Looking for Leather Gauntlets.

[Guest]

All,

I am in search of a new pair of leather gauntlets primarily for rapier and dagger work. My old pair has finally worn out. I am very picky as to design and quality, and have been unable to find what I want. Let me be specific:

My old pair came from Museum Replicas about 8-10 years ago. They are natural/buff colored cowhide with a nice long and wide cuff. Cuff and hands are the same leather. They are a very nice weight; supple enough to not interfere with swordplay but thick enough to provide real protection. They are reasonably period in appearance, and very functional. I love them, but they are now dead ;-(

I HATE black gauntlets. Hate them. I am really only interested in a pair very like my old ones. Museum Reps stopped carrying these many years ago. The white goatskin ones I see about are too soft and "stretchy". Almost all of the "swordsman" black gauntlets I see in every catalog, website, "ren faire", etc. are uniformly abysmal in quality and fit.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

This will sound pathetically stupid, but recently I was watching the "Harry Potter" movie again and the pair of dark brown leather gauntlets the Quidditch Teacher was wearing (forget her name, blast it) made me drool. I thought "there they are" !!! and wanted to snatch them off the screen. Pathetic, I know...

Any ideas?

Russ Myers

[Derek Wassom]

http://www.varmouries.com/glov_03.html
Something like this?

[John_Clements]

I reccommend long-stem rose gardening gloves.

[Shane Smith]

John, what ever became of the gauntlets you were passing around at the Princeton event for comment?I believe you said they were prototypes.They were pretty impressive in general and I would like to know if they are in production yet.Thanks.

[George Turner]

Hey, those falcon people only use left-handed gloves! Where's he going to get the right-handed one?

You can also check out any large welding supply house, which usually carry gloves made of pig, elk, cow, etc. But these might not be exactly what you're looking for.

As a last resort, you could buy a sewing awl and then go looking for some road kill, which has pre-flattened leather with a beautiful tread pattern <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" /> . Honestly, though, you can get all kinds of different leather on-line, and making some gauntlets might teach some very useful skills that apply to many different components of armoring.

Best Regards,

George Turner

[Mike Cartier]

I hear Falconry without gloves can be quite good for developing high levels of arm conditioning <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />