Padding the Helm

[bigfredb]

What kind of foam is good for padding helms (other than camp pad)?

We have a store not too far away called Foam Mart and I need to know what to ask for.

[boris_]

I use closed cell foam. Might be worth asking if they have sorbothane

[Konstantin the Red]

Thing about allover foam around your head is how very sweaty you get and the sweat running right in your eyes.

Surely Caidan Marshals have experience with quilted, even stuffed, linen liners for helms? And of course it's time to say what kind of hat you're padding.

We really might as well get away from all-foam padding and enjoy something that doesn't concentrate the sweat of combat on you.

Some-foam, last ditch layer between cloth pad and helmet steel, has something to recommend it. Camping pad foam isn't quite the best thing available any more, being somewhat rigid, but squidgey closed cell like they make garden kneelers out of, and Sorbothane, both have a squashiness that decouples impacts from skull and so are very desirable.

You've seen us talk of the last-ditch,dual density protection where the foam component is arranged inside your helmet like spangen-bands, leaving considerable air between the foam bands so sweat doesn't build up and get in your eyes and make your hair all icky. A somewhat poofier linen padded coif does all the rest, and may be tied on your head completely unattached to your helmet at all.

[bigfredb]

I'm re-padding a sugarloaf helm. My liner shifted after a stout blow resulting in a small boo-boo to my eyebrow. Of course that small boo-boo turned into a black eye that made it look much worse than it was.

So, back to the re-padding. I've tried various methods, but need something to pad my helm quickly so I can get back to fighting. I can work a better solution long term.

[Blaine de Navarre]

I like the black stuff Windrose and a few others sell, but I wouldn't know what to call it if you're trying to get it from a non-SCA source.

[Scott]

I see that you are in CA. In that case, I recommend the black foam from OSH. It is located under the cutting table in the back of the store.

I use a single layer of 1/2" black foam from OSH. It holds up way better than camp mat foam. It is also true to thickness. The 1/2" camp foam is really closer to 3/8".

- Scott

[Konstantin the Red]

If you can have it as squidgey-foam pipe insulation, so much the better. Arrange these pipe sleeves vertically inside your helm to help with air circulation. Strategically placed gaps help all the more under the Caidan sun.

That, and a lambrequin. Such drapery is all right with a sugarloaf.

[bigfredb]

Thanks Konstantin. Not quite sure I understand. So take the pipe foam insulation (long tubes with a cut lengthwise) and make like vertical ridges inside the helm?

[boris_]

If you can have it as squidgey-foam pipe insulation, so much the better. Arrange these pipe sleeves vertically inside your helm to help with air circulation. Strategically placed gaps help all the more under the Caidan sun.

That, and a lambrequin. Such drapery is all right with a sugarloaf.

Is that closed cell foam or open cell?

[Konstantin the Red]

Thanks Konstantin. Not quite sure I understand. So take the pipe foam insulation (long tubes with a cut lengthwise) and make like vertical ridges inside the helm?

You got it. This recipe was found very effective at both shock absorption and ventilation since the rounded forms of the foam tubes made for air channels all round. They'd often insert a coil of the same pipe insulation in the flat top of a bucket-hat. Some glued it in; I think most used some ductape.

Team that with a linen arming-coif of any sort that fills in anything that needs better interface (corners of helm to roundness of head, which could also be filled with a bit more foam tube) et voilà, a refined and solid fit.

[Konstantin the Red]

If you can have it as squidgey-foam pipe insulation, so much the better. Arrange these pipe sleeves vertically inside your helm to help with air circulation. Strategically placed gaps help all the more under the Caidan sun.

That, and a lambrequin. Such drapery is all right with a sugarloaf.

Is that closed cell foam or open cell?

Closed cell stuff. You can tell by how it reacts when you moosh it.

The less expensive sort of pipe insulation feels more like pool noodle; find the rubbery stuff and its bubblegum feel.

[Clinker]

You want the black foam that is used on air conditioner refrigerant lines. It is sometimes called Arma Flex. The gray foam sold to cover hot water lines is not suitable, it t is not really as good as the old blue camp pad foam.

The nice thing about the refrigerant line foam is that you can usually find it at a hardware store, or big box store. Failing that try an HVAC supplier. I think Sorbethane is more difficult to find unless you look online.

[Broadway]

I love this spongy rubbery 3/4 inch thick black closed cell foam that I found at a local store named foam and fabrics.