Cold Steel Medieval Buckler Polymer Shield

This sucker is well worth the purchase. It’s heavy and durable. Imposing and very practical. Sturdy handle, and well-made. It’s not just a training aid. Highly recommend this product.

Very tough and sturdy. 5/5, would recommend. Gonna take it to Ren Faire.

NICE little busty buckler! Love it! Got it to pair with my tactical mace bat. Ended up getting two of both to put together in a couple of places around my house where I can grab them quickly if needed. This shield alone, though small, is a tough little thing with some weight to it. You can very easily deflect a blow from somebody. Nice price and great quality for this product.

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

This buckler is almost perfect! I just wish that it came with the option to have the handle-grip oriented in different ways. This one comes with the grip oriented front-to-back with an oh-so-comfortable bow-grip (one more comfortable than a real bow that I have!). This works fine if you follow the "cone of defense" philosophy where you basically present your extended arm with the boss of the shield facing the opponent most of the time but I'm a tai chi player and while I can make this posture work to a degree, the tai chi technique best lends itself to using the shield in-line with the forearm (edge facing the opponent) and trying to use it the other way feels quite rubbish and rather limiting. If anything I'll probably make my own handle as this one is mounted on carriage bolts and is replaceable but I rather like the feel of the plastic cold steel uses for both the handle and the body of the shield and I rather think that I'm going to miss it. Another thought is that even though the perpendicular handle on this shield is comfortable when presenting the shield with a straight wrist (straight as is the lateral aspect of the forearm in the neutral position has the outside of the elbow, the wrist and the knuckles all on a straight line; these should not form even a shallow triangle to be considered straight, otherwise taking force along the wrist while it is bent like this may result in the so called boxer's wrist fracture/sprain) the edge faces inward as opposed to being perpendicular to forearm and I think that the handle might be better somewhat teardrop shaped or even that of a reuleaux triangle might be better for presenting the shield this way.Or maybe its fine the way it is. With the little bit I've experimented with it this posture the inward curve lends itself fairly comfortably to a spiraling motion both up and out and down and out.I need more practice and fiddling with it before I make up my mind. At any rate, I'm quite pleased with the build quality of this shield, its proportions and weight about perfect and if you're in need of a buckler for practice that doesn't cost an arm and a leg then I heartily recommend this one by Cold Steel!

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 :)