In reading this thread, there have been responses and pictures sent of 14th century gauntlets. I'm wondering how accurate these bestarmour.com gauntlets are. Are they based on a particular existing 15th century pair? Was is typical (in the 15th century) that the leather strips rivet to lame on the back of the hand or should there be a "rocker plate" between the knuckle plate on the finger gatlings that the leather strip would connect to? (similarly to the plate that hides in hugh knight's post above)

That would actually be interesting to know, Levi. For reference, here are some of BestArmour's pictures of the gauntlets. They are the ones labelled RG 4.4 on that page.

Linky.

And Christian, my southern Swedish habitat is awfully far away from where you'll be, but I still want to thank you for your advice.

I will let you know how I get on with the gauntlets, but for now I am reviewing my alternatives (and trying to get in touch with knowledgeables around here for some hands-on feedback) before I do anything drastic.

Thank you,
Emil Andersson

Hello again,

Sorry for bringing this old thread back up, but I figured I'd let those of you who're interested know how I was getting on with this little issue. I wrote the armourers themselves and asked them for closer instructions (now, why I didn't just do that in the first place is beyond me at this point..) and I ended up doing things a little bit different than how it used to be. Before, I had connected the gauntlets and gloves only right out at the fingertips of both, and left it at that. Now, I started out at the fingertips and sewed back up the fingers, until I was roughly halfway up on both sides. This completely changed how the plates around the knuckles move when I tighten my grip on things, pulling the finger lames out and forward whereas they earlier went kind of upwards too, contacting the overriding knuckle plate and pushing the base of the finger lames into my hands.

The re-sewing demanded the better part of a day to get it done and right, but now they're definately tonnes better than they were before. :D

Emil, this gauntlet issue seems to have been nicely settled by yourself, but since you were getting advice to contact SPQR and Nidingbane, which are both excellent low cost web shops that sell armour and medieval reproduscions in general, I thought I should direct you not just to those who sell armour but also those who are actual armorers making it.

If you're still looking for a swedish armourer I'd talk to Albert Collins at Via Armorari here in Sweden. He makes stuff for the museums, most recently a display with a complete set for a mounted knight and a retainer for the Medeltidsmuseet in Stockholm, and is both a great guy and a superior armuorer.

http://www.viaarmorari.com/

Are the fingers really attached to the metacarpal plate? Is this solution correct from historical point of view? Any surviving examples? I have always attached fingers to the knuckle plate and never had any problems. It is the knuckle plate that increases circumference of the hand when you clench your fist (and on hourglass gauntlets there was this narrow plate instead of knuckle plate). I think you should consider getting the fingers riveted to the knuckle plate.

I have photos of one 15-16 century gauntlet where fingers are clearly attached to the knuckle plate. On hourglass gauntlets it is possible to attach fingers directly to the metacarpal plate without that narrow plate, just as starter of this topic managed to make his gauntlets fit OK even though fingers are riveted to the wrong (at least I think so) place. I would guess that first hourglass gauntlets did not have this narrow plate.