Gripfast Hand Forged Steel Plate Gauntlets with Articulated Finger Lames & Elder Futhark Engraved Cuffs | Medieval Reenactment Gift | RK-1434

Gripfast is a matched pair of hand forged steel plate gauntlets, left and right, with flared cuffs, a stack of articulated lames across the back of the hand and fully plated fingers. Each finger runs on its own train of small overlapping scales down to a domed cap over the fingertip, and the thumb is plated on its own separate arm so it can still oppose the fingers. The cuffs carry a cut line of Elder Futhark runes and flare wide enough to cover the wrist and the bottom of the forearm where a vambrace would otherwise leave a gap.

Gauntlets are the hardest single piece of a harness to make well, and the reason is simple. Every other part of armour covers something that moves in one or two directions. A hand has more than twenty joints, it changes shape completely between open and closed, and it has to keep enough grip and feel to hold a weapon. Getting steel over all of that while it still closes into a fist is the test that separates a real armourer from someone assembling parts. These are forged, articulated, engraved and lined in our Memphis, Tennessee workshop.

Specifications

How an articulated gauntlet actually closes

Look at the back of your hand and open and shut it. The skin over the knuckles stretches and the whole back of the hand gets longer as the fingers curl. Steel does not stretch, so an armourer has to build in the extra length another way, and the way is overlap.

The back of the hand is covered by a short stack of curved plates called lames, each one overlapping the plate below it. When the hand is flat the lames sit nearly closed, stacked tight. When the fist closes the stack opens out like a set of blinds, each lame sliding a few millimetres over its neighbour, and the total travel across four or five lames is enough to cover the change in the hand. The joints use sliding rivets, which run in a short slot rather than a round hole, so the plate can move along the rivet instead of being pinned still.

The fingers work the same way at a smaller scale, with each finger carrying its own train of little scales down to a domed tip cap. The thumb has to be on its own separate train because it moves across the hand rather than with it, and a gauntlet that plates the thumb into the same stack as the fingers is one that cannot hold anything. The knuckle plates are raised into low domes, which is not decoration either. A domed plate deflects a descending blow off to the side and is far stiffer against denting than a flat one of the same thickness.

The steel, the finish and the glove inside

The plates are 18 gauge mild steel, around 1.2 mm. Mild steel is deliberately soft. It is low in carbon, it cannot be hardened by heat treatment, and it deforms rather than cracking when it is struck, which is the behaviour you want in armour. A hardened plate would resist a first blow better and then shatter, and a shattered plate over a hand is worse than a dented one.

The finish here is a blackened satin rather than a mirror polish. Blackened steel hides handling marks, needs less frequent attention than bright polish, and gives the runes on the cuff a strong contrast because the cut line comes up brighter than the surrounding surface. Inside each gauntlet is a leather glove, and the plates are riveted through to it. That glove is what makes the whole thing wearable, because it holds the plate train in register with your actual fingers and keeps the steel off your skin.

Say the honest thing about use. Eighteen gauge is the display and light reenactment weight. Full contact steel fighting requires heavier plate and its own inspected standards, and these gauntlets are not certified to any of them. Fingers are the most commonly broken thing in armoured combat and we are not going to imply that this pair is rated to protect them in a fight.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the leather. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On these gauntlets the flared cuffs are the engraving field, and you can have the same line on both or a different one on each. Tell us in the order notes. More detail is on the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

These are made to a stated size rather than moulded to your hands. They fit an adult hand of roughly 3.5 to 4.25 inches measured across the knuckles with the hand flat and the thumb tucked in, which covers most adult men and larger adult women. Measure across the widest part of your palm, not around it.

The cuff flare will clear most forearms and is designed to sit over the bottom of a vambrace rather than under it, so the two overlap with the gauntlet on the outside. If you already own vambraces, check that the cuff of yours is not so wide that it fouls the gauntlet flare. Finger length is the part that varies most between people. If your fingers are noticeably long or short for your palm width, say so in the order notes and we will adjust the finger trains during the build.

Care

Blackened steel still rusts, it just hides the first stages better. Wipe both gauntlets down after every wear, get inside the cuffs where sweat runs off the forearm, and put a light film of machine oil or paste wax over the plates before they go into storage. Never store them damp and never store them inside a sealed plastic bag, which traps moisture against the steel.

The leather glove inside wants the same treatment as any other glove. Let it dry naturally away from heat and condition it lightly once or twice a year. Do not put solvent or harsh cleaner near it, and do not soak the whole gauntlet to clean it, since water will sit in the rivet holes. Our fuller notes on keeping steel sound are on the steel care page.

Forged in Memphis

Every plate is cut, dished, filed and drilled in our Memphis, Tennessee workshop, the lame trains are assembled and the sliding rivets are set here, the runes are cut here and the glove liners are fitted here. Nothing about this pair came out of an importer catalogue. That is why our lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the articulation and the fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Hammer texture, the exact depth of the blackening, the spacing of the rivets and the precise line of the cut runes vary because every plate is worked by hand. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Can I actually close my hand in these

Yes. The lames across the back of the hand slide open as the fist closes and the fingers run on their own scale trains, so you can make a fist and hold a haft. What you cannot do is fine work. Picking a small object off a flat table in plate gauntlets is a genuinely difficult trick.

Are these safe for full contact combat

No. They are 18 gauge, which is the display and light reenactment weight, and they are not certified to any fighting standard. Hands and fingers take the most injuries in armoured combat, so if you fight competitively you need gauntlets built and inspected for that purpose.

Will they fit my hands

They fit an adult hand of roughly 3.5 to 4.25 inches across the knuckles. If your fingers are unusually long or short relative to your palm, tell us in the order notes and we will set the finger trains to suit during the build.

Do they come as a matched left and right pair

Yes. This is a shaped left and a shaped right, not two of the same hand, and both cuffs carry the engraving. They are built and finished together so the blackening matches across the pair.

What is inside them

A leather glove liner in each, with the plates riveted through to it. The glove is what keeps the plate train lined up with your fingers and keeps steel off skin. You can wear a thin liner glove underneath in cold weather.

How long does it take to make

Processing is one to two weeks because each pair is cut, articulated and lined to order, then shipping is free within the United States. Returns are accepted within seven days. Custom engraving adds a few days.

What is in the box

• One matched pair of articulated steel plate gauntlets, left and right
• Leather glove liner fitted inside each gauntlet
• Elder Futhark rune line cut into both cuffs
• Care card with oiling notes
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See more in plate armor, chainmail armor and viking armor, or read the guides.