New Knight Shop Sparring Gloves

[craftyfighter]

I know the type you mean...sort of a 3/4 mitten with individual plates on the finger tips. Its a historical form as far as I know.

It is. Popular from around 1460-1490.

And so today I have learned something new. I have never seen a pair of these in a museum or in a book or anything like that, so I didn't realise that there were some examples of this kind. Fantastic, thanks!

They certainly turn up in the art of the period (thanks for the dates Matt )...I've seen examples before, for the life of me I can't lay hands on them at the moment.

[admin]

They seem to have been a particularly English style, perhaps because English men at arms traditionally fought on foot. Replicas:

http://operatorchan.org/g/arch/src/g339 ... 0style.jpg

http://www.wassonartistry.com/images/ar ... G_1361.JPG

They do appear earlier in the 15thC as well, so should probably broaden the dates I gave before to c.1430-1490.

[KeithFarrell]

Those are some interesting pictures, but not quite what I had in mind. The gauntlets I saw for sale were fingered gauntlets in the normal style, just with a complete mitten style over the top. Therefore at every single point on the finger, there were two or three small finger scales and one or two layers of mitten above; not mittens to the first knuckle and individual fingers thereafter.

These examples posted by Matt are very cool through. I like the look of them a lot!

[Magnus Hagelberg]

what happens to the design if you use something like a slimmed neopren glove beneath


This glove is perhapps not the best one, but you get the idea.
or if there are gloves made out of that shock absorbing material you are using, why not opt for using those instead of the leather?
It would lend a more modern look, and make people familiar with lacrosse gloves feel more at home.

having run across a design that you had to strapp on and take of, I resolutely advice against this.
Historical gloves and all in fairness, if I have to take time and effort when getting my gloves on and off, they are inferior to my lacross gloves. I want a glove that I can slip in and out of with ease.There are elastic materials around that lets you achieve this, so will theese gloves let me use them the same as a regular pair of gloves?
other than that,I can only say well done, keep up the great work- looking forward to a testable version at fightcamp.

[Dangermouse]

Hi Magnus

We looked at lots of different commercialy available gloves on the market and did play with neoprene gloves. They were not very nice at all and provided little protection. They also are not very durable (compared to good leather) and would be very hard to make stab proof. They also provide very little "feel" compared to the leather ones.

Most top end sports gloves have leather palms including lacrosse and hockey etc. A synthetic option would be cheaper (material costs) but would involve more stitching etc (if you look at the palms on lacrosse gloves they are a mixture of different materials - well the ones here are). We would have to outsource this to China to keep manufacturing costs down. Not really a route we want to go down.

We are in the middle of a redesign which is incorporating lots of the suggestions above - should make for an alltogether better product.

[David Rawlings]

I was taking full force blows from steel (hanwei hand an a half sword) yesterday across the back of the hand and pretty much laughing it off

Have you taken into consideration the possibility that the material is average and you might just be awesome?

or insane with broken fingers

[craftyfighter]

I was taking full force blows from steel (hanwei hand an a half sword) yesterday across the back of the hand and pretty much laughing it off

Have you taken into consideration the possibility that the material is average and you might just be awesome?

or insane with broken fingers

hmmm.."broken finger"..."pet brick"....yup, sounds about right to me

[Hugh]

So.....
any updates on the Knightshop sparring gloves? Any further idea of an ETA?
just, twiddling my unprotected thumbs and waiting patiently in anticipation...

[nathan]

Yep what he said

[Jamie]

The earlier photo of the prototypes look fantastic! Disregarding the historical accuracy important/unimportant convo' they look really cool and I look forwards to getting hold of a pair!

Just a couple of, hopefully, quick questions.

Will we be able to get them with different coloured segments (like yellow/black warning signs)?
And, not sure if this has been asked previously, appologies if it has...
How will they or is it even feasable that they will stand up to steel?

[Payson]

@ Jamie, there are quite a lot of posts in this thread, 7 pages worth at the moment. But I went back and looked through just to be sure, and the first post does lay out the intentions of the gloves, and steel sparring is mentioned. That is a pretty important requirement in my opinion as well.

[Jamie]

haha sorry I read the thread during a quite period at work, so skimming most of it!

[Magnus L]

I have thought quite a lot on glove design (I actually contacted Dow Corning to test the deflexion material, but have not yet heard from them). Seeing this I have at least temporarily given up my current project of making 3D printed nylon scales to glue on padded gloves, which I still think might prove OK, but a lot more expensive.

I am interested in any news on these gloves. Are there any photos of the current design? I also wonder a little bit about the deflexion padding. What sort is used for the finger padding? Is it S5-004 or perhaps TP3-001? I was thinking if the cuff could be based on deflexion as well - in order to make it look more modern. I was thinking along the lines of S5-004 closest to the wrist and arm with a few polycarbonate pieces attached, but with gaps between, and topped with a layer of TP8-002. I think that would give a good protection since the top layer would spread the force to at least one of the polycarbonate pieces and then there would be further padding below that. This would make it quite agile, I assume, and the cuff would not need to be very pronounced. I think it could be tightened by e.g. velcro (or something more durable).

I am not sure this idea would work, but I think it has potential. The problem is that it would require a high amount of work (making the cuff).

I would be very interested to see what the protection of the sides of the index and little fingers look like. Since I have fractured an index finger from a blow to the side of it I am very aware of the lack of protection there of most gloves. I know you have said that there would be protection there, but it would be nice to see if it looks reliable.

[Dangermouse]

Hello Chaps

Thanks for all the suggestions and emails that I have received regarding the gloves. We now have a very good idea of what is needed.

We have been playing with lots of different designs for the last few months. Getting the price right is the key to the whole project though. There is no point in producing a glove that ticks all the boxes if you need to remortgage your house to buy a pair

We certainly have the technology now to make a non-bulky glove that will be useable with steel. We know all of the areas that need to be protected and have come up with the right designs for this.

The perfect gloves at the right price are not going to happen overnight. However, we do plan on launching a sparring glove that can be used with steel and that is affordable in the near future. It wont be perfect, perfection takes time and a lot of feedback, however, it will be better than the current available options in this price range, I can assure you of this.

[Andreas Engström]

That sounds very promising, Bryan. Looking forward to seeing and testing the first version.

-Andreas

[Hugh]

That's great Bryan. Hope it's all going according to plan.
so... near future? is that realistically likely to be this side of x-mas?

[kit]

Hello Chaps

Getting the price right is the key to the whole project though. There is no point in producing a glove that ticks all the boxes if you need to remortgage your house to buy a pair

I am seriously considering the mortgage option - and figuring on different gloves for different events

[Payson]

I agree with Kit. I will pay a premium for the safety of my hands as well.

[craftyfighter]

I'd love to say that I agree with Kit and Payson (and I'm happy for them that they can), but for me its either gloves I can afford or no fighting for me.

[kit]

Well, I'm simply not a good enough fighter to protect my hands in the way that I'd like to (at least in longsword), and that lack of confidence affects my entire fight. I still want to be able to see if I can fight with steel without having to worry about ensuring that I have the necessary level of technical perfection to protect the bare hand. And whilst hocky and lacrosse gloves give some protection, I can tell by the bruising of my thumbs that not enough that way comes
I'm planning on going to Colin's event next year and I want to ensure that I've got hand protection that I can use before then. Preferably that I can fence in at Dreynevent and SWASH. That will probably mean a more expensive glove, but if it contributes to a better cheaper one then I'm all for that.

At the moment I think the Ensifer gloves do seem to be the best option