Absolute Force HEMA Gear is now available

[Absolute Force HEMA]

Absolute Force HEMA line is now available to all players! Currently the HEMA Helmet, leather jacket, Pants, forearm and Shin protectors, Chest Guard, and Leather Elbow protector are in stock! The website is www.afinternationalsporting.com

We are looking forward to receive any feedback from players and instructors. We want to build this sport with the HEMA community together. All feedback will be considered for future productions. Thank you to all!

[Dan Sellars]

Cool it is good to see this launched.

I have an initial question, are the elbow protectors sold individually or as a pair? it is not clear to me from looking at the website. The forearm protectors say pair but elbows don't yet they are somthing that typically you would expect a pair of.

Also how would you prefer feedback?

Regards and thanks again,
Dan.

[StevePirates]

Hi, I'm thrilled you guys are up and running. Have you tried your gear in combination with other manufacturer's stuff? For instance, the Allstar 1600N black mask and neck protector. Would that work for your jacket? Because I like the Allstar mask and neck, but your jacket looks exactly like what's been missing. If the two can go together well.... Then you might find some of my money drifting your way.

[A Froster]

First of all, thank you Absolute Force for being the first to develop an almost complete line of training gear for HEMA. I had to opportunity to see and hold the Jacket, mask, gorget and shin guards in Houston.

Here are my thoughts. The insert pockets for hard shell protection sewn into the jacket are just what we need for HEMA. I didn't get to check out the inserts themselves. What are they made of? The harder the barriers, the safer I would feel especially when sparring with steel longswords. My nightmare is for my opponent to the have a blade break with neither one of us realizing it. Other than that, the only alteration I would make to the jacket is to sew Velcro onto the elbows to allow for a removable plastic elbow coverings.

I probably would not consider the gorget because I'm one of those guys who want a blunt trauma (hard shell) protection over my hydroid neck bone. I know exactly what it would take to protect the hydroid and to also prevent thrusts from sliding up under the chin, but nobody makes one yet. A Kydex "bevor" with the bottom that goes under the jacket and then extends upward to provide a hard plastic protection for the neck. What makes it a bevor is that it would continue to extend upward from the neck and form fit snuggly under the chin and bottom of the fencing mask so that a blade could not possibly slide under your mask.

So all in all I like the jacket and back of the head protector with some slight modifications. The shin guard is perfect, but I'll have to decline on the gorget.

Thank you for your efforts and I look forward to testing some of the AF gear

[Mike Ruhala]

Other than that, the only alteration I would make to the jacket is to sew Velcro onto the elbows to allow for a removable plastic elbow coverings.

Scott mentioned this idea to me at the recent UCF gathering, too... a few points to be aware of when trying to develop this concept:

-everybody's elbows are in a slightly different location so you'd need to build adjustment into the system

-if the elbow guards are attached directly to the jacket they'll tend to shift out of place so they'll still need a strap to keep them where they need to be

-velcro will tend to tear loose from strikes and even from repeated flexing of the joint so they'll still need a strap

[Sean Karp]

I like how the Vambraces are very reminiscent of the Vendel Splint Vambraces.

[mcapanelli]

I'd like to know why the mask isn't available in XL? Some of us have large heads you know. will you be carrying them in XL in the future or is there another solution that doesn't involve cutting some of my skull away?

[JohnPatterson]

My old absolute mask was an XL but the Large hema mask fits me fine. it seems to have more room than the large coaches masks I have tried on.

[mcapanelli]

One of the guys in our group got the large one. It's a nice mask but I can't get my chin in it. I definitely need an XL. I just picked up an AF mask but would rather have got one form this line instead of the normal ones I've been using.

[Absolute Force HEMA]

Hi, Guys:

This is Gary from AF International. The HEMA mask just similar to the regular fencing mask. If you push the mask (on the side) towards in a little, the mask shape would slightly longer, it would help to fit in. In general, we want the mask to fit a little snag, so it doesn't move much when hit.

We will be presenting at the 2012 Longpoint competition. Hopefully we will have the final vision of the AF HEMA Combat Gloves sample available for everyone to review.

Thanks for everyone's interest at AF HEMA products.