The Armour Archive

for those folks who pop up here periodically wanting finger gauntlets for about 200.00 dollars

http://cgi.ebay.com/S-S-Finger-Gauntlets-SCA-Medieval-Armor-Hourglass_W0QQitemZ6589408932QQcategoryZ1552QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


[img]http://members.aol.com/celticwarriors/stg.jpg[/img]

I have a pair of these - you gotta use a basket or cup hilt with 'em if you're fighting SCA, but they look great, and the fit and workmanship were reasonable for an "off-the-shelf" purchase.

What is the point of using the gauntlets if you're gonna use a hilt too?
I dont get it.

I'd gather the look and/or appearance of a medieval warrior.

-+G

To be hidden by a cup hilt? I still dont get it.

Gwydion Caithnes wrote:I have a pair of these - you gotta use a basket or cup hilt with 'em if you're fighting SCA, but they look great, and the fit and workmanship were reasonable for an "off-the-shelf" purchase.

Must be a regonal thing, they look fine to me.

Ceddie wrote:

Gwydion Caithnes wrote:I have a pair of these - you gotta use a basket or cup hilt with 'em if you're fighting SCA, but they look great, and the fit and workmanship were reasonable for an "off-the-shelf" purchase.

Must be a regonal thing, they look fine to me.

I think the concern is how far the metal wraps around the fingers; it looks like it might be too shallow to transfer the force of a blow to the rattan via a metal on rattan touch. The thumb tip might also lead to issues, assuming you get smacked there...

Just my two cents..

Tristan vom Schwarzwald wrote:

Ceddie wrote:Must be a regonal thing, they look fine to me.

I think the concern is how far the metal wraps around the fingers; it looks like it might be too shallow to transfer the force of a blow to the rattan via a metal on rattan touch. The thumb tip might also lead to issues, assuming you get smacked there...

Just my two cents..

Also padding - from the description, the lames are attached to leather, which is attached to gloves. Convenient, but how do you pad them?

Good price, though.

Tristan vom Schwarzwald wrote:I think the concern is how far the metal wraps around the fingers; it looks like it might be too shallow to transfer the force of a blow to the rattan via a metal on rattan touch. The thumb tip might also lead to issues, assuming you get smacked there...

Just my two cents..

As long as they are padded, you do not have to have rattan to gauntlet contact. Even on finger gauntlets.

However, my worry is not the manufacture, but the thickness. 18ga SS is pretty thin. The "Unspoken rule" about SCA finger gauntlets has been 16ga mild steel. Anything less seems to me that they would just bend and crumple around the rattan thus crushing fingers.

If those gaunts were 16ga mild or SS I would have no problem passing them WITHOUT a basket hilt as long as they were padded.

given that stainless is harder the mild you can usually get away with going one gauge lower in stainless then mild, so in my mind 18g stainless is equal to 16 g mild.

just my opinion. I wouldn't wear finger gauntlets that didn't wrap deep enough to contact the rattan... but without my fingers I don't have a job, and trying to explain to my employer why my productivity for the next six to eight weeks is going to be effected because I broke a finger or two isn't a conversation I want to have.

they are pretty though
Will

I agree they are beautiful. I'm curious though, does each individual piece of each finger have to contact the rattan, or could say the knuckle plates contact and have the pieces inbetween not? Seems like this would cut down on bulk.

I've wondered about that too animal, good question...Otto

Animal Weretiger wrote:I agree they are beautiful. I'm curious though, does each individual piece of each finger have to contact the rattan, or could say the knuckle plates contact and have the pieces inbetween not? Seems like this would cut down on bulk.

I have a pair of these, I'll bring them to the next practice so you can take a closer look at them Animal.

Thanks Greg! Looking forward to seeing you again. If I dont talk to you, have happy holidays!

Animal Weretiger wrote:I agree they are beautiful. I'm curious though, does each individual piece of each finger have to contact the rattan, or could say the knuckle plates contact and have the pieces inbetween not? Seems like this would cut down on bulk.

It varies from Kingdom to kingdom but in Calontir finger gauntlets do NOT have to ground out on rattan if they have sufficent padding. Mouse pad padding has been deemed "Sufficent".

So, as long as the lames don't buckle and the gauntlets have mouse pad padding they would pass as Full gauntlets in Calontir.

Gregoire de Lyon wrote:

Animal Weretiger wrote:I agree they are beautiful. I'm curious though, does each individual piece of each finger have to contact the rattan, or could say the knuckle plates contact and have the pieces inbetween not? Seems like this would cut down on bulk.

I have a pair of these, I'll bring them to the next practice so you can take a closer look at them Animal.

Can we get a review then? I'm really curious as to how well they work. Regardless of the design, I'm not sure I could trust myself to fingered guantlets with a polearm. Now behind a shield or under a Mandrake hilt, sure.

I absolutely love my House of the Wolf gauntlets. BUt for years I've been dying for finger gauntlets. I wanna do what Dilan did, and do an early period thing with the back of the hand in leather and the fingers metal. Im thinking that if I get the cool paint people use on miniatures for flesh tone it might look from a distance like I had the actual hand protection my portrayal woulda had. Ya know, tool the leather and paint the finger parts flesh. Might be cool.


From a distance...


If you squint...


and the sun was in your eyes...


at night...

I've had my share of finger smashes, so I'd never wear these without a hilt. But they "look the part," and don't feel like "work gloves," or "hockey gloves," and despite the fact that I use them with a hilt, they "feel" more period than any other gaunt I've owned. That does the job for me. I like 'em - and as stainless, they're also pretty "low-maintenance," which is an added bonus.

The cross-hilt vs. cup hilt argument doesn't interest me - again, I've had enough finger-smashes that that debate is closed for me. I use great, mucking mitten gauntlets when fighting polearm, greatsword, etc. At my age, my hands are worth the protection, regardless of what the rules require minimally.

To each his own.

And to answer a previous question more directly, no, the plates on these gaunts don't touch the rattan. Hence my use of a cup hilt. And they're not very bulky, so they don't interfere with wrist movement, etc., within a hilt.

I recommend them to anyone who uses a cup/basket.

Now if you really WANNA go the hockey glove route, c'est la guerre...