"Padded Neck Defence" WMA gorget by Revival

[KeithFarrell]

http://revival.us/paddedneckdefensegorgetjogodopauwma.aspx

Before anyone yells at me for buying from Revival after the whole Brian Price fiasco, the Revival company has been bought out by an SCA fellow called Scott Adkins who is well respected in the SCA community. The company no longer has anything to do with Brian Price or Chivalry Bookshelf. Some more information about the issue can be found in this thread over on the HEMA Alliance forum: http://hemaalliance.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1728

So, I saw this item on the Revival website, and it is advertised as being throat protection designed for HEMA / WMA / historical fencing. It is selling for $16.95, so about £11 plus shipping. One of my friends was returning from the States anyway, so it was nice and cheap for me to get it back here - I spent a total of £13.60 on this item.

The most immediate thing that I noticed is that my gorget is all black, it doesn't look like the image above. The shape is correct but there is no red and no Revival logo. There are no colour options on the website, so I don't know what is going on. The simple fact that the advertised image shows one thing and the actual product looks different does not make for an auspicious start. However, since Adkins has only recently taken over the business and is trying to get it back on its feet, and is trying to repair its somewhat shattered reputation, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I would much rather give an objective review of the item than to start with a negative bias simply because it doesn't have red on it. I really don't mind, because I don't like red anyway!

The second thing I noticed is that the neck padding is very good. It is thick and I have no doubt that it will help to protect my throat against blunt impacts. The padding across the bib is also pretty good. It doesn't quite contour to my collar bone, but it will provide some welcome additional padding across parts of the collar bone, parts of the ribcage and part of the sternum. I'm quite happy with the level of padding on the item, especially for something that cost me £13.60!

The third thing I noticed is actually a major problem. In the image above, there is a red line between the throat part and the bib part. That is just two layers of thin synthetic fabric. There is no padding in there, nor any thrust-resistant or puncture-resistant material. If a thrust comes at me and hits my chest, then slides up my chest towards my neck, it is going to go into that area of material and there will be no protection at all against the thrust. In fact, with the angle of the bib and with the throat part sitting above this gap in protection, a thrust slipping up my chest will be guided directly into this area, which is not good.

I tried the throat protected last night during sparring. I tried to wear it in conjunction with my mask and with my Akademia Broni "Kurtka Standard F3" jacket. Although the Revival website says that this gorget should be able to fit under most gambesons or fencing jackets, it was unable to fit under my jacket. This could just be that my jacket is relatively small and tight around the throat, so the description might not be wrong; it does not claim that the item fits under *every* jacket, just most. The bib part fits under my jacket nicely, but the padding is so thick that I could not close the reinforced throat of my jacket. I was hoping that the jacket's reinforced throat would cover the problem area of the gorget as noted in the above paragraph, and that the padded throat of the gorget would provided further protection since the jacket's collar only extends up by an inch. Unfortunately this is not the case, and I cannot wear this gorget under my current jacket.

I also tried wearing the gorget over my jacket but under my mask. This was even more disastrous; while I could close my jacket's collar, the bib of the gorget pushed up and away from my chest, so any thrust hitting my torso could glance up and under the gorget with more ease than it could glance up and under my mask's bib by itself. The angle of the gorget's bib would guide such a thrust up into my throat without it being checked and stopped by the collar of the jacket. I genuinely feel that wearing one of these gorgets on top of the jacket would be a health and safety hazard; if it is to be worn, it *must* be underneath the clothing on the torso.

I ended up doing my sparring practice without the gorget. I couldn't make it fit under my jacket, I was not willing to risk wearing it over my jacket, so I discarded it for the evening.

Next time I do some lighter contact sparring, where I'm not wearing my jacket, I will try tucking the gorget under my t-shirt. I suspect it will perform quite well in that capacity, as an additional layer of defence for the throat and further padding for the collar bone and chest when a jacket is not being worn. Once I try it in that capacity at the next practice like that, I will post a further review on the item.

For £13.60 I don't begrudge the purchase, especially as I expect it to perform quite well when I am not wearing the jacket. For wearing a jacket with a tight neck however, this is not a suitable companion piece of equipment.

[KeithFarrell]

From the HEMA Alliance forum:

I bought this when I was first starting back last August, and you're basically spot on with everything.

Mine was all black, no logo.

The neck padding IS very good. A layer of soft foam, and a layer of rubber on the outside. It also has good padding for the collarbone.

The gap between the neck and chest part is pretty noticable. Like you said, just two thin layers of fabric.

I can get it under my jacket (barely), and that's the only way I can really wear it, otherwise it pushes up against my mask like you were saying.


Something I did to make it fit better: I slit the fabric at the top of the neck part, pulled out the soft foam layer, and trimmed the rubber layer to be shorter by about half an inch. It makes it fit better under a jacket, and it doesn't push against your mask as much. You could maybe consider trying this.

Again like you said, the great thing is that this is by far the cheapest padded gorget on the market, and it does work to an extent.

ps it does have a quite flat shape, which causes it to stick out from the chest and cause that risk of a thrust going under it. I've taken to bending it and storing it bent inside my mask in my bag, so whenever I need it, it's curved to fit better against me.

Thanks for the comments Joey. That is a good idea about slitting the top of the collar and shaving the rubber part somewhat, I think I will give that a try at some point next week. Perhaps some of the shaved rubber could be used to make that little unprotected part at the base of the neck a little safer... It is the cheapest of this sort of thing I have seen around, and it is *almost* good enough to be worth recommending. Even if it cost an additional £3 or £4 ($5 to $7) but had a slightly less bulky collar along with sorting that unprotected part at the base of the throat, I would recommend it without hesitation. As it stands at the moment, although the low price is very tempting, the item is simply not *quite* good enough for me to be happy recommending it. Almost, but not quite.

[Cutlery Penguin]

This could just be that my jacket is relatively small and tight around the throat, so the description might not be wrong; it does not claim that the item fits under *every* jacket, just most.

My Jackets are also quite tight around the throat area so I doubt it is just yours.

The idea of a throat protector that actively guides thrusts into an unprotected area sounds like a big no no to me. Thanks for the review Keith.

[KeithFarrell]

This could just be that my jacket is relatively small and tight around the throat, so the description might not be wrong; it does not claim that the item fits under *every* jacket, just most.

My Jackets are also quite tight around the throat area so I doubt it is just yours.

The idea of a throat protector that actively guides thrusts into an unprotected area sounds like a big no no to me. Thanks for the review Keith.

That is good information. It might just be that this gorget is too bulky to be used with slimmer, tighter fitting jackets. At least we now know this fact! And certainly, the base of the throat is a fairly major flaw in this sort of item...

[admin]

This sounds more dangerous than nothing at all.

[KeithFarrell]

So, I have had the opportunity to test the gorget a couple of times by just wearing it under my t-shirt. For general drilling and exercising when I'm not wearing my full protective outfit this is perfectly fine, and in fact works quite well. I am very happy with this gorget for general exercising work under my t-shirt and it gives me some extra padding on my chest and collarbones (receiving stabs is a slightly less unpleasant experience!) and some good bulky padding over my neck. The area of material at the base of the throat just beneath the padding is not really a problem when worn under the t-shirt; at least, it hasn't been an issue during a thrusting practice with longsword and a practice involving a lot of thrusting with the broadsword.

I wouldn't recommend this gorget for anyone looking to combine it with a jacket or a gambeson, it's just too bulky for that, and it's not quite good enough or safe enough for use in pressured sparring. I would be happy to recommend it for anyone looking to have some kind of chest and throat protection for drilling and exercising though, it seems to do that job just fine.

For its price, £13.60 or so, it is not a horrendous piece of equipment. Since it has to be ordered from Revival in the States though, that makes it rather more difficult for those of us in Europe to acquire, and I don't think it is worth the effort to make that process of acquisition any easier. For a better gorget, yes, but for this product, not really.