[Ray Harrington]

I'm need to get some gloves for partner drills and sparring. I don't like using hockey gloves because they are to bulky.
I found some gloves I like at Revival but can't decide which ones to get.

http://www.revival.us/ProductImages/armour/kelvar-gloves.gif
http://www.revival.us/ProductImages/armour/me...s_lg_2.gif

What do you guys think about these gloves?

Which ones would you recommend?

Thanks
- Ray

[Bill Grandy]

Hi Ray,
I own a pair of each of Revival's models of gloves. I've actually been meaning to write up a post with a comparison review, so this is as good an excuse as any to actually do that.


Swordsman Gloves

These are the basic leather gloves that Revival sells. They are made of good quality, supple leather and are very comfortable. For martial arts use they are a little on the thin side, and will do little to absorb shock. They will, however, help against abrasion, and therefore work well for training with point weapons such as rapier or smallsword. Ultimately they are best for use with garb with limited martial arts use. Definately worth the price. The embroidered version is essentially the same thing with some decoration on the cuff.



Light Sparring Gloves

These are lightly padded gloves. They have about as much padding as a modern saber fencing glove does, though these have a slightly less modern look. When I first bought a pair of these, they were very stiff and I did not care for them. After I broke them in, however, they became quite pliable and comfortable. I think these are excellent for general drilling and practice. They are decent protection against accidental glances during training, and they are decent for free-play weapons such as padded swords and to some extent shinai (though a very hard, out of control hit with a shinai can still break bones through these). I've grown to really like these for generic use, and these are my main practice gloves.



Kevlar Reinforced Light Sparring Gloves

These gloves have some good padding around the forearms and back of the hand, with hard knuckle protection, while using only thin leather along the palm to aid in control while holding a weapon. They offer good protection against lighter sword simulators like shinai. They are decent against simulators with wide edges, such as wooden or nylon wasters. There are a few areas where, if hit just right, they don't protect very well: Namely right across the wrist, and at the finger tips. Therefore I don't recommend them for free fencing with aluminum or steel trainers unless you really trust your partner (for the record, I do use these a lot while bouting with steel, but ONLY with certain people, and would not even dream of using less than steel gauntlets with the vast majority of people out there). These gloves are incredibly stiff when you first receive them, and require quite a bit of use to break them in. Once that is accomplished, however, they're easy to maneuver in, and are almost as good as regular leather gloves. I think these are definately worth owning, provided you understand their limitations.



Medium Sparring Gloves

These are little more than hockey gloves. I don't care for these. Despite the ad claims, they do not have good wrist mobility, and are pretty bulky. The hole on the back (presumably intended for ventilation) is just big enough that a lucky shot with certain bouting can push through to the hand, even though it doesn't look that big. While they have more protection then any of the above, they are not as protective as good lacrosse gloves, and are just as bulky. These were fairly disappointing, as the ad copy made them seem like they were specially designed for Western Martial Arts in a way that standard lacrosse gloves couldn't be... sadly, this was not the case.

[Ray Harrington]

Thank you Bill, your post has been a big help to me. I have cloves that are like the Swordsman Cloves that I use for my rapier but they are not that good when I use them with my longsword, I have been hit on the hand a couple of times....didn't feel good.My friend has The Light Sparring Gloves and they are really stiff.

Right now we are using wooden wasters and I need to get some better gloves, latter down the road I would like to get some steel gauntlets.
I was going for the Kevlar but saw the price and the ad for the Medium Sparring gloves and I didn't know which one get. After reading your post I'm going to get the Kevlar gloves.