The Armour Archive

Hello,

I recently bought a pair of very wellmade spring steel gauntlets and I am in the processes of installing gloves... or at least I was. I attempted to use gorilla glue to attach some thin craft foam to the back of a pair of leather gloves but the gorillla glue didn't hold worth a damn and now the nice supple leather that used to be a glove feels like recycled tire rubber.

What have other people done to attach foam to leather gloves? I am not interested in attaching the foam to the steel itself and I considered using furry lambskin but decided against.

Thanks,
Sean

I stitched the foam onto the back of mine. I used one of the auto-threaded awls you can get at most any leather supply store.

They've held up quite well.

Try Shoe Goo. You want something meant to be flexible, not an expanding rigid adhesive like Gorilla Glue (which received about the worst ratings in tests by someone or other - discussion was another thing lost in the Flush).

Contact cement will work, shoe goo will work even better. I have had better success with gluing padding to the metal than to the leather glove. I use shoe goo to attatch felt padding to the insides of elbow and knee cops and it takes serious effort with a screwdriver to remove it.

Use an automotive trim or weather strip adhesive. preferably a 3M product

PS the battery in my caliper is dead so I don't have the rivet measurements -they are roughly 3/32.

I don't pad my clamshell gauntlets, I just wear a good pair of leather gloves and since the gauntlets ground out I have never had an issue. One thing that I have heard of though is tou use a mouspad. It adds enough cushion to make them not hurt. It is thin enough to not get in the way, and it also has fabric on it that holds stitches well.

Agh yes, padding and attaching gloves to gauntlets: the bane of every heavy fighter...

Like above get some mouse pads and cut them to fit behind your gloves.

Sew them on at several points around your gloves...

Another option is use heavy welders gloves, as they are thick enough to supply the padding needed for the back of your hands. Thing is some people don't like them as they can be to heavy and it takes some getting used too as far a grip goes, they also can be quit hot... I guess it's a matter of taste.

Mouse pad works best when you sew it on.

I put the material between the glove and leather holding the steel then sew all the way around. No adhesive required . Hope that helps.

I used leather palmed (Mylak) street hockey gloves with the padding already attached, sewed them into the steel gauntlet at the finger tips.

I second the street hockey glove.

I dye the edges of mine just in case the colors peep out of my gauntlets.

Thanks guys.

If these were 'sport' gauntlets I'd be all over the streethockey gloves like white on rice, but these are for a more period impression despite being SCA gear. At least black padding is fairly nondescript. The gauntlets should bottom out 99% of the time but the padding is there for emergencies and to keep marshals off my back. I like the shoe-goo idea since I've used it before but I'm loathe to ruin another pair of gloves with glue just yet. I think I'll try sewing the padding on first. If that dosn't work I can remove the thread and glue it on instead.

Sean

Screw the mousepads. Too squishy. I use polyethylene closed cell foam. Stiff and comfy. Then again, I don't glue my padding down to anytthing. It just stays in place. I just stuff it in between the glove and gauntlete and it stays there.

Sean, have you tried black neoprene (mousepad) glued to the lames of the gauntlet? Just sayin', if _I_ were padding them, that's what _I_ would do.

What about the light sparring gloves at revival.us?

This padding issue seems to be a pain in the butt.

Christopher

The only part of my gloves that show is the palms and occasionally the padding if the leather cross straps loosen up. That being said, maybe you could get a pair of Police "sap" gloves that have powdered lead on the fingers and back of the hand, take the lead out and replace it with padding, then sew the glove into the gauntlet?
Those gloves are really nice deerskin. Just a thought...

I use cotton oven mits that I cut in half, and then use one half each for each gauntlet. Works really well.

JP

Hey thanks for bumping this back up. I'm almost finished with my padding.

I opted to use 2 layers of 3mm craft foam. I cut apart the glove ruined by the gorilla glue to make a pattern. I've been spending evenings ignoring the TV and stiching the padding to the back of the gloves rather then glueing them in place. The stiching seems to be more gorgiving then glue and by using 2 thinner pieces I can stitch them with my hand in a fist so the padding is under no tension with my hand closed. So far they are quite comfy.

Final results in a week or so.

Sean

I'm with Jean Paul de Sens. Oven mitts may not be cotton padded linen (which would be MUCH cooler), but they at least aren't foam and are quick, cheap and dirty (99 cent store).

If one were to make quilted padding from scratch (going with the oven mitt idea), how thick ought they be? Oven mitts and potholders vary quite wildly in size.

Assume regular roll cotton batting.

Thanks,
Christopher

RenJunkie wrote:If one were to make quilted padding from scratch (going with the oven mitt idea), how thick ought they be? Oven mitts and potholders vary quite wildly in size.

Assume regular roll cotton batting.

Thanks,
Christopher

While you're at the fabric store buying cotton batting, look to the left and right 5 - 6 feet and you're bound to find pre-quilted material. I'd use two layers back-to-back. Quilting is a royal pain IMO, which is why I married a gal who likes to sew.

Or,

Order some wool felt from mcmaster, and then you don't have to sew anything. Cut it to shape, maybe some loop stitches to get it to hold to the glove, and that'd be it.

In my experience cotton isn't a good shock absorber anyway.

I'll ditto that if the gaunts are grounding on the weapon properly there isn't much need for padding.