Gambeson advisory.

[Glaukos the Athenian]

Gentles,

Before I even started fighting, when I started collecting the pieces for my first harness, I bought one of these gambesons for pretty short money.

I understand these are imported by Museum Replicas.

http://www.museumreplicas.com/museumrep ... 78-1-L.jpg

http://www.ourdecay.com/Medieval/Pics/N ... eSword.jpg

It is probably the first one most starting people will look at because of price.

As it had been laying about for a while, used only once to keep me warm at an event, I revisited it. It is thinner than many out there, and as I suffer a lot from the heat, I thought I may be able to use it.

I took to my local seamstress who shortened the sleeves and lenght, and at my request removed the diamond-like sections under the armpit, and finished the edges, to improve ventilation. The fit is now 100% better.

So far so good.

I got from her the leftovers and as I finally got to examine the fill, I noticed with displeasure that it looked like polyfill. A little flame-testing at home confirmed the fact that the filling on these gambesons is indeed synthetic. Acrid loctite smell and melting of the fibers confirmed this.

While usable, this gambeson has now become the "emergency" gambeson (when missing an event may depend on it) or a cold weather fighting gambeson only. Otherwise, back to save for an arming coat.
Polyfill is great to keep you warm if you are not exercising. It is terrible at moisture transfer and keeps too much heat in comparison to padding thinckness.

So be warned, if you have considered buying one of these because of price, that polyfill is perhaps the worst possible material for this, and that you will be buying a product not really suitable for SCA fighting.
Unless fighting makes you very cold, or you don't sweat, this should be perhaps the absolutely last choice, and only not to miss an event.

On the other hand, if MR were to talk to their manufacturer and change the fill for some natural material, and make some very small changes in the design, this would be a pretty unbeatable choice because of the price.

Hope this helps someone....

Rowan of Needwood

[Adriano]

Thanks for the heads-up! I made the mistake of using polyfille for a gambeson, back in the '80s; like fighting in a parka.

[mordreth]

polyester in a gambeson will kill you, wool batting is amazing