Tying your gauntlets to the weapon Ã¢â‚¬â€œ did it help?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 1:09 am

Good Morning,

On Friday I couldnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t go out running because I had an early appointment for work, and so I woke up at my normal 5:30 and proceeded to put on what I have for armour.

Sabatons, then full greaves, then those beautiful legs from Ice FalconÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

Tied the rebrace, elbows and vambrace on to my Ã¢â‚¬Å“gambesonÃ¢â‚¬Â

Endymion · Post by **Endymion** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 2:06 am

Im not going to pretend that I know much about fighting form. I don't. Basically, I just had a question about what you did. How did you sew your gauntlets to your glaive? Do you mean you just laced them closed around the haft so they were locked in the closed position, or you actuall threaded them to the haft somehow?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:02 pm

Tied thumb to forefinger around the haft.

Endymion · Post by **Endymion** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 1:11 am

I see. Bearing in mind that I really don't know much, it does bring something to mind that someone told me...

It sounds like you might have been concentrating on gripping the haft a little too much, and not loosenig your hand at all as you threw shots. When you're using a sword the result for that tends to be very slow, clubbing shots without much reach, instead of good fast snaps. When you're doing this, most of the power for the shot comes right out of your arms.

Now if you loosen up and let the sword turn some in the shot, throwing from the wrist (a trigger helps with this sort of thing) you can get off faster shots because you're letting the momentum of that flick help you out. Because you're letting momentum do a lot of the work, the power is a lot less raw force from your arms and more from the hips and wrist in the movement. Hence, less effort.

You likened it to chopping wood, which sounds right. When you chop, you let the force come from the weight of the axe and the arc it comes through. Your wrists also straighten out as it moves, too. Imagine if you tried chopping wood with a stiff, perpendicular grip.

Im sorry if Im not any good at describing what I mean, Im trying to relay what people have told me without having gotten the hang of it myself yet. Im sure that there are others on the board you will be able to explain it a lot better than me.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 2:07 am

Endymion wrote:It sounds like you might have been concentrating on gripping the haft a little too much, and not loosenig your hand at all as you threw shots. When you're using a sword the result for that tends to be very slow, clubbing shots without much reach, instead of good fast snaps. When you're doing this, most of the power for the shot comes right out of your arms.

Im sorry if Im not any good at describing what I mean, Im trying to relay what people have told me without having gotten the hang of it myself yet. Im sure that there are others on the board you will be able to explain it a lot better than me.

Your description was dead-on-perfect! Thanks!

Sorry for the short reply...we're in the libary and my kids will act up after 30 seconds....

-Aaron

Morgan · Post by **Morgan** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 8:09 am

From the description, I'd agree. You've been holding onto the weapon too tightly.

Adriano · Post by **Adriano** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 2:06 pm

My two cents -- I find that I do most of my gripping with my pinkie fingers, and their immediate neighbors (and thumbs, of course) and keep a loose grip with my index and middle fingers; this allows more flexibility and speed for fast snaps.

On the other hand, your experiment reminds me of the "locking gauntlets" I've seen in books. Supposedly they were banned from tournaments. Has anybody here made one of those?

Animal · Post by **Animal** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 3:12 pm

When I fight I use a saber without a basket hilt on it because I hate basket hilts. But trying to hold a one-handed weapon in gauntlets always gave me fits. Somewhere I saw where they had hade some sort of strap that held your saber to your hand. When I went to get it I couldnt find the link again so I faked one of my own. I couldnt believe how well it worked!!! It allows me to grip the saber properly with the pinky and ring fingers and not worry about throwing the sword away when I swing. It's increased my power, timing and accuracy. WAY cool. I wouldnt use it for a naginata because I switch up hands too much but I recomend it for the saber over anything I've ever used.

Roderick · Post by **Roderick** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:30 pm

I found the same thing to be true. I love to fight with cross hilted swords but found that my arms and hands tired quickly. I made a strap that buckled across the back of the hand that would hold the gauntlet onto the handle. This acted as a lanyard and allowed me to relax my grip when on gard waiting to throw a blow. At first I thought it wasn't that big a deal, but in the long run the ability to fight longer with out fatuge and stress, and an increase in speed was noteable.

Have yet to use this with a two handed system...

Roderick

Animal · Post by **Animal** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 11:39 pm

Oh yah. It has made it almost like not wearing a gauntlet at all. I'm a big fan of that strap, although I keep breaking them. I musta got a crappy piece of leather or something.

Adriano · Post by **Adriano** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 7:29 am

Animal, Roderick -- this intrigues me, especially since I usually fight with two cross-hilted swords and steel gauntlets. What are the attachment points for the strap?

Animal · Post by **Animal** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:45 am

Mine attach on either side of my hand with a buckle in the middle. Now keep in mind that they arent near as sweet looking as the one I saw on the website, but it works. I'm never going back to basket hilts now. Whoever came up with this idea is a frickin genius. Seriously.

Talan Gwyllt · Post by **Talan Gwyllt** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:45 am

Animal, can you photo that strap you are talking about? I would like to see how you are implementing this strap.

Animal · Post by **Animal** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:48 am

Yah Talan I can. This afternoon when I get back from the doctors. Conor needs a shot and I get to get yelled at about my diabetes again. I'm telling you though I wish I could find where I saw the original one. It was like"Why didnt I think of this?!?" and it was made a LOT nicer than mine.

Noe · Post by **Noe** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 9:30 am

Aaron,

I'm not sure how well strapping your guantlet around your pole arm might work in the SCA, but you shouldn't do it when you practice with us. There's no rule against it or anything, its just that we do more wrestling around in Avalon. Ask Phelan about Sunday, when he and I ended up exchanging weapons.