A buckler with a good handle

[Benjamin Smith]

As the title implies I have recently been thinking of purchasing a buckler. There are several places to choose from that I think are reputable (Arms & Armor, the Mercenary's Tailor, etc...), however, none of these ever show the handle of weapon in question. I bring this up because I've found 1 or two examples with very thin handles (1/2" thick steel handles, while sturdy don't offer much leverage to control the angle of the buckler's face with). If you'll pardon the punning, these don't handle the way I'd like them to. So if any of you have a handle on the issue of which reproduction bucklers have handles thick enough to control properly would you please be so kind as to offer your experience?

Also because this question is based only on my own impressions and not on any serious research, do any of you have some practical experience or observations of what historical bucklers' handles looked like?

[Will Adamson]

I have one of Brian Hunt's and one from Martello Nero. Both have pretty wide grips that handle pretty well. Brian's is better in this respect because it is smaller and lighter.

The Martello Nero is made of wood and leather, so is closer to being historically accurate at least as far as materials are concerned. The MN is also prettier if that matters to you. They added some rudimentary artwork to mine (in red and black!) because the turnaround time was a little longer than they initially told me. I probabaly got that buckler faster than any piece of equipment I've ever gotten in this field, and they stayed in contact with me about it, so good customer service. I managed to crack it where the grip meets the shield surface, but some heavy duty glue fixed it easily. Also, the grip is painted and it rubs off. Put some tape on it as a fix.

If I had to actually fight with one I'd pick Brian's because of the handling, but that MN is still pretty good. Brian is a one man show though, so you may have to wait a while. But he's good people and makes sure he gives you as good of a product as he can.

[Gene Tausk]

As the title implies I have recently been thinking of purchasing a buckler. There are several places to choose from that I think are reputable (Arms & Armor, the Mercenary's Tailor, etc...), however, none of these ever show the handle of weapon in question. I bring this up because I've found 1 or two examples with very thin handles (1/2" thick steel handles, while sturdy don't offer much leverage to control the angle of the buckler's face with). If you'll pardon the punning, these don't handle the way I'd like them to. So if any of you have a handle on the issue of which reproduction bucklers have handles thick enough to control properly would you please be so kind as to offer your experience?

Also because this question is based only on my own impressions and not on any serious research, do any of you have some practical experience or observations of what historical bucklers' handles looked like?

My advice is to go with Brian Hunt's model. Have two of them and will be ordering more. Brian is a frickin' genius at this stuff and his work holds up well.

[Randall Pleasant]

Also take a look at the bucklers by ARMA member Parker Brown of Crescent Moon Armoury (http://crescentmoonarmoury.com/). I also second Will's suggestion of looking into the bucklers by Brian Hunt. A buckler from either Parker or Brian will serve you well with both wooden wasters and steel blunts.

[Keith Culbertson]

yeah, we beat the snot out of Brian's bucklers every practice and they seem indestructible so far---just epoxy those bolts in if one somehow comes loose.

[Brian Hunt]

Keith,

what a great idea. I will start using epoxy on the bolts instead of the thread lock I have been using. That should fix any problems with those things working their way loose.

I would also like to thank everyone for their endorsements.

Brian Hunt.

[Benjamin Smith]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Feel free to add other experience with reproductions if you like.

Now on to the second question. I know we don't have many members who have had the chance to go to Europe, or live there, and most of those who do pay way more attention to swords, polearms, and armor rather than bucklers (I think justifiably so). In any case does anyone have an idea what historical handles looked like? Square or rectangular, flattened tubes of metal, small steel handles, 1" thick, 1/2" thick (steel handles), wide and flat like sword tangs, you can find all of these in reproduction bucklers, do we know which if any are accurate? I suspect this isn't as important a question as something like the construction of sword tangs, but I think it has some bearing on the way we would use bucklers.

Judging from I.33, Marrozzo, and Talhoffer I'd geuss we'd see some variation, but that generally the handles were approximately 2-3cm thick and constructed of wood, steel, or hardened leather. What seems harder to tell is the cross-section, square, rectangular, oval, or circular? Personally I'd geuss oval or rectangular because you would have more leverage on the face, but I'd like to see if anyone has any observations of the real thing.