Gear for Weapon Sparring

 I am sometimes asked what gear should a group use for weapon sparring. For helmets you basically have two options, karate helmets with plastic face shields or fencing helmets. Maybe there's a better brand (like perhaps for Kudo,) but the one I have used is Tiger Claw:

But fencing masks are the standard if you want to train to participate in gatherings, fencing masks do not have breathing holes that sparring knives might slip through, and fencing masks have built in neck protection. Blue Gauntlet seems to have the best value and appropriate protection for martial arts weapon sparring:

For knives the best value for safety and some level of realism has been the Cold Steel Hard Rubber Tanto for over a decade now:

There are many new stick brands and some of them may be better than Action Flex, but historically Action Flex has been the highest quality sparring sticks... look for the ones specifically branded as "Escrima," which I believe were endorsed by Dog Brothers in the past:

For sparring swords and machetes, there is only one brand I know of that makes sparring weapons about the real weight of a sword that are safe to spar with. The best sparring machete I know of is the Nihonzashi brand Padded Wakizashi, and they have three other swords as well (Katana, Odachi and Longsword): 

Now as for other weapons such as staffs, pole arms, axes, hammers, tomahawks, etc. unfortunately I have no recommendations, weapon sparring gear manufacturing isn't really there yet. For example the two sparring spears I have used the most are the Action Flex staff which is too floppy and light to be considered anywhere near like fighting with a real spear, and the Naginata from Calimacil, that has a latex skin that is incompatible with fencing masks, and is shockingly expensive. Right now it seems like our best hope is that Nihonzashi will start making a sparring Naginata, but that hasn't happened yet. 

A final note is that we need hand protection while weapon sparring. The issue is blood borne pathogens; at Tres Espadas every sparring weapon we have used could cause an abrasion of some kind on the hand, especially around the fingernails. Tough guys who want to feel hand pain when sparring should at least use work gloves. We have been using cheap street hockey gloves lately: