That unknown material is called phenolic, a rosin impregnated paper that was layered. It was also used as insulators in electrical equipment at that time.

My (modern olympic) fencing club still has 2 of these practice rifles.

High quality modern boxing gloves still do have horse hair in them (in combination with foam padding) and are frequently used by pros in competition. They do cost quite a bit more than most variants of foam padding though. A good example are Cleto-Reyes gloves which are a rather high cost brand.

WHY DID THIS EVER GO AWAY - I'm excited for this to a irrational level, never thought it was a thing

I was an Infantryman in the U.S. Army. We trained with pugil sticks. This was supposed to simulate a bayonet on an m16a2 rifle. However, we just club each in to a concussions. I believe that just after I left the service, the Army suggested putting red tape on one side of the pugil stick to better simulate a rifle bayonet. Great vid.

Bring bayonet Fencing BACK!!!!!

on my 18th birthday I bought a Mosin (I know I know, terrible first choice, we're all young and stupid once) and ever since I've always wanted to get into HEMA with a specific focus on bayonets. Bayonet vs Sword is a particularly fascinating matchup. I'll be eager to see footage if any of your students do that sort of sparring!

On the subject of modern materials for HEMA gear, has there been much effort into looking at using non-Newtonian materials for padding in HEMA gear? Some motorcycle gear uses it because it's light and flexible but will instantly harden on impact. It could result in protective gear that's less bulky while still providing excellent protection. I could see this being really useful for gloves, depending on just how well they take impacts and at what thickness. At the very least, that kind of material could be used to line the joints and other hard to protect parts on a glove.

Really interesting. British armed forces fencing right from the introduction of the Royal Tournament from the 1880s was based on 3 weapons foil, sabre and bayonet. The epee was introduced much later. The four weapons continued until 1964 when the bayonet was discontinued. Interestingly, the Royal Tournament initially had a sabre v sabre competition and a sabre v bayonet competition, the latter stopping in the early 1900s. Unfortunately former military fencers who fenced all four weapons have probably passed on and there is no one around to tell us what it was like, ie how it was scored, how many hits to a bout, did it develop into an epee like technique, etc. Thanks for your video, answers some of my questions.

I absolutely agree with you. Obviously, fencing aside, I would absolutely agree that period bayonet defense would be the place to start!

Very interesting! Any chance we might get a video talking a bit more about the bayonet competitions, as well as about the contrasting styles between, say, English bayonet fencing and Japanese?

My great uncle was all Ireland bayonet fencing champion in 1932

I've just started getting interested in Jukendo and so the cross-fertilisation of ideas and techniques and equipment is very interesting. Thanks, excellent video. 👍

You are correct to say boxing gloves used to be horse hair ...in fact there used to be glove-boys, the gloves would be removed between rounds and the glove-boys would knead the gloves as they tended to get packed denser and denser. Also the US marine core still holds pugil-stick fencing with three-section pugil-sticks which is to simulate fighting with a bayonet and the rules of this type of pugil-stick fighting are that you can chop and stab with the front (red) end but can only stab(butt) with the back(black) end.

I would really like seeing a couple of you go at it using bayonet drill...

8:30 right when you said there was and might still be mouse poop, we see something inside like it fall

6:20 "... Flunt, flat [...] heavy and stiff [quick smirk]..." We see you. 😉

Thank you Matt for sharing this with us. Always appreciate your content. I have to say that mask reminds me of a kendo mask more that a hound skull type helmet. As a young teenager we went to huge martial arts demo at the arena in Phoenix. I remember watching the Japanese bayonet fencing and thinking man I want to learn that. But then the announcer said they were the last school in the world who taught it and that everywhere else it was a dead art. Which I now know is probably bs. 30 yrs later this video has peaked my interest in bayonet fencing. Time to break out the padded sticks. Cheers!

There are still quite a lot of old .303s floating around, aren't there? When I was a teenager in the 1990s (in Australia), is was pretty common for farmers / shooters to own a .303. I'm not sure how many were destroyed during the buy-back after the Port Arthur massacre and the subsequent clamp-down on our gun ownership laws, but there must still be quite a few out there. I wonder if they could be fitted with bayonets simulators suited to use in HEMA?

Great presentation and info.

The Army I was in still does bayonet training as a part of recruit training and during initial Infantry training, and then very occasionally as part of the normal Infantry unit ongoing training. However, no fencing is done at all...it is just learning and practising the attacks and defences against dummy targets, as well as going through assault bayonet courses. In reality, it is less about learning how to fight with a bayonet attached to the end of your rifle (as that is completely useless in modern warfare), and much more about learning/experiencing controlled aggression and acclimatising to physical exertion during (simulated) combat and the effects of it on your body and mind, along with all the bumps and scratches. Most modern battlefield standard issue rifles are way too short and awkwardly shaped to take advantage of a bayonet fixed to the end, and even though there are instances of hand-to-hand combat on the modern battle field, it is extremely rare and if I had ever found myself in that sort of situation, even if I had the time to do so, I would not have ever bothered attaching the bayonet to my rifle, but rather use the bayonet like a knife in my hand, which most bayonets are these days anyway...and if it was the case that I was a riflemen in an assault on an enemy position and the commander ordered "Fix Bayonets" whilst in the forming up area immediately prior to the assault, and I found myself forced into hand-to-hand combat, I would still rather grapple and strike with my hands/feet/knees/elbows rather than try and use a bayonet attached to a bullpup...once the "Right arm of the Free World" went out of service around the globe, any notion of being able to bayonet fight properly with a rifle departed...

Excellent Vid Matt. Accidentually.. have you tried shooting a sack with sheeps wool in it? it works excellent as a backdropp for arrows.. ties in nicely with the absorbtion notion you have going here in the vid.

13:37 time stamp, ur right about a pad or something on the end of the plunger, u can see it in that photo if I'm not mistaken

I think you’ll find it’s similar to what they did on the film 300 plunger spears, everything that’s old becomes new again

You're never out of ammo when you have a bayonet.Gen. Sam Sturgis U.S Civil War.

Why aren't modern bayonet simulators spring loaded? That would be better than the stiff ones!

ok, i don't think you have made any video on Master and commander? i mean that is a fantastic movie and i think is right in your alley to do some commentary on its battles and historic accuracy

and so it begins..

Another Schola video watched en garde. Sound historical and martial info, as always! Funny about the mice living in the helmet, I always think it's a shame when such old things are destroyed like that. Speaking of old fencing equipment and historical gear being degraded by time, that's what this reminds me of: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f9ipiKyevNbWf5s.html That fencing gauntlet reminds me of the armor Guts wears on his left forearm and uses like a shield (before he looses the arm and gets a steel prosthetic), except the fencing gauntlet doesn't cover the elbow: images.app.goo.gl/2zhKXRojjn5qvrDC8

I know you train heavily in swords, but do you do any grappling arts as well? I've seen you incorporate grappling into demonstrations, but is it grappling limited to sword fighting? Do you have a background, for example, in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or other grappling arts?

14:42 You can tell which guy knew how to sew and/or was stationed close enough to home to get his Mom's help...

Basically a short polearm....my grandfather's bayonet that he had when landing on Guadalcanal had a 16 inch blade, it is a short sword truth be told.

The construction of the bayonet helmet seems more similar to that of the kendo men. I wonder if this was simply coincidental parallel evolution, or if there was some cross-fertilization? scf.usc.edu/~jialouwa/itp104/final/kendohistory.html

Would a recreation of that glove be enough padding for hema? Maybe not for longsword (depending on the club but I'd be interested in opinions on that as well) but definitely for saber and such. I'd be really interested in a video about more of the historical gear, the material that was used, its construction and its potential for modern applications. Having been in the US Marines myself I understand that even though the padding used for training might be current for the period it might not always be the most protective thing available or the most advantageous for the situation even back then, however I think passing on that kinda information might get the ball rolling for different protective equipment that might be beneficial to weapons like saber. Thanks for the information as always!

So was there ever a duel with both wax bullets and bayonets?

Did they always try to hit their opponent centre mass in these tournaments, and do u know the points system they used, I'd expect centre mass had the largest score, because that was the main way the army trained?

So that is like a iato, being as heavy as a real rifle, used to practice and closer to the real thing as a mokuju? Does it have the same point of balance?

Also, could you kindly do a video break-down of your thoughts on the movie Solomon Kane...the fighting, weapons, equipment, clothing and general period feel for the late 16th - early 17th Century, thanks!

Extremely interesting.

Matt when was the last major war that used large scale bayonet fighting. My guess is Vietnam.

jukendo is still a thing

Strong suggestion before saddle soaping the mask use some neetsfoot oil And the bracer of the glove is probably horn

Modified bayonet equipment with those bars and some neck stiffening for more forceful (obviously still not full force) quarterstaff/polearm sparring when?

Off Topic: That is a realy nice sword on your right (left from the camera) with the sabre hilt/guard, the straight blade and the black scabbard. What sword is that?

Jukendo

It looks a lot like a Japanese Shinai mask / Helm...

@1:09 and then they switched disciplines to Naked Rollmat fighting.

Fascinating~!!

Brand new but not translation "New, old stock"

What do you think of the movie 1917? I think it was one of the best films about the great war I have seen in a long time.. 👍👍

For the algorithm!!!

The helmets have a kendo look to them.

I found that somewhat interesting

That mask looks tough enough for a goalie in hockey. Well before ballistic proof plastic.

Horse Boxing Gloves i have heard there a very Painfull .

Many current pro boxing gloves have horse hair in them.

They don't like it up 'em.

Why DON'T modern HEMA fencing masks have more of a pig-faced bascinet type shape to them?

Gotta get a rubber on your knob. For protection.

2:35

You need a mask that stays rigid when you're hit in the face with something stiff and heavy...

6:14 ;)

Beautiful comparison between the bayonet and sword fencing helmets and why HEMA should pay closer attention to actual history. But please, before handling that thing and then immediately handling something you *can* wear, see about having that mouse-poop container professionally cleaned by someone who knows such antiques. Diseases carried by rodents, like Valley Fever, can linger on for a very long time in their poop. You do NOT want a dose of that, please believe me.

Not to sounds creepy, but does human hair act the same way? Could collect hair from hair salons, watch and use it as improvised padding material.

Moi!

Also, bayonet fencing may not have a military use anymore.... but there is case to be made that it has a home defense use. Imagine you are fending off a group of robbers and/or murders.... and if you gun jamns or you run out of ammunition before seeing off a assailant..... imagine the fear you would cause in a assailant if you fixed bayonet.... charged an assailant and kaboobed him.

Not a very good training tool. Iv made some hickory bayonets in the past. Good for training . Not for sparring.

Really interesting. British armed forces fencing right from the introduction of the Royal Tournament from the 1880s was based on 3 weapons foil, sabre and bayonet. The epee was introduced much later. The four weapons continued until 1964 when the bayonet was discontinued. Interestingly, the Royal Tournament initially had a sabre v sabre competition and a sabre v bayonet competition, the latter stopping in the early 1900s. Unfortunately former military fencers who fenced all four weapons have probably passed on and there is no one around to tell us what it was like, ie how it was scored, how many hits to a bout, did it develop into an epee like technique, etc. Thanks for your video, answers some of my questions.