Lewis Moore Hourglass Gauntlets
Original: Late 14th century
In combat it is quite common to strike a person's hands. This only makes sense, as the hands control the weapon, and disabling the hands means disabling the threat. The Liechtenauer school of fighting even mentions
hende trucken, or "pressing the hands", as a method of slicing the exposed hands right as they are delivering an attack. The hands are a very sensitive and vulnerable target, too, and due to the amount of dexterity needed with the fingers, Mother Nature has opted not to protect them with heavy muscle mass or fat. It is no surprise, then, that protecting the hands from attack was not only important to medieval warriors, but to modern practitioners of the sword as well.
These gauntlets were purchased from Lewis Moore and are based on late 14th century hourglass gauntlets (so-called due to their waisted shape). Lewis provides a pleasurable business experience because he not only provided excellent quality work, but he did so at an excellent price with incredible customer service. All of my e-mails and questions quickly received a response and I had these gauntlets made and delivered to me in just over a week. This apparently is common with Lewis to get the gauntlets made and shipped so quickly.
My particular gauntlets were built over a pair of leather gauntlets sold by
Revival Clothing. The overall package allows for excellent dexterity and good protection. I use mine regularly for fencing with both aluminum and steel longswords.
See our
hands-on review for more information on these gauntlets.
Weight of each gauntlet: 1.85 pounds
Overall length: ~10"
Cuff length: 2.5"
Metacarpal plate length: 3"
Cuff width: 5.5"
Width of metacarpal plate at the knuckles: 4.75"
Maker: Lewis Moore of
Knights Armoury, from Georgia.
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