Small Gauntlet Recommendations?

[Oswyn_de_Wulferton]

Hey All, checking in on a few armourers. My wife is looking for new gauntlets (she fights polearm and spear) as her current ones have some thumb issues. She has very small hands (fits small to xs gloves). We are really looking at three different ones right now. Links to the gauntlets are the names of the armouries.

Blue Monkey Armoury. Have heard good things about them in the past, wondering if anyone has done business with them lately. Looking at the gauntlets, I am concerned about the thumbs. Have you had any problems with them? I am specifically concerned about two things: one, does the single rivet holding the thumb to the back of the hand let the thumb get driven too far back, and two, how bad is the force transmission through the thumb plates due to the soft articulation between the two pieces. Any thumb (or other) issues from the people who wear them?

Horsefriend Armoury. Heard about them very recently. Has anyone who has small hands ordered a pair of their gauntlets? My wife was also wanting input about the placement of the "knuckle" lames above the others (as opposed to continually underlapping). How does the solid articulating thumb work out placement wise? I was thinking about possibly adding a slot rivet for the thumb to move in.

Iron River Armoury. Overall look fairly good, wondering if it is possible to hard articulate the thumb, the way the back of the hand is shaped. Anyone have any other views of these gauntlets? Preferably with the thumbs attached? Has anyone who has small hands ordered a pair of their gauntlets? How does the uber-wide riveted cuff work when doing greatsword work (or other issues where your hands are close together)?

Of course, any overall impressions of these armourers would also be great. If possible, could you please note when you did business with them as well? Anyone have any other suggestions for small gauntlets, sub $200? She is not really a fan of the giant fan thumbs, and prefers more lames to less, because she has found the fewer lamed ones to leave her fingertips open fighting spear. Thanks so much.

[ARMOURER ERIC]

Hi,

I am now making gauntlets as well and ine have an enclosed thumb tip and the thumb is hard articulated. I know a fwe here have paurchased and recd theirs so maybe they can give a review. I will sell you a small set for $165 in mild. I need to come up with $250 in 24 hrs. to cover the rest of the damage from a bad check I got last week, so talk to me.

[Jess]

I own a pair of the Blue Monkey style. I think the thumb design is awesome and frankly that is THE reason I bought them. You can close the hand with the thumb either over or under the fingers safely. The design allows for rotation, but I don't see a danger of the thumb bending backwards, especially if you are going to be holding a weapon. I have been using the stainless pair for 3 years now. I mostly seem to block greatsword with my hands. Although, I bought mine a few years ago, I saw the same design being sold at Pennsic this year as I took a friend down to look at them.

Frankly I think the super low price makes people nervous. I bet they would sell three times as many pairs if they just doubled the price.

I can't speak to the other styles.

[Halfdan]

I have a pair of House of the Wolf hardened leather gauntlets that I will be selling soon. They are too small for me. They do not have the big thumb. I'll post pics later. I'd like to get 100 for them.

[Jess]

I want to send you some pics that might help. Apparently the AA does not want to let me post them tonight because it keeps timing out. The thumb plates prevent the thumb from being bent backwards too far. In the thumb pics 3 & 4 I am pushing the thumb back.

Now, could the thumb be bent down? Maybe. But I do not have this problem, because when my hand is grasping a waepon, my thumb is either overlapped by the fingers or overlaps and rests on the plate covering the fingers.

Hope that helps.

[owen matthew]

Bokalo at www.bokalosarmoury.com makes great thumbs on his cat's ass gauntlets. I am very impressed with mine. Good price, too. Aluminum, with steel thumb.

[Johann Lederer]

I have a pair of the Blue monkey gauntlets. I concur with Jess about the thumbs. The thumb is two piece but the lower plate on the thumb (lowest phalange) has a good overlap on the tip. Bending back a thumb is not easy, I would say that it would take blowing a rivet to make it bend back. The thumb tip is 2/3 covered, which allows you to feel the weapon but doesn't over expose the thumb tip. I have taken a couple really good shots to the hands using great weapon and glaive, the only failure was that strapping.

I have the mild steel version. I would have gotten the stainless, but, I did not specify on my Christmas list last year. At least my wife got me gauntlets....

YMMV

[Duke Icefalcon]

We have some really nice stainless closed thumb gaunts in stock for small hands. They are a little more than what you wanted to spend ($395) but they are worth the extra money.

http://store.fastcommerce.com/icefalcon ... 936b6.html