Belegarth

Is their a minimum amount of padding covering the face of a punch shield? Im making a series of tower shields and small punches and seem to remember a bel friend saying that their was...however I see nothing which clears it up. Maybe my search-fu is lacking, but can anyone clarify for me? Im using blue foam and currently have 1 layer over the knuckles as far as my current construction is concerned.

There is not but it can fail if the person checking it feels its unsafe on my shield I originally had .25 inch of MC foam
Over my knuckles it always passes but I put in a half inch more so my knuckles don't get **** up

I've failed them before when that thin bit of foam wears through too far. There were two guys I remember who were trying to get me to pass coreless punch shields where the foam had broken down behind the hand to the point where I could SEE through it to the fabric on the other side. I'm not sure what the minimum is, but it's more than that.

Don't let it get to that point.

Use common sense. Most people use a "punch" shield aggressively. Punching people hurts them, so I would say having at least 1 full 0.5" layer is a must, but more is reasonable. Also, consider using a piece of cardboard beneath the foam to prevent your knuckles from wearing through it over time.

Unless you want to get your hand broken the first time you rush a pole and block the haft with the punch grip area, you'll put 1" or more.

The way I was taught, while weapon checking at Western wars, was that if you grab the handle of the punch, and smack the other side with your fist moderately hard, you should not be able to feel the fist itself. You can feel a little something, but common sense dictates that if it feels like someone kicking there will ruin your hand, or if you don't feel like it would protect you if you run into the situation Arrakis presented, there isn't enough foam there.