Medieval Buckler Polymer Shield

Bought two of these to train some different aspects of martial arts with my daughter. From the start, we just did some soft stick sparring. She, a 9-year-old, got a little bolder with this. She did say it was a little heavy, and I can see that. For an adult, it's not bad. It's sturdy and well constructed. Definitely gives you something different to consider in martial arts, and it's just a lot of fun.

Super sturdy and take the shock great!

Solid, great, nice handle. Perfect for our need to play around. Highly recommended!

It is absolutely beautiful, an absolute prize among my small but growing collection of hema gear. I guess I should have figured that cold steel, a company renowned for durable, heavy duty products would be at its finest when producing the buckler shield. No point of balance for them to mess up, no fine details to overlook, just a very simple piece of equipment requiring only an ergonomic handle, a historically accurate size, and the extreme, heavy duty durability of which they reign king. This is a 2 pound, half inch thick slab of dense impact resistant polypropylene. My only complaint is rather snobby and unrealistic, and not worth docking a star. You cannot slip the blade of even a very thin training blade under the handle so it can be worn as one piece. My training blade is a red dragon synthetic arming sword, which is rather thin, but there simply isn't a gap between the blade and hand, and i would have to significantly bend my blade to even force it under the handle, which i refuse to do as i love my sword. It would be cool if i could wear them as was done by the swash bucklers of ancient times. Swash is what they called the sound of the sword rattling against the buckler, hence men armed with sword and buckler were termed swashbucklers. I guess this really only matters if you are wearing this as a costume, which in my opinion does naught but disrespect to the awesome power of this overly functional training device. I doubt you are buying this to commonly wear on you with a sword as a fashion statement. Still makes me a little sad though, but i'm not surprised, as cold steel often forego minor details, which is probably how they manage to produce such good products so cheaply. Nonetheless the devil lies in the details sometimes

First of all, as with any CS product I've ever ordered, this thing is TOUGH! Just as demonstrated in CS demo vids, this buckler will take blow after blow after blow with no problems and still be ready for more. It is, of course, a training tool not meant to be used against steel weapons, but against wood and polypropylene the thing is damn near indestructible. It will show it's use, mind you, in the form of light scratches and marks, but these are just superficial damages that in no way compromise the shield's strength. It's also lightweight accurately replicating the the feel of a true buckler and the handle is large enough to accommodate a heavily padded or armored hand. The one potential drawback practitioners of HEMA will face with this buckler is the large dome in the center. According to my friend in ARMA, this is not a desired trait as oncoming blows will tend to slide off the shield and into the wielder (which I have found to be true in practice). However, I would argue that while this may not lend the buckler well to static blocks, it does make it a more effective tool for parrying as the dome better serves to displace and redirect an opponent's attack. One just has to make sure not to redirect said attack into oneself which, admittedly, takes practice but in time it can definitely be turned to advantage. All in all, this is another great product by CS and for the price it's a helluva deal. If you want a training buckler that will take all the punishment that comes with the study of traditional western arms, look no further :)

I was surprised at the quality of these. very thick and sturdy plastic. almost feel like they could take a strike from a real sword. would note that they are barely a toy as you could seriously hurt somebody if you hit them with these but great for practicing with my son.

It's not heavy but not light,this will most definitely help in a squabble, if your bringing it or defending

this little guy is just awesome. Its so solidly built, out of such tuff material that I've no doubt it'll stand up for as long as my arm can hold it. I bought several of the sword trainers from cold steel as well, and would recommend only useing other polypropelyne weapons against it for the longest life. NEVER USE A REAL METAL SWORD AGAINST THIS!! Paired with the cold steel medieval wiaster one handed sword, you're really ready to start learning the art of sword and buckler fighting, which if you don't have a teacher to show you can be learned from 'Medieval Art of Sword & Shield: The Combat System of Royal Armouries MS I.33.' Most of the bad reviewws of this product were by people who didn't know what a buckler shield was, or didn't read the product discription. Update: Ever had someone swing at you while you try to block with a sowrd? Getting the blade around can be difficult, and you need to read them correctly. Defending yourself with this buckler shield is far simpler then it seems it should be. The shock of each blow is barely notcieable, and the most difficult part of long training with it has been the strength of holding it up for long periods of time. The dome portion of the shield seems to move the force off to the side. The ease of getting your sheild into an adaquate blocking position for any stroke was almost intuitive for our entire group, men and women included, it was almsot instinctual. You should never swing full contact with intent to hit your sparring partners, especially when not wearing padded armor, but we soon found ourselves doing just that, and we just couldn't get past this without doing something more unexpected then the basic strokes. The smaller size makes it far better for getting around to cove both sides of your body and getting your weapon positioned for it's own blows. There is a reason that bucklers and long sword was a civilian martial art, it's very simple to protect yourself, and super fun to play with. Damage to the shield with full force swings from untrained people was a few scuff marks, nothing more, looks like it could stand up to years and years of abuse. We're so impressed with it that I can't find the words to properly express.

A very solid little unit. Will hold up easily against other synthetic trainers, and will hold up against blunt steel, it will just damage and break apart over time. But so too would a shield of wood and leather, only steel would prevent that, and even steel will get damaged, scratched and nicked. So this will do very nicely.

Resistente e leve.

Impressive build quality. I'm going to buy another one.

あまりに頑丈そうなのでバランスボード代わりに乗ってみました。 当方体重67kgですが全く問題なし。 但し、素足で乗るのは足の裏が痛いのでスリッパ等使用、ならびに板の間では難し過ぎるので畳かカーペットの上を推奨します。

So this was kinda a impulse buy as i was looking towards selfdefense weapons on youtube and a video with this came along. For any one that like me live in a country where protecting yourself in your own home could mean having to go to jail because of what you use, this is a great. I have been using my friend as a test dummy and it works great. I dont even call it a buckler anymore i call i a free strike, because it opens up the guy in front of you every time. And if the laws in your country are better then mine and you still dont want to use a gun then unless the intruder is on drugs nobody are gonna charge you with this infront of you and a machete/hammer or bat in the other hand. Even with your bare hands it gives you a change to open him up for the first strike and 9 out of ten times thats what wins the fight. So buy it, practice with it and go full dark knight on their asses :)