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Suppliers: Western Martial Arts

• Chivalry Bookshelf - The premier publisher of western martial arts training manuals and translations.

• Revival Clothing - Excellent & historically accurate clothing & arming clothing, including gambesons.
• Heimrick Armories - Heimrick Armouries, located in Monteal, Quebec, produces fine quality training swords that stand up to the rigours of combat training.  The weapons are created completely in the Montreal shop, from the blade to the furniture.  Making some of the finest steel training swords available for the price, they are the preferred armory for AEMMA and other WMA groups.  
  
• Purpleheart Armoury - For excellent wooden training weapons.
• Revival Leatherworks - For excellent and affordable medieval footwear, leather goods, and accessories.
  
• Historic Enterprises - Historically accurate clothing, footwear, and armour.
• Hollywood Combat Center - Run by David Baker, this is an excellent source for aluminum training weapons.
• Jared Kirby - A good source for a variety of copied documents, of various levels of clarity.
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Equipment Reviews: Western Martial Arts

Books/Video

• Chivalry Bookshelf - Books
  

• The Swordsman's Companion: A Modern Training Manual for Medieval Longsword - by Guy Windsor - 236pp. ($21.95)  This is one of two books that I would recommend without hesitation to anyone interested in working with the longsword.  It's well-laid out, has decent illustrations, and is backed up by an excellent instructor.  Mr. Windsor has created a very nice basic training manual for the longsword, focusing on the works of the Italian master, Fiore dei Liberi.  As well, although this is not a perfect book and there are places where my personal interpretation differs from Mr. Windsor's, he has not shied away from admitting in public forums where his interpretation has changed or where the book is deficient.  I fully anticipate him putting forth a new edition in the future with changes and, quite probably, a summary of the changes for those owning the first edition.  Truly an excellent little book and quite reasonably priced.  I highly recommend this one.
  

• Arte of Defence: A practical guide to the use of the rapier - by William Wilson - 180pp.  ($24.95)  This is not a manual from any one specific master, but instead a collection from multiple masters within the Italian school.  That having been said, there are some excellent interpretations here, as well as good, solid information for anyone interested in a beginning overview of rapier work.  I value this for that overview, if nothing else, being that I am much more of a medieval WMA practitioner.  Well worth the price, particularly for beginners.  Production quality is good for a soft-cover manual.
  

• Highland Swordsmanship: Techniques of the Scottish masters - Edited by Mark Rector - 208pp.  ($29.95)  This is a fascinating collection of manuals, McBane's autobiography, and interpretation of the techniques described in the manuals.  More of a 18th-19th century focus, but well worth taking a look at. 
  

• Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship: Sigmund Ringeck's Commentaries on Liechtenauer's Verse - Translated and Interpreted by Christian Henry Tobler - 432pp.  ($49.95)
  

• Arte Gladiatoria: 15th Century Swordsmanship of Master Filippo Vadi - Translated by Luca Porzio & Gregory Mele - 174pp.  ($59.95)  Beautiful hard-cover book and quite well laid out.  This manual is a reproduction and side-by-side translation of Filippo Vadi's work from the mid 1400's.  Exquisite color plates for illustrations.  Some other nice features include several chapters of explication and interpretation at the beginning, discussing western martial arts practice and history, as well as Vadi's system.   I find myself going back to this book over and over again to aid in my work with Fiore dei Liberi's manuals.  This is almost more of an art book thatn any of the others, but I think it would be worth getting if you have any interest at all in the Italian schools of 1400-1500's or for comparison with the Liechtenauer tradition schools.  It's of less use to those interested in primarily a beginner's oriented training manual, although it could be used as such.
  

• The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship: A Facsimile & Translation of the World's Oldest Personal Combat Treatise - by Dr. Jeffrey L. Forgeng - 178pp. ($54.95)  This is another gorgeous book, consisting of full-color plates of the original manual and accompanying translation.  Not my area of interest, but absolutely stunning and definitely worth the cost for anyone interested in sword and buckler from the medieval period.  The book "Medieval Sword and Shield: The Combat System of Royal Armouries MS I.33" is an accompanying interpretation of the manual.  It's worth getting these two as a set.
  

• Medieval Sword and Shield: The Combat System of Royal Armouries MS I.33 - by Paul Wagner and Steven Hand - 278pp. ($29.95)  This is the interpretation that was published in conjunction with "The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship: A Facsimile & Translation of the World's Oldest Personal Combat Treatise"  Note that this is not by the same author, so while it is an interpretation of MS I.33, it is not the only possible one nor is it necessarily that of Dr. Forgeng.  However, it's still an excellent book and serves as a good companion interpretation to the manual itself.  Again, well worth getting if you have any interest in sword and buckler or sword and shield work.
  

• SPADA: An Anthology of Swordsmanship in Memory of Ewart Oakeshott - 182pp. ($24.95)

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• Chivalry Bookshelf - Video
• Schola Saint George Fiore Longsword Seminar: Fundamentals of Fighting from the Poste - Brian Price - 2hrs. ($34.95) -
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• Alliance Martial Arts - Video
  
•  Modern Knives Video Magazine -
  
• Medieval German Unarmed Combat: Level 1 - Basics -
  
• Other Publishers - Books
• Italian Rapier Combat, by Ridolfo Capo Ferro - Edited and Presented by Jared Kirby - 160 pp. ($39.95)
  
• Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close Quarter Combat - by Hans Talhoffer - Translated and Edited by Mark Rector - 304pp. ($29.95) - This is, I believe, the first of the recently published (in the past 20 years or so) translations of original western martial arts manuals from the medieval or Renaissance eras.  As such , it has some problems, being much less a manual for practice than a more academic translation.  However, it's among the first and still has some merit for those interested in Talhoffer's system or in comparison between that and other WMA systems of the time.  Still, not as readily accessible as more recent publications.

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Weapons

• Safety Training Weapons - Rubber & Plastic

• Sharkee training knives - These are excellent semi-safe trainers for either WMA or eastern MA work.  Rounded edges, extremely versatile and a good size.  Youv'e really got to be trying to hurt someone with one of these (although it's still possible, just more difficult).  I like these more than just about any wood or plastic trainer I've used thus far.  There's a better review (& pricing) of them here at the Alliance Martial Arts site.
  

• Rubber Spear points -
  

• Rubber Poleaxe Head - 
  

• Aluminum Training Weapons - Swords

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• Wooden Training Weapons - Swords
  
• New Stirling Arms Longsword (http://www.newstirlingarms.com/woodwasters.html) - This review is of their "Hand and a Half - The Perfect Waster Type B."   This is possibly one of the best wooden WMA wasters I've had the pleasure of using.  It is incredibly well-balanced and holds up well to hard contact, with little to no deformation of the surface wood after 3 months of use at least once a week in paired drills.  The most compelling aspect of this waster is that it is indeed balanced like a proper steel waster, with a COB at approximately 3-4" past the quillons.  This makes using it a real joy.  The only aspect of this waster that is at all jarring is the large size of the pommel, which is dictated by the need to weight it with lead to counterbalance the blade.  I'm pleased enough with New Stirling Arms work that I'm commissioning a couple of custom wasters, as I think they'll be able to get the weighting and balance right on them.  They're a bit more expensive than other manufacturers, but well-worth the extra $20 or so, in my opinion. 
  
• Statistics:
• Cost:  $80 + $12 shipping
• Weight:
• Length:  Type B - 45" total, 35.25" blade, 9" hilt;  Type A - 48" total, 38" blade, 9" hilt
  
• Blade width:  2" wide at base, ~1" thick, with some distal taper
• Quillons:  1" diameter, 11" wide

• Purpleheart Armoury Longsword (http://www.woodenswords.com/WMA/longsword.htm) - This review is of their "Longsword."  Purpleheart has done an excellent job in leading the way on wooden WMA weapons and has been the supplier I've used for years.  Their swords hold up nicely to extended periods of use with damage remaining minimal (limited to that expected from any wooden weapon).  Indeed, I still own several of their wasters and use them for student use or for seminars.  These are sturdy, well-made, basic wasters with a great deal of excellent customer service backing them up.  They share in the problems that a majority of wooden WMA swords have, that they're blade-heavy.  Frankly, this is fine for basic training, but runs into some problems in teaching sword manipulation when transitioning to steel or more properly balanced wasters.  I've dealt with this by asking for them to be shipped without the pommel attached and then filling part of the pommel hollow with around 3-4 oz. of melted lead before gluing the pommel in place.  This shifts the balance point from around 9-10" past the quillons to around 5-6" past the quillons, making the swords a bit less unwieldy.  Also, the quillons hold up beautifully to abuse, but are a bit limited in terms of their size for working within some of the requirements for Fiore's or Vadi's longsword (and probably Leichtenauer's, as well).  These are certainly excellent wasters that hold up well to use and will last for a good long while, but not quite as nice as the New Stirling Arms longsword.  However, they are around $20 cheaper.  As well, you do get your choice of quillon designs, pommel designs, and, for an extra $5, blade length, for those interested in customization. 
  
• Statistics:
• Cost:  $68 (base) + $12 shipping
• Weight:  ~2.5 lbs.
  
• Length:  48" total, 38" blade, 7.5-8" hilt
• Blade width: 
  
• Quillons:  2" thick, ~8" wide


• Wooden Training Weapons - Staves/Sticks
• Purpleheart Armoury Staffs (http://www.woodenswords.com/WMA/staffs.htm) - I own a 52" hickory staff, a 6' hickory staff, and am in the process of purchasing several more 6' and 8' staves from them.  These are excellent weapons, which I've used for several years now for both Japanese MA and WMA.  Like all hickory, these will dent under serious impact, but hold up fine otherwise, with no evidence of splintering or structural instability.  I have not yet tried the ash staves, but will do so in this upcoming order.  The staff comes treated with linseed oil and has a good finish on it, although without an eye towards absolute perfection (but if you want that for $20 or so, you need to rethink things...).  There are slight assymmetries in the rounding of the staves I have, but that actually fits with most hand-made weapons I've had, including some mighty pricey ones I've handled.  In short, these are excellent weapons with a great price.
• Statistics:
• Cost:  Nonlaminated - $20-30 +$17 shipping (cheaper per item if buying multiple items); Laminated: $35-60 + $17 shipping
• Weight: Varies depending on size
• Size:  Ranges from 1.125" x 36" up to 1.25" x 8' (custom lengths outside of regular sizes can be had for $5 extra)

• Purpleheart Armoury Singlestick (http://www.woodenswords.com/WMA/singlest.htm) -
  
• Purpleheart Armoury Vigny Cane (http://www.woodenswords.com/WMA/lacanne_stick.htm) -
  

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Armour

• Light Sparring gloves - These gloves, from Revival Leatherworks, are nicely padded, with sufficient protection for light sparring and incidental contact, without being too bulky or restrictive.  They loosen up nicely as time goes on, as well...
  
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Clothing & Miscellaneous

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