The Armour Archive

On hourglass gauntlets the cuff is often welded or riveted onto the metacarpal plate of the gauntlet.

Gothic gauntlets are overlapped and articulated.

How do you properly attach a cuff to a wisby style gauntlet so a strike to the wrist is still covered?

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee11/fryeguy_2007/wisbycuff.jpg[/img]

The ones I have seen handle the issue in the same way it was handled in period.

There is a small gap between the plates that cover the back of hand and the plates that cover the forarm.

No metal there at all. The gap is a lot narrower than a rattan stick.
Hitting directly there is nearly impossible.

So, just close your eyes and ignore the possible problem.

I have never heard of any actual problem that results from it.

Wade

Most all of the ones I've done have been handled that way without any problems. The blow force is still transferred to at least two plates, one of which is the metacarpal and at least two of the cuff plates. The "gap" is probably less then a 1/4" at the largest. For what it's worth, I've been fighting in some version of this for over 20 years....

Valerius / Aaron

Theoretical worst case would be the shot that manages to hit on the free end of one of the gauntlet plates and drive it into the wrist. That could, potentially, be pretty bad.

It would take a set of coincidences of astronomical scale.

We're very much more likely to injure ourselves in our own bathtubs.

As far as the SCA rules go, I don't think there's an issue in terms of the gauntlet providing protection to the wrist.

I've had the chance to examine one set of Moore bros. Wisby gauntlets and they did have a problem that would cause me to bounce them were I marshalling a field and they appeared. This specific pair offered no coverage to the outside edge of the hand. None at all.

Your probably 10 times more likely to get your finger mashed than you are getting hit in the wrist. Wisby's do give excellent movement and protection