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Message: <blockquote data-quote="big dummy" data-source="post: 2902981" data-attributes="member: 41052">Well thats just the point those helmets, particularly the later era ones, were designed to make blows slip off of them without landing solidly.And the problem with those tests is exactly how much of and what type of padding and suspension they acutally use under the helmet.  For one thing, it wasn't at all unusual to wear a steel arming cap under a larger great helm.Also A flail, mace or pick with an iron or steel striking payload a LOT more mass density and hardness than a bears paw, let alone a panther.Here is one example.  I weigh 290 lbs, and I can bench press considerably more than that.  In our group, unlike SCA, we make no attempt whatsoever to pull our blows, nor do we have any rules as to where you can hit.  "Safety last" you might say.  Our weapons are nominally padded to help prevent broken bones, but have solid cores and are realistically heavy (3-4 lbs) and strong enough that they regularly split 1/2" plywood SCA type shields for example, and bend alumnium ones.  I broke a 2"x4" stud with one last week.  Fighting with these without helmets leads to routine knockouts and concussions.  Which is why we always wear helmets. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />And the best helmet we've been able to find so far in terms of overall safety is a replica of an old Renaissance era Italian Barbutte, which looks something like an old cylon helmet.<img src="http://www.knightsedge.com/images/barbute-helmet-8101.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />If you watch this little video of our old New Orleans sparring group in action...<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D6Iw7iqzM0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D6Iw7iqzM0</a>Right at about minute 1:02 you will see me fighting a guy in a tournament.  I end up displacing his cut and then countering with an oberhau, nailing him in the back of the head almost as hard as I could with one of our heavy wasters.  I wasn't trying to hurt the guy but to get the blow landed before his near simultaneous counterstrike I had to strike fast, and therefore hard.  The instant of the strike is actually shown twice for emphasis because it was unusually hard.  He is wearing that barbutte which I believe is only 18 guage steel, plus a (period realistic) padded arming cap underneath.  He didn't even get a headache from that blow.  Without the helmet he would have beeen unconsciuous and quite possibly had a seisure.  In fact that helmet seems to completely protect him from any injuries, he often can't even tell when he gets hit in the head.Even with one of the lacrosse helmets we usually wear it would have meant staggering away for a 5 minute sit-down and possibly no more sparring for the rest of the day (which is exactly as you can see happen to another guy wearing a motorcycle helmet at minute 1:35 in the same video... he got nailed hard enough that his day was over.  And thats with a helmet supposed to save your life from wrecking off of a motorbike).Thats just one tiny example of how my experience has taught me those helmets worked bloody well.BD</blockquote>

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