The Victorian sparring glove solution

[admin]

The glove and description in Parise's treatise of 1884:



Rough translation: "To protect the hand, the wrist and forearm, use a large glove called a 'guantone', which is made of leather........[?]. The hand and all of leather, filled with horsehair, with a cuff made of leather, which serves to lessen the sharp blows to the forearm."

So there we have it. Horsehair!

[craftyfighter]

Find yourself a friend with horses and you'll soon have a supply of horsehair for free.

[nathan]

There are a few places you can order from if need be.

[craftyfighter]

if it helps I know a lass in london with a horse...hair could be procured if needed.

[nathan]

So did anyone actually make a pair of these as i would really like to make some myself.

[admin]

No, I wish someone would. My manufacturing skills are not in fabrics or leather.

[Chris Holzman]

The glove and description in Parise's treatise of 1884:



Rough translation: "To protect the hand, the wrist and forearm, use a large glove called a 'guantone', which is made of leather........[?]. The hand and all of leather, filled with horsehair, with a cuff made of leather, which serves to lessen the sharp blows to the forearm."

So there we have it. Horsehair!

Suola is like hard/thick shoe sole leather, as I understand it, and in this case that would be used for the cuff of the glove. These turn up on ebay occasionally. If you can find the 'dal duello allo sport' exhibition catalog pdf from torino in '05, there are a couple of gloves like this in it, with good photos.

Speaking of Parise - one of these days it'll be available in English translation . Just gotta work out the specifics.

[Ulrich von L...n]

The 'dal duello allo sport' exhibition catalog:

http://www.provincia.torino.it/speciali ... mostra.pdf

Absolutely beautiful exhibition (swords, old fencing equipment etc)!
Thank you, Chris!

[admin]

Great catalogue

[nathan]

Well i am going to give it a go just not sure on the exact way of going about it with these gloves. I would be grateful fo any advice.

[Phil C]

I'd start by obtaining a replica old-style baseball mitt (making sure I got a Right-Handed one), a stitch unpicker and some pattern-paper. The cuff will be pretty elementary stuff after that.

[nathan]

hmm anyone have one all i really need is the pattern i will likely make a 3 finger version. As to what thickness of leather for the hands im not too sure,

[admin]

I contemplated trying to bodge one by getting a very big size leather glove and then a tight cloth glove, stitching the latter inside and to the inside palm of the former and stuffing the upper cavity with wool or suchlike.

[Risto R]

These look quite like the Victorian ones. Maybe if the design isn't perfectly suitable for our need, there might be some hints for what kinds of materials to use. Anyway I think they're kinda cool.

http://www.yamatobudogu.com/ProductDeta ... 06-ONIGOTE

Oh, pffft! Jeebus they are expensive, when they are made by hand and to your measurements. You could get a pair of hardened carbonsteel gauntlets for that money.

[admin]

Japanese gloves have been looked at before, but they are just too far removed from the Victorian glove type to be useful to us.

[nathan]

i will likely be buying some spring steel gauntlets soon but i would still like to have a set of these but i am just not too sure how to make em yet.

[Chris Holzman]

hmm anyone have one all i really need is the pattern i will likely make a 3 finger version. As to what thickness of leather for the hands im not too sure,

p 33 and 34 of the catalog above are basically the glove shown in Parise's book. These types of gloves turn up for sale now and then on ebay.

Thick, possibly wet formed hard leather like belt or saddle leather for the cuff, and leather similar to gloves like these: http://www.gemplers.com/product/198190/ ... nce-Gloves (yes, gloves for working on fences), plus some additional suede or even canvas stuffed with a load of horsehair for the wrist ring.

I'd almost think today it might work just as well to use some sort of closed cell foam, like from a life jacket or wrestling mat, or similar, since it could be cut to shape. on the other hand, horsehair should be quite pliant and relatively easy to sort of stuff in place between the back-liner of the glove and the slightly larger exterior. I'd leave the palm side of the glove unstuffed.

[admin]

Yes, I think one of the strengths of foam is also a weakness in this case - that it always fights you to return to shape. Hair on the other hand stays where you put it, so your hand is not always being either forced closed or force more open. I would guess that a modern replacement for horsehair would be something like tiny foam balls, or some kind of fibre material, like packing material. Wool would probably also work well.

[Magnus Hagelberg]

like the supercross gloves using small bags containing grains of impact absorbers.. with a shell on topp.

[admin]

I didn't know that's what they use, but that makes a lot of sense and agrees with my theory.