Combat of the 30's so I was already 'comfortable' with it. After Oct, I started working on making it my 'primary' part of my helm. It was a tad odd, but what others have said (and Duke Rangvaldr pointed out) giving moving one's entire head instead of trying to track things with just your eyes really was panning out.

**It might look freaky, but tracking your oppenent's weapons with your entire head/sight no matter where they moved it was like watching a raptor. Silly as it might seem I can follow/track a shot/feint with my entire head/helm faster than most could begin to move their arms/hips to get the shot in. I didn't believe I could at first, but when you have a multiple duke pointing it out over and over again, ya start to understand what they're doing inside their helms as well.**

This past week and weekend I tried going back to the bargrill visor ... after the fact analysis let me know it was 'too much' info/input after just a few weeks of adjustment to a footman's visor. I'm going back to the full face visor and the 'head work' ... it helped me focus, and get my noggin' out of the way of various shots. As for breathe .. I found the breathing battle was more with me wasting energy and effort with shots/blocks that I didn't need to be doing and wearing myself out. Once I'd focused and stopped letting my opponent wear me out (i.e. control the tempo of the bout) ... I had oodles of breath ...



Just being a smart ass ... I'm 6' 2" @ 250# ... and yet Black Oak scares me ... !!!!
Guess his height .. and the fighting of a pissed off rabid weasel using that thing is part of it!!!!!!