Chad Herbert (@chadherbert)

#duet with @the_afro_viking Add a parry after the leg cuts because your opponent will strike to your head after! :) #swordtiktok #hema #historicalfencing

Fun with Half-swording! #swordtiktok #hema #historicalfencing #medieval #swordfighting #historicaleuropeanmartialarts

Some Crooked-cut practice, plus failing the cuts to avoid being put-off… #swordtiktok #hema #historicalfencing

I was just about to slow down for the 40 km/h switch-back just west of Princton, Saturday night at 11:47 pm, when a bright green line, like someone drew on the black background of night with a green highlighter. The line dropping straight vertical out of the sky in front of me. Lasted about 1.5 seconds with 3 explosions and a strobing effect, that was brighter than the full moon! I didn’t hear anything due some very loud Rush tunes! 😂 I reported it - anyone else see it?

Broke my sword of 10 years! 😭😂🖤⚔️ This is the full version - TikTok trimmed the other one down to 9 seconds… 😡 #brokensword #longsword

17 days post surgery, and feeling a whole lot better! Regained most of the feeling in my foot, plus cleaned it up and changed dressings today. Pain is negligible most of the time. I’m getting up occasionally to make a meal or tidy or what ever, but still a lot of pressure on the wound being upright, so back to the couch for rest after each task! #postsurgery #footsurgery #turftoe #ganglioncyst #takeitslow

This f’d-up medical system made me wait 3 years for a quick surgery that might allow me to be consistently on my feet again, hopefully without a time limit, or limit on how intense my exercise can be… 2025 saw me take matters more into my own hands and dig a hole out of the soul of my shoe to allow me to do more walking and light fencing, but had to stop working out to make it through work. I’d did get an orthopedic insert for my shoe that redistributed my weight off my toe too - only cost me $800 - damn expensive plastic and rubber shoe insert, but I think I can replicate it with a heat gun and HDPE plastic for $20 for my other shoes… ;). I competed in an Open Steel Longsword tournament and surprised myself by getting through 11 fights to win Gold having only suited up 9 times in 2025 and barely exercised at all. 😬 2024 was a bust when it came to exercise - had to full stop for about 16 months. My ganglion was the size of a grape and sat right under my big toe - felt like a marble in my shoe! But, now that it’s out, it’s getting biopsied, so we’ll see if it was a Uric Acid deposit or just joint fluid… My students surprised me for my birthday with funds-raised to purchase new HEMA kit, so I didn’t have to wear the club gear. I was able to get a fancy new set that I love! So appreciative of their generosity! 2023 saw me fence in a Messer tournament, having never wielded a Messer before, but already the gout + ganglion + turf toe combination, plus lack of cardio made my ability to get deep into the tournament basically zero - I did finish 3rd after 2 rounds in the standings and then hit a cardio wall due to already restricting my exercise due to this growing ganglion… In truth, I’ve struggle with gout and turf toe and undiagnosed ADHD mitigations always sort of conflicting with each other, for a decade, while losing my fitness, but training and getting more skilled in fencing… My fencing career has seen me bounce between 230-290 lbs. My athletic weight should be around 190, so I’ve never really been in-good-shape while fencing, but still managed to challenge for medals and win medals, against younger, faster, stronger fighters who get a lot more practice and training time… I’d really like to have one more crack at getting back to the athletic form that allowed me to compete in Floor Hockey, Volleyball, Swimming, Cyling, and Waterpolo, but I’ll avoid adding running to that list - not risking more turf toe! 😂 I’d really like to just fence with my students regularly even once a week - that would be huge, and allow me to get into competitive form and de-rust my old skills and add some new skills… One silver lining with all the physical restrictions is that I was able to focus more on developing curriculum, and establishing classes in three cities and building up membership - an ongoing project to get more competitive fighters… I’ve also been able to focus on building a seasonal tournament event cycle, which is now attracting fighters from all across BC, Alberta, and even California. We are expecting 50-60 fighters this year, which is crazy! 2026 should see me add Master of the Fundamentals accompaniment for students, in three tiers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold, as well as coaches and instructors of the Funfamentals in the same tiers, which will allow the club the increase the amount of classes run during the week, as I cannot be in three cities more than I am now! 😂 Also, I’m still enhancing fencing frameworks and curriculum, seasonally, targetting student knowledge, skill, and athletic improvements! :) One step at a time, or one stair, or one small goal at a time, like a bowl of Pho! 🍜 #postsurgery #optimism #historicalfencing #hemacoach #hemainstructor

4 sets of 3 at 90% effort and I bumped it up by 50 lbs over last week, to 345 lbs. This definitely felt more like 90% effort! PR is 445 lbs for 1 rep, and I definitely felt like I could have done 1 more rep each time, or up’ed the weight slightly more, to maybe 375 lb for this set… Unfortunately, only 1 week remaining before I have to take a couple months off for a foot surgery I’ve been waiting for - 3 years! #backatit #deadlift #deadlifting #hemaworkout #takeitslow

I don’t usually post my workouts or record them - it’s mostly just me in awkward positions, sweating profusely, soooo… 😂 #backatit #deadlift #deadlifting

Did a bit more work on the ring and pinky fingers. Changed the backing to HDPE plastic strips I made from an old milk jug - I just laminated 2 layers and drilled holes…. I also clipped-down the lames a fair bit - historical gauntlet lanes are much smaller, but I don’t want to trim too much and have it hurt when getting hit by a Longsword, so trimming sparingly - I’ll find the happy medium as I experiment! :) #gauntlet #backyardblacksmith #metalwork #brassrivets #backyardcraftsman

I’ve already cleaned up the fingers beyond this stage, as the lames were snagging on each other… Had to do a bunch of trimming, especially near the knuckles, where the the plates were arched so much that they focussed the force in between my knuckles - do not want that! 😂 I also switched from using old belt sander strips to back the lames to using a double-layer of HDPE, from actual Milk Jugs, laminated together with a heat gun - I can already tell it’ll be much more durable… A little more tweaking and I’ll be able to start riveting. One thing that I messed up a little was the distance between the holes for the rivets on the backing strips - there were 3 locations where the distance was too great, and it allows the lames to open up and even rotate and snag-up - this was entirely because I was trying to be efficient and pre-drilled the holes. Instead, like so many other projects, I’ll wait to mount the first lame, then drill the second whole, to ensure a more exacting fit… The bolt and nut combo is a bit restrictive, and digs into my fingers, but this will be much nicer when it’s a near flat rivet head, so should be much more tight fitting and comfortable… I’ll also add a thin layer of EVA foam inside each finger, which should offer a fair bit of cushioning, for when the user gets struck on the fingers from a Longsword or Messer… #gauntlet #backyardblacksmith #metalwork #brassrivets #backyardcraftsman

More rivets done! Also did some fitting, but more work to do to get all sections to move smoothly. I have some ideas as to how to do better in the future, but this should work fine for now! #gauntlet #backyardblacksmith #metalwork #brassrivets #medieval

I got about half of the last-season dandelions before they turned to poofs, but then the rest turned and I was like, “there will be soooooo many next year!”, and then I asked my wife, “how dumb will I look vacuuming the front yard?” and laughed, jumped up, and grabbed the shop vac! FYI, it works great! You are welcome neighbours for 10,000 fewer dandelions next year! #dandelions

Light bar programmed to look like Warp Core! 😂 #startrek #tng @Colin Weldon

Modifying gear, fixing gear, adding to previous experiments! 😂 #backyardcraftsman #experimentation #homemadehemagear

Finished chasing the grain and took it right down to a pristine layer. Somehow this took me like 20 hours of scraping… 😂 But, it looks amazing! #yewbow #longbow #backyardcraftsman #bowyer #medievalarchery

Chasing the grain on the sap wood - I had a little violation of the grain near the big knot, so I decided to try this process - slow, careful, and meticulously! 🥵😂😊 #yewbow #longbow #backyardcraftsman #bowyer #medievalarchery #

Getting really close now! 😂 I went to start a dry heat treatment today, to take some of the twist out, but the BBQ had a little wasp nest in it, so I cooked the wasp nest instead! 🥵 Was amusing watching each wasp in turn fly away in a panic as their home hit 300 F… 😈 #yewbow #longbow #backyardcraftsman #bowyer #medievalarchery

Roughed out with about a 1/4” of extra wood around it… This is the 300 lbs bow stage! 😂 I can flex it about 1/2” along the entire length, so gonna start working on the inner limbs just beyond the grip, until they start flexing, then slowly thin toward the tips! Lots of slow scraping ahead of me! 😊 #yewbow #longbow #backyardcraftsman #bowyer

Scraping phase! This far, I’ve found no better scrapper than my set square. 😂 This was a little awkward showing the camera and stave with one hand and scraping with the other - good thing my feet and neck could help… #yewbow #longbow#backyardcraftsman #bowyer

Another couple hours of removing material and it’s now quite a bit more staff-like! A little more work thinning and shaping the limbs and it’ll be ready to start tillering! :) #yewbow #longbow #bowyer #backyardcraftsman #medievalarchery

Making another Yew bow! 2 hours with the hatchet to find the main good price of wood, and 3 hours debarking and carefully clearing the pith, so it’s nice and white on the back! :) Next, I’ll slim it down and get the bow handle and limbs roughed out… #yewbow #longbow #bowyer #backyardcraftsman

Fitted the lower lames more tightly! Upper lames still need work! :) #gauntlet #metalwork #asmr #medievaltiktok

We used to jam in the garage during the winter months. I’d make-up bass loops on the fly and the drummer and lead guitar would just jump in and fill it out and sometimes it was crap and sometimes it captured the moment perfectly somehow… Then I’d forget the bass loop and they’d have to remind me - little did we know, I had ADHD: good at spontaneous under pressure, bad at remembering… 😂 Lucky we recorded some of them, or I’d forget these guys even existed... Fond memories… 🥺#garageband

Nice to see the Core class growing! Going to need more equipment! 😆 #historicalfencing #longsword #swordclasses #nanaimo #hema #historicaleuropeanmartialarts

I split a maple log into 4 staves, this is tye first one. They all had a 135 degree twist with knots and bends, so I’m ising them as learning experience for when I get better wood! 😆 But, after cooking it and getting some of the bends and twist out, and weakening the right spots, it seems to be coming along and kight be a decent bow!?! 😆 #longbow

Eight if our fighters came out for the first Coached Spar of the summer season. Another gorgeous day. They went from 5 pm to 8 pm. The misters and long shadows make for a cool dramatic scene! #hema #rapieranddagger #coachedsparring #rapier #sparring #historicalfencing @Comox Valley Combat Guild

Finally getting out to test my bow! I used a mix of 30”modern carbon fibre arrows and my homemade war arrows with sharpened broadhead and bodkin heads. #archery #bowyer #bowandarrow #longbow #yew #targetpractice

Still looking for a free app, but this one is not bad - moght be worth the $10 per month? 🤔 #animationtiktok #longsword #hema

Yew Longbow project is underway! :) #bowandarrow #archery #buildyourown #longbow #yewlongbow