Kvetun Armoury leg guards
We recently placed a combined order with Russian HEMA manufacturer Kvetun Armoury, and I thought I should write a brief review of their Leg Protection Set with inner padding, as I haven’t seen anyone comment on these yet.
How to Order (price and options)
They don’t have a website or online shop, so you have to go to their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/kvetun/) and message them there. Having said that, they respond quickly and communicate very clearly. I wanted the base model, which is a knee and shin guard combo (priced at 80 € plus shipping), but this can be extended further by adding a side of the knee protector (+10 €), calf protectors (+15 €) and even thigh guards (+15 €). They have other armour options as well, so I’d suggest you look through their photo album, which contains more examples and detailed specifications.
Unlike other vendors, these leg guards are always made to measure, so the first thing they do is ask you to take the following measurements and send them to them. More on this later.
Quality of Service (response times, dealing with issues)
As mentioned above, they were really quick and efficient. The guys behind this manufacturer are historical fencers themselves, so they know their audience well, what we want and how to deliver it. Unlike some of the other HEMA-dudes-into-gear-design-and-manufacturing that I won’t mention, Kvetun seem to prioritise prompt and concise communications, which makes a huge difference. The chap handling my order was Alexander Stankiewicz, who I distinctly remember from Swordfish a few years ago, in particular his elim fight with Carl Ryrberg.
Aside from that, we placed a joint order for various products, but a club friend and I were both doing so at the same time, on two communication fronts, and as a result of that one or two items did not arrive with the first shipment. This was due to a simple misunderstanding. We reported this to Kvetun, who immediately sent out the missing items in a second package without charging us for shipping, plus they sent us a little extra for our troubles. So A+ for problem resolution.
In both cases we received the invoice after delivery (this is an important distinction), which was clear and without surprises or hidden costs. They described the delivery path to us to set our expectations; from Bryansk to Helsinki, then routed elsewhere in Europe, with an expected 1-2 weeks delivery time, but in fact in our case it took even less than that, 6 days for the second package. Once they shipped the order, Kvetun sent a Russian Post URL and a tracking number which worked fine.
Quality of Product (comfort, durability)
The leg guards are made of Polythene (ie common plastic), with added inner padding, and are fastened to the leg with velcro, with four strips.
The shins are attached to the knee guards with elastic cords, so in theory they can be detached from each other and used separately, or with some other armoured protection if needed.
They look a bit bulky, but are in fact very light - they weigh about the same as Red Dragon leg guards - and are clearly based on medieval armour designs rather than other modern applications (Police riot gear, BMX, baseball etc).
In fact I like everything about these guards with two exceptions, which can be easily corrected:
1. The clasp of the lower strap of the knee guard.
They say you should never try new gear out in a competition, so of course I wore these for the first time at a local rehearsal tournament. When tight, the strap has the tendency of squeezing through the gap in the clasp, coming loose.
It’s not a huge concern and was easily fixed by replacing that clasp with another loop-type thing:
2. The length of the shins.
I’m not sure if I measured incorrectly point 4 of the diagram above, but both me and the other friend that received a pair of these, experienced some discomfort while wearing these due to the pressure on the foot from the lower part of the shin guards. As you can see in the pic above, it’s right on the foot.
This has a relatively easy fix, since you can just cut this plastic with any sharp knife, and even sand it down if you need to:
I’ll pass this on to Kvetun so they can maybe describe the measuring diagram a bit better, or take it into account when making new guard, as this step should be unnecessary. Once shortened, the guards became quite comfortable, as there is sufficient clearance to the foot. The armour doesn’t drop down significantly when moving around, thanks to the strap design.
I can’t say much about their durability yet, since I’ve barely used them, but they seem to have adopted the Sparring Gloves design philosophy; make the sections that are more easy to replace be the parts that are prone to material fatigue, instead of the important bits - it’s easier to replace a bit of string or a strap of velcro than it is to replace an armour segment.
How it Compares
I can’t say this is the best knee or leg armour ever made for HEMA, because I’ve never really tried the Leon Paul ones - but then again, the LP’s cost £435, which is completely ridiculous so maybe they can go EABOD. So I’ll compare it with the gold standard of leg protection, which, within competitive longsword circles in any case, is the Knee Pros with field hockey shin guards.
I think these solutions are roughly equivalent to each other in terms of comfort and protection. Depending on where you can find them, the Knee Pros + hockey guards can be similarly priced, or a maybe bit cheaper (about 40 € + 25 € or so); particularly when you live in a country in which field hockey is popular, as you often find the shin guards in the discount bin. Football (soccer) shin guards are not quite as effective, as they don’t usually cover the ankle.
In terms of ease of use, so putting them on and off, and transporting them with your gear and so on, they take less time to put them on than Knee Pros and hockey shin guards, and marginally more than Red Dragons or Brush-cutter shinguards, not that I much recommend either of these two for longsword fencing, particularly the latter. They do take quite a bit of space in your gear bag, so I’ve had to rethink how I pack everything, but thankfully all those years playing Tetris have not gone to waste.
The differences are down to the buyer; do you like the look of them, and more importantly, are you able to fully benefit from the customisation?
Aesthetically some may prefer the slimmer look of the ankle with shin guard tucked within the sock, others may prefer the more robust built-for-purpose look of the Russian product. If you happen to have an average size leg and are perfectly well served by your Knee Pro + shin combo, maybe this is an upgrade too far, but if you are exceptionally tall, or short, or just can’t stand the stink of the inner shin guards any longer, these might be the absolutely perfect choice for you.
In Conclusion:
If you’re 100% happy with your current leg protection for longsword, sword & buckler or military sabre then don’t bother, but otherwise these might very well be the last set of leg protection you’ll ever need to buy. Probably great for pole weapons, horsy things or any class warfare related riots in your area as well.
Edit with feedback from Kvetun:
I had a chat with Alex and here are some notes from that exchange:
1) The plastic is a low-pressure polyethylene, which is much better than simple polyethylene, and will live long, taking only scratches as a cosmetic damage. 2) The clasp of the lower strap was done like that on purpose, to be able to remove this exact velcro if people don't like it. However, the suggested idea is more solid and practical for the majority of fencers, so it will be fixed in this way. 3) The shin height issue. Kvetun are developing a new, more precise measurements scheme. They recognise that it is a challenge to measure how each person's foot is connected to their ankle, but they are working on finding solutions that will improve the accuracy of the measurement.
We specifically discussed how to indicate the point of flex when the leg leans forward (foot dorsiflexion). The image above is a draft preview of their new & improved measuring chart, which is a step towards mitigating the length calculation issue I pointed out in my review.
In any case, they are really trying to get this right and are listening to the feedback they receive, so I’m really happy to endorse them as a HEMA manufacturer. They make good solid stuff, you should buy it.
