BestArmour.com Gauntlets.
Jun 14, 2008 16:35:04 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2008 16:35:04 GMT
Hello there, my good fellows.
I’m terribly sorry for this rather large delay on the review of my BestArmour gauntlets that I received back in March. I’ve just been preoccupied with other things but lately I started to feel a bit bad about it. So I decided to pull myself together and do this!
Also, please keep in mind that this'll be my first review ever so I'm bound to be missing a few things... please let me know if you want to know something about the gauntlets that I've not typed in this review.
Maker: Milan Marek at BestArmour.com
Material: 1mm heat treated/tempered spring steel
Weight: I only weighed the right gauntlet and it was about 900 grams (0.9 kilograms )with a plastic bag around it. Not that those really weigh anything at all... but 0.9 kilograms is in the area of 2 pounds, right?
Cost: About $800 (base price was about $500 but by upgrading the cold rolled steel to spring steel I increased the price substantially.)
Waiting period: Three to four months
Makers signature: A small symbol of a shield with a sword down the middle of it with a pair of M's forming out of the sword to either side. I couldn't get a clean shot at it since my digital camera has lost it's focus settings. I really ought to invest in a new one. Located on the cuff, by the way. It doesn't jump out at you; you have to look for it to see it.
Here is a pair of Work In Progress pictures that I received during the creation of these marvels.
So. I got them custom ordered to fit my hands "like gloves" . And fit like gloves they do. The only catch, if you can call it that, is that I had to sow the underlying leather gloves unto the steel gauntlets myself. Here are some pictures of the gauntlets without the gloves sown in.
I received some concerns that the riveting on the leather fingers could be susceptible to failure, but I have noticed nothing as such so far, and I've been wearing them quite regularily whilst doing various activities.
As time progressed I kept getting rejected by leatherworkes when I asked them to sow the gloves unto the gauntlets, I realized that I simply had to sit down and do it myself. And so I did. Here is the results for you to view. I might've taken the easy way out by only sowing the gloves to the tips of the leather fingers but I'm very happy with how they've turned out.
When spreading my fingers out like that you can see the leather straps arching up but when the fingers are kept in a natural way the leather will rest against the back of the gloves fingers.
I also refrained from attaching the thumb of the gauntlet "completely" to the leather glove, as the next picture shows.
By not sowing on the lower part of the thumb-plate to the leather glove I maintain complete mobility of my thumb. It's alot more comfortable to wear that way. I've noticed that the thumb plate has a tendency to simply flip over when hastily changing directions of my hand in the air but it hasn't proved to be an actual issue yet. If it will prove to be one, I'll simply sow it on.
Which brings me to my next point... articulation and mobility. I hardly feel restrained at all while wearing them. These next pictures will show you a bit of what I'm talking about.
I can move my wrist freely up and down without any resistance. The fingers can move independently from one another. Sideways movement of the wrists is slightly impaired of course, but the gauntlets allow for enough sideways movement to "cure the itch" if an itch for such movement should arise.
My point: they are comfortable to wear!
Here is some pictures of me performing everyday tasks whilst wearing the gauntlets.
Typing on the keyboard. Controlling the remote. Grabbing lamps. Eating salty snacks. Video games. (This is hard, admittingly.) Playing with balloons.
In the thread that I started regarding the gauntlets back in January, our dear Tsafa asked me to research certain things about the gauntlets in particular, namely going through drills with both one handed and two handed swords, as well as using a food scale for a truly accurate weighing. While the only two handed sword in my possession thus far is a SLO (though a dear one, as it was my first sword ever.) I have used the gauntlets in combination with every piece in my collection, which includes one handed swords, a katana, an axe, a larger axe, a poleaxe, a spear and a mace.
I’m sorry to say that I am not very versed in any “drills” to use with any of my weapons. I’ve barely started out on my road to medieval knighthood! But nonetheless, I have used the gauntlets when I’ve been busy cutting my cartons and plastic bottles with my assortment of edgies and the result has been pleasing. The gauntlets do not impose any true negativity on my so-called technique, other than me having to get adjusted to my hands having a substantially larger area of space taken up, which has only affected my hand and a half swords. Of course, the issue of having a layer of leather between the fingers and the grip of the weapon is a slight hindrance at first but I’ve gradually gotten better at controlling my enlarged fingers. In fact, this very sentence was typed with the gauntlets on in less than ten seconds.
Please forgive me for not having any footage of bottle-cutting. Instead, receive these pictures of me handling a spear and a mace.
The fingers lap around whatever I grab hold to in a firm, secure way.
Now, as for their endurance... I've not had the heart myself to actually force them through any destructive tests. They've completely negated any and all strikes from a shinai, as well as hits from a solid hardwood bokken (not at full force though, but damn well enough to hurt!) along with a full contact leg kick from one of my muay thai practicing friends. Good thing he was wearing shoes. For him!
Now I shall create this thread before my computer malfunctions and force my to re-do this entire thing. Let me know if I have missed any vital information that you wish to know about.
Edit#2: Oh right, since this is supposed to be a review, I suppose that I should place my rating on the subject... now, how to rate it...oh, I don't know... 5/5!
While expensive (that was my own choice though, the "basic" version can be had for roughly half the price), the workmanship on these gauntlets is, for me, indescribable. The fit is awesome as a custom made item should be and the entire design is jaw dropping. I'm in love!
Mr. Marek's dedication to making sure that the end product would come out the right shape was inspiring and I will no doubt be ordering more from them in the future. The future as in a week or two from now, I hope. ;D
I'm eyeing a pair of sabatons and a barbute helmet. The waiting period for those two items is somewhere between 6-12 months, so I better get started on ordering them!
I’m terribly sorry for this rather large delay on the review of my BestArmour gauntlets that I received back in March. I’ve just been preoccupied with other things but lately I started to feel a bit bad about it. So I decided to pull myself together and do this!
Also, please keep in mind that this'll be my first review ever so I'm bound to be missing a few things... please let me know if you want to know something about the gauntlets that I've not typed in this review.
Maker: Milan Marek at BestArmour.com
Material: 1mm heat treated/tempered spring steel
Weight: I only weighed the right gauntlet and it was about 900 grams (0.9 kilograms )with a plastic bag around it. Not that those really weigh anything at all... but 0.9 kilograms is in the area of 2 pounds, right?
Cost: About $800 (base price was about $500 but by upgrading the cold rolled steel to spring steel I increased the price substantially.)
Waiting period: Three to four months
Makers signature: A small symbol of a shield with a sword down the middle of it with a pair of M's forming out of the sword to either side. I couldn't get a clean shot at it since my digital camera has lost it's focus settings. I really ought to invest in a new one. Located on the cuff, by the way. It doesn't jump out at you; you have to look for it to see it.
Here is a pair of Work In Progress pictures that I received during the creation of these marvels.
So. I got them custom ordered to fit my hands "like gloves" . And fit like gloves they do. The only catch, if you can call it that, is that I had to sow the underlying leather gloves unto the steel gauntlets myself. Here are some pictures of the gauntlets without the gloves sown in.
I received some concerns that the riveting on the leather fingers could be susceptible to failure, but I have noticed nothing as such so far, and I've been wearing them quite regularily whilst doing various activities.
As time progressed I kept getting rejected by leatherworkes when I asked them to sow the gloves unto the gauntlets, I realized that I simply had to sit down and do it myself. And so I did. Here is the results for you to view. I might've taken the easy way out by only sowing the gloves to the tips of the leather fingers but I'm very happy with how they've turned out.
When spreading my fingers out like that you can see the leather straps arching up but when the fingers are kept in a natural way the leather will rest against the back of the gloves fingers.
I also refrained from attaching the thumb of the gauntlet "completely" to the leather glove, as the next picture shows.
By not sowing on the lower part of the thumb-plate to the leather glove I maintain complete mobility of my thumb. It's alot more comfortable to wear that way. I've noticed that the thumb plate has a tendency to simply flip over when hastily changing directions of my hand in the air but it hasn't proved to be an actual issue yet. If it will prove to be one, I'll simply sow it on.
Which brings me to my next point... articulation and mobility. I hardly feel restrained at all while wearing them. These next pictures will show you a bit of what I'm talking about.
I can move my wrist freely up and down without any resistance. The fingers can move independently from one another. Sideways movement of the wrists is slightly impaired of course, but the gauntlets allow for enough sideways movement to "cure the itch" if an itch for such movement should arise.
My point: they are comfortable to wear!
Here is some pictures of me performing everyday tasks whilst wearing the gauntlets.
Typing on the keyboard. Controlling the remote. Grabbing lamps. Eating salty snacks. Video games. (This is hard, admittingly.) Playing with balloons.
In the thread that I started regarding the gauntlets back in January, our dear Tsafa asked me to research certain things about the gauntlets in particular, namely going through drills with both one handed and two handed swords, as well as using a food scale for a truly accurate weighing. While the only two handed sword in my possession thus far is a SLO (though a dear one, as it was my first sword ever.) I have used the gauntlets in combination with every piece in my collection, which includes one handed swords, a katana, an axe, a larger axe, a poleaxe, a spear and a mace.
I’m sorry to say that I am not very versed in any “drills” to use with any of my weapons. I’ve barely started out on my road to medieval knighthood! But nonetheless, I have used the gauntlets when I’ve been busy cutting my cartons and plastic bottles with my assortment of edgies and the result has been pleasing. The gauntlets do not impose any true negativity on my so-called technique, other than me having to get adjusted to my hands having a substantially larger area of space taken up, which has only affected my hand and a half swords. Of course, the issue of having a layer of leather between the fingers and the grip of the weapon is a slight hindrance at first but I’ve gradually gotten better at controlling my enlarged fingers. In fact, this very sentence was typed with the gauntlets on in less than ten seconds.
Please forgive me for not having any footage of bottle-cutting. Instead, receive these pictures of me handling a spear and a mace.
The fingers lap around whatever I grab hold to in a firm, secure way.
Now, as for their endurance... I've not had the heart myself to actually force them through any destructive tests. They've completely negated any and all strikes from a shinai, as well as hits from a solid hardwood bokken (not at full force though, but damn well enough to hurt!) along with a full contact leg kick from one of my muay thai practicing friends. Good thing he was wearing shoes. For him!
Now I shall create this thread before my computer malfunctions and force my to re-do this entire thing. Let me know if I have missed any vital information that you wish to know about.
Edit#2: Oh right, since this is supposed to be a review, I suppose that I should place my rating on the subject... now, how to rate it...oh, I don't know... 5/5!
While expensive (that was my own choice though, the "basic" version can be had for roughly half the price), the workmanship on these gauntlets is, for me, indescribable. The fit is awesome as a custom made item should be and the entire design is jaw dropping. I'm in love!
Mr. Marek's dedication to making sure that the end product would come out the right shape was inspiring and I will no doubt be ordering more from them in the future. The future as in a week or two from now, I hope. ;D
I'm eyeing a pair of sabatons and a barbute helmet. The waiting period for those two items is somewhere between 6-12 months, so I better get started on ordering them!