Darkwood HEMA gauntlets

[Sir Edward]

I picked up a pair of these, but in stainless:

http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_10&products_id=454

I haven't fought with them yet, but they fit me well, and and I thought it would be worth a try. Several features that I like:

1. The large plate over the fingers moves with them, adding a layer of protection, without confining the fingers.

2. Finger-tips are enclosed around the sides and front. For instance, doing the "thumb grip" on the sword leaves practically no gap between the metal and the blade.

3. There's a layer of neoprene for padding between the glove and the steel. It's glued to the glove to save on costs (stitching would take so long that the cost would go way up), and unfortunately it was already pealing a little before I bought it, but I can re-glue it myself or do some stitching.

4. Lightweight. I think they're lighter than my crap hourglass-gaunts.

They didn't seem to significantly restrict my hands in any way, with some simple handling of a sword, and transitioning guards and the like. Before I use them though, I need to either get better forearm protection, or fix the missing buttons on my gambeson cuffs, since right now it will expose some bare skin there.

Since I haven't fought with them yet, it's possible I may turn up things I don't like about them. I don't know anything about their long-term durability yet, for instance.

[Thorsteinn]

Has anyone compared them to Sirmrks TI gauntlets? WHat did you pay for Spring Stainless?

[Sir Edward]

Has anyone compared them to Sirmrks TI gauntlets? WHat did you pay for Spring Stainless?

No idea. They were $600 in stainless. But I got a discount on my overall purchase since I was buying gaunts, a saber, and a dagger trainer all at once.

[Sir Brian]

No idea. They were $600 in stainless. But I got a discount on my overall purchase since I was buying gaunts, a saber, and a dagger trainer all at once.

LOL! Welcome to the dueling sabre world! 

Those gaunts look great!

But you might want to check to see if those cuffs impede you doing a scheitelhau correctly
because I had a pair of steel clamshell gaunts that had cuffs that did. 

[Sir Wolf]

sexy 

[Sir Edward]

Amusingly, it looks like I grabbed a mismatched pair (the fingers were slightly different), so I'll be sending one of them back to trade for the match.   They caught it and contacted me.

[Sir Wolf]

lol of course. it always works out that way

[Sir James A]

Interesting design, there's 15th century Italian armor with that same gauntlet design. I'm in progress on a harness of that style. Looked like it will function very well for protection.

That neoprene should be helpful. I'm still slightly wonky on using my thumb after taking that unpadded hand shot in the harnessfechten about 6 weeks ago.

[Sir Edward]

Well that was super quick. The correct left gauntlet got here yesterday.

I did try moving around with them a little, including doing a scheitelhau, and they do restrict some of that motion. The scheitelhau was probably the hardest to do, but not impossible. Like with any steel gauntlets, you have to alter your technique a little to accommodate what the gaunts will permit.

Having said that though, I'm hoping this set will be a good trade-off.

My crappy hourglass gaunts allow more range of motion, but that's because some of the rivets ripped out, and leave huge gaps in the protection they offer. And they're technically too big for me (I wear those padded fencing gloves inside them to make them fit right, and protect me from the rivets inside the fingers).

[Sir Martyn]

Nice.

[Sir Wolf]

new pics?

[Sir Brian]

I did try moving around with them a little, including doing a scheitelhau, and they do restrict some of that motion. The scheitelhau was probably the hardest to do, but not impossible. Like with any steel gauntlets, you have to alter your technique a little to accommodate what the gaunts will permit.
Having said that though, I'm hoping this set will be a good trade-off.
My crappy hourglass gaunts allow more range of motion, but that's because some of the rivets ripped out, and leave huge gaps in the protection they offer. And they're technically too big for me (I wear those padded fencing gloves inside them to make them fit right, and protect me from the rivets inside the fingers).

Cool that you got the correct gauntlet already! Bummer they impede you range of motion!

I always worry about that when I looked at gauntlets online that offer that enclosed style
cuff since I essentially wasted the money for those crappy steel mitten style a couple of years ago.
Oh and btw, I'm nearly done with my 'hybrid' leather-steel gauntlets and have a pretty
good notion in how to assemble the final sections. I think they will serve me very well.

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, the restricted movement isn't too bad. The cuffs lightly press into the forearms, though that will probably be more significant later with arm pads. I think more of the restriction comes from the inflexibility in the middle of the hand, but I'm not sure there are any gaunts that fully overcome this.