[Gabriele Becattini]

i have found this one on internet, apparently distribuited by a large numbers of different vendors, usually at a low price.

incidentally i have found also a depiction of the original from wich the maker has taken (very loosely) inspiration, even if i don't recall in wich museum they are housed.


my questions are:

someone of you has never used a pair for longsword training? are they reasonably good for this purpose?

from wich period and culture the original are from?

thanks for help

[Craig Shackleton]

Wow, those are a lot closer to their historical counterpart than I expected!

I've worn a pair of these, and ultimately I don't personally like them. The gloves themselves are very comfortable. I haven't seen an issue with durability, but the leather did not give me an impression of being strong, and it was quite thin. The mail offers some protection to the hand, but really, not much. I still wouldn't want to be hit in the hand wearing it. All of the metal is also heavy. Not super heavy, but heavier than I like, and heavier than say, adding a basket-hilt to a sword. Or at least it feels that way. The kicker for me though was the way the plates on the wrist are set up, they constantly slid down to my wrist joint, and then the edge of the metal dug into my wrist uncomfortably, even through the glove. I have thin wrists for my size, so this may be a factor. The guy who owns the pair I wore never complained about them, and seemed quite happy with them, so YMMV.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hi Craig & Gabriele!

I'm really curious as to where that original is from too.

Craig - my friend and student David Teague made a couple pairs of mail gauntlets, along these lines, but much more useful than the Windlass product (those those too could like be modified to work). He started with the padded gloves Revival.us sells, made leather covered, steel plate lined, cuffs, and the overall effect is magnificent:



I'd use them to bout with steel longswords with folks I trust to fight with control. I'm pretty comfortable fighting sword and buckler with them overall.

I wonder if the Windlass ones could have some padding added between the glove and mail to get closer to this idea...

All the best,

Christian

[Craig Shackleton]

More padding under the mail would make a big difference, and probably wouldn't be that hard to do. The stitching on the gloves is pretty accessible. If I personally were to go that route though, I'd just swap out the entire glove for one with more padding and structure in the cuff. This would make them more durable and help stop the metal cuff from chafing on the wrist.

I've seen pictures of David's glove before, but had forgotten about it. It definitely looks like a more useful piece of equipment.

Most of the stuff I've done doesn't require that level of hand protection, since I use basket hilts and other complex guards, or use my buckler for I.33. I'll be needing more soon, since I'm looking into longsword and want to start pollaxe soon as well, but I've got two pairs of gauntlets under construction from two different armourers right now. I doubt I'll revisit the mail and plate gloves any time soon. Good to know there are options though.

[Craig Shackleton]

I was just looking at the pictures again. I think another factor with the windlass ones is that the cuffs flare out quite a bit more than their historical counterparts, so they flop around too much, making the edge of the metal cuff dig into the arm. If it were tighter like the originals, they wouldn't move as much.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Dear Craig,

While this may be a non-issue for you, given your use of a basket hilt and/or buckler, and your forthcoming plate gauntlets, a thick gambeson sleeve - particularly a longish one like the Revival Clothing gambesons have - might mitigate the problem at the wrist.

Yours,

CHT

[Craig Shackleton]

That might work too. I have a similar gambeson coming. Truth be told though, I'm waiting for the Revival Agincourt arming cotte to come back in stock in medium, although at this point I need to save up a bit again before I buy it. Or maybe I'll pick one up at Chivalric weekend in person if they have them there so I can try it on. I'm assuming it fits the same as the pourpoint, but I may be wrong. They have less padding in the sleeves than the gambeson, but they are longer and could fold back under the cuff of a glove.

But as you said, the gloves are kind of a non-issue for me, at least for now. If I want something like that later, I'll probably aim for a pair more like David's, even if I have to make them myself.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Ah! You're coming to Chiv. Weekend...have we met before Craig?

Cheers,

CHT

[Craig Shackleton]

I have not had the pleasure of meeting you in person, Christian, and look forward to doing so. I'll also see you at ISMAC. I pop up here and there on a few forums, but until this year I've never been able to get to events outside my own organization.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Well then, I'm very much looking forward to honour of meeting you Craig!

All the best,

Christian

[Gabriele Becattini]

Craig and Christian, thank you for your answer,

looks like if the piece from windlass are not so usable as i have tought, the pair modified by david teague looks more

suitable for WMA purpose, is a good idea. Are the maille that cover the hand, rivetted? it is possible to have a photo that show the leather covered plates, open?

thanks

[Eric S]

The Japanese ( samurai ) version of gauntlets. Link to more gauntlet and full arm coverings>> http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz238/estcrh/kote/

[David Teague]

[Gabriele Becattini]

Eric,

very cool stuff, the samurai gauntlets are nice, i wish a had the skill for making a pair!



David,

thanks for the photos and for the imput, making a pair using the tricks that you have explained me looks not so difficult,

may be that i'll try this solution,

[Johan Gemvik]

[Bruno Cerkuenik]

Hi everybody, I just finished half of my maille gauntlets, I´m about to attach the plates, but I´ve seen people talking about how the plates constantly slids down. Be it to the wrist, or to the outside if not tight enough.

What do you guys suggest? The only solution I thought about was to attach to a gambeson..





thx!