Armouring Tips:
Padding & Strapping the Gauntlets
Earl Sir Michael de Lacy
Gauntlets,
after the helmet, are probably the most complex, expensive
and important pieces of armour you will own, and, like the
helmet, if they do not fit perfectly, you will find your
fighting ability impaired, and will probably end up with
bruises and "armour bites" aplenty. Helmets are fairly easy
to pad and strap correctly (see "Building Your Own Armour;
Part 2"), after all your head does not, it is to be
sincerely hoped, change shape much during the course of
combat. Hands, by comparison, do change shape, and this has
made the job of the armourer very difficult; throughout the
ages, he has struggled to produce hand protection that
offers the best compromise between flexibility and
protection, leading to a great variety of gauntlet
design.
In rattan combat we are limited for reasons of safety to later-period designs; a perfectly period mail mitten is perfectly useless against a large, blunt weapon like a rattan greatsword. About the only advantage it would offer is that it would easier to find all the pieces of your fingers on the way to the hospital. For such reasons, the steel mitten gauntlet is the gauntlet of choice for SCA combatants, although there are a few full-fingered gauntlets (nice, but very expensive) and, we blush to say, a few modified 20th century sports gloves (usually based on the hockey glove) in use - although most kingdoms are phasing these out on grounds of safety (they really do not offer enough protection) and good taste.
A good set of mitten gauntlet can be had for about £60, but once you get them, you then have to customise them to your hand, which involves lining, strapping and padding. The first thing you must do when fitting out a new set of gauntlets is choose a glove to go inside them; quite often in the SCA, people choose the basic welding glove on the grounds that it is sturdy, fairly inexpensive, and fairly thick - thus providing some padding in and of itself.
From my experience, the welding glove has several disadvantages; firstly, they usually have as much thickness of leather on the palm (where you don't need it) as they do on the back (where you do). This thickness of leather over your palm makes it difficult to get a good grip on your weapon, making you clumsy in combat, and can lead to hand fatigue as you try to compensate for a poor grip with a tighter one.
What
I found works much better is to use a fairly thin glove, and
provide it with a padded backing. This puts the padding
where you need it, and gives you plenty of grip and weapon
sensitivity. I have found that the old U.S. army glove liner
(available at many surplus stores) work fine for a gauntlet;
they are a good balance between sturdy design and
suppleness.
The padding (figure 1) is basically a short home-made oven mitt; take a couple of layers of canvas or calico, and draw out the pattern by drawing around your gloved hand. Leave about an inch of extra space on the sides to provide a little bit of side protection for your hands and cut the mitt off just beyond the second knuckles on your fingers; also make the cuff long enough that it will come out a bit from under the wrist section of your gauntlet (this keeps it from getting wadded up as you put your gauntlet on). Next, sew the two pieces of canvas along line (A), leaving the cuff area open. Then, turn the lining inside out, through the cuff, sew a few lines of quilting stitches (B) and stuff with scrap fabric, cotton or whatever you have at hand - but don't pack it too tightly, or you will lose flexibility. After stuffing the lining, sew up the cuff.
To
attach the lining to the gloves, take 5 short strips of
thick leather and sew them onto the backs fingers and thumb
of the glove (fig. 2) leaving a bit of overhang at the tip
(sort of like leather fingernails) for the attachment to the
end lame of the gauntlet. Then, sew the padding to the other
ends of the leather strips, so that the padding comes just
over the second knuckles on your fingers. Then, attach the
tabs at the tips of the fingers to the terminal plate of the
gauntlet (fig. 3), and to the tip of the thumb plate.
The
strapping need only consist of two straps (fig. 4); one
across the palm, to keep the hand from sliding too far into
the gauntlet, and one across the thumb, to keep the thumb
plate in place. You may also want to put a strap across the
fingers as well, but if you have the finger tips secured
into place as described above, this really isn't
necessary.
Properly
strapped and padded gauntlets will greatly enhance their
protective value, and give you added confidence and agility
when using pole, spear or greatsword. Poorly padded and
strapped gauntlets can led to not only chronic discomfort,
but serious injury as well; It is worth remembering that of
the two serious injuries we have had in our shire in the
last 3 years, both involved broken bones in the hand or
wrist. A little extra time and effort in the armour shop can
save you lot of grief!