Question about a practice helmet...

[Scott W. Riley]

If ya can't tell from my previous posts, I'm doing a lot of research into what I'd need to buy in order to go after this and be safe. I was wondering if a hockey helmet with a cage to guard the face would be suitable for practice sparring with nylon wasters. I figure a hockey stick is a lil' bit heavier than most swords, so I think it should work in theory. What do ya'll think?

[Stacy Clifford]

Swords are pointier than hockey sticks, and you don't want that point accidentally jamming between the bars of the grill into your face. You need some kind of full face protection. Do some more searching on this forum, as this topic has come up many times and a lot of experiments with helmet modification have been made and tested.

[Jonathan Newhall]

Often recommended is some kind of combination between a fencing mask and a hockey/football helmet. I think it was Brian Hunt with the awesome sparring mask/helmets that he's made on his website, but I could be wrong (haven't bought anything from the guy).

Was it Brian Hunt? Am I completely off my rocker? Who knows...

[Joshua Hintzen]

Yup, its Mr.Hunt with the super cool mask/helm.

Here is the link to it:
http://web.emerytelcom.net/users/blhunt/helm.htm

And this is a link to the rest of the neat stuff he makes, like plastic wasters, armour, and what.
http://web.emerytelcom.net/users/blhunt/sales.htm

[Jaron Bernstein]

Yup, its Mr.Hunt with the super cool mask/helm.

Here is the link to it:
http://web.emerytelcom.net/users/blhunt/helm.htm

And this is a link to the rest of the neat stuff he makes, like plastic wasters, armour, and what.
http://web.emerytelcom.net/users/blhunt/sales.htm

I strongly endorse the Brian Hunt helmets, having had one for some time and it putting up with much abuse. A good 3 weapon fencing mask will suffice if your budget is more limited.

[JeremyDillon]

Does Mr. Hunt's helmet stand up well against steel blunts? I don't really feel comfortable using a 3W mask with blunts, as thrusts from a waster dent them up pretty good, and I'm wondering how much more heavy duty the mesh is on the sparring helmets.

[Jaron Bernstein]

Does Mr. Hunt's helmet stand up well against steel blunts? I don't really feel comfortable using a 3W mask with blunts, as thrusts from a waster dent them up pretty good, and I'm wondering how much more heavy duty the mesh is on the sparring helmets.

The face mesh on BH helmets does fine against blunts. We spar every week with steel blunts and plastics using that and 3 weapon fencing masks and have yet to have the grill fail during sparring. You just have to use some measure of control and try not hit the fellow in the back of the head where there is no coverage. That is not to say the 3W masks don't acquire dents and dings and eventually wear out, but we haven't had them catastrophically fail during sparring.