Sword and Buckler

Thanks! It's a custom model made by my instructor from wax-impregnated heavy leather around a steel boss. It goes from concave to convex and works really, really well in I.33. I don't think anyone makes one as nice.  I believe he based the design on early 14th century bucklers though obviously we don't know exactly how those were made.  One interesting thing is that the shape and material make into something of a catcher's mitt for sharps.  We discovered this in slow play with sharps.  I noticed that if I put my fingers up inside the boss while gripping with my thumb, the blade slides in against the large leather handle and I can then easily grip it by closing my fingers on it.  The fingers remain protected up inside the boss, so if I misjudge the grab and the sword slips out I don't get cut.  The blade rides on the handle instead of the palm of the hand.  The sharp also tends to dig into the leather, which is gummy because of the wax and tends to help keep it from going anywhere.  Obviously you have to be extremely careful doing this kind of thing, but we've been practicing for a long time now. 

Chris Brecht at Fiddlebow. He's been working with Roland for years, though there's no formal affiliation or ranking system that I'm aware of in the realm of sword and buckler. We generally follow the Dimicator approach to I.33, with some differences particularly in the use of Prima.  IMHO the buckler design Chris has come up with is the best currently in existence for early sword and buckler work.  Even Roland's people were mostly using pretty simple wooden ones.  The convex leather will actually lie flat on the blade when you extend sword and buckler together, making it very difficult to get a sword in between the two.  Unfortunately I don't think any organic buckler materials survived from the period, so we're going from medieval illustrations that aren't always easy to decipher. So I can't say for sure this exact style was being used then.