Ringward Hand Forged Chainmail Mitten Gauntlets with Tooled Leather Cuffs & Knotwork Buckle Plates | Norse Reenactment Gift | RK-1470

These are mail mittens, the oldest and most practical answer to the problem of covering a hand that still has to grip a weapon. Each glove is a single bag of mail worked around a thumb gore, so all four fingers sit together in one pocket and only the thumb moves separately. That sounds crude until you wear a pair. The fingers warm each other, the mail drapes instead of binding, and there are no seams across the knuckles to split open. Mail mittens were usually built straight onto the sleeve ends of a hauberk rather than made loose, which is why surviving separate pairs are rare and why the wide bell cuff you can see here matters so much.

This pair is made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee. The mail is round wire, closed ring by ring by hand, and it is set into a vegetable tanned leather cuff that is saddle stitched rather than glued. A steel roller buckle draws the cuff closed over the wrist and the strap carries an engraved knotwork plate. The mittens ship as a matched left and right pair under a light coat of protective oil.

Specifications

Butted mail and riveted mail, and why the difference matters here

Every ring in a mail garment has to be closed somehow. In butted mail the two ends of the ring are brought together and left touching. In riveted mail the ends are overlapped, punched, and a small wedge or round rivet is set through both. Riveted mail is what almost all surviving medieval mail actually is, and it is several times stronger, because a thrust that lands on a ring has to shear a rivet rather than simply spring two ends apart.

This pair is butted. That is an honest limitation and you should know it before you buy. Butted mail looks correct at conversation distance, it moves and sounds like mail, and it is entirely suitable for display, for photography, for costume, and for the kind of light living history where nobody is swinging at your hands. It is not safe for full contact combat, for steel on steel bouting, or for any activity where a point could be driven into the weave. If you fight, buy riveted, and buy hand protection rated by your society.

The other thing worth understanding is the thumb gore. Cutting a mail mitten flat and folding it produces a thumb that fights the hand. The gore here is expanded ring by ring across a wedge so the thumb sits at a natural angle and the palm stays flat when you close your fist around a haft.

The steel, the leather and the gauge

Armour is not blade steel and should never be described as if it were. There is no hardened cutting edge here and no heat treat to quote. The mail is mild steel drawn to 16 gauge wire and wound, which is heavy enough that a ring holds its shape when you pull the weave over your knuckles and light enough that the pair does not drag on your forearms. Mild steel is the right choice for mail because it is ductile. A ring that is stressed opens a little rather than snapping, which means a damaged section can be worked back and reclosed instead of replaced.

The cuffs are vegetable tanned cowhide, cut heavy, burnished at the edges and stitched with waxed thread through pre punched holes. Vegetable tanning is slower and more expensive than chrome tanning but it is the only tannage that darkens properly with use, holds a tooled line, and takes a wax or oil dressing without going slick.

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 this pair the natural place is the strap plate or the outer face of the cuff. See the engraving page for what the cutter can and cannot hold at small sizes.

Fit and sizing

These are made to one adult size with a deliberately generous palm, because mail mittens are meant to go over something. Almost everyone who wears mail on the hand wears a padded glove or a thin leather glove underneath, both to stop the rings pinching and to give the mail something to slide against. Measure around your knuckles with your hand flat and add room for whatever you plan to wear inside. If your knuckle measurement is above about 10 inches, or if you have unusually long fingers, message us before you order and we will tell you honestly whether the standard pair will suit you or whether we should build the weave out for you.

The cuff buckle gives roughly two inches of adjustment at the wrist, which covers most forearms worn over a mail sleeve or a gambeson cuff.

Care

Mail rusts because it is thousands of small surfaces and every one of them collects moisture from your hands. Wipe the pair down after every use and keep a film of light machine oil or a paste wax on the rings. If they do bloom with surface rust, the traditional fix still works best: put the mittens in a bag or a small drum with dry sand and tumble them, then oil them. Never store mail in a sealed plastic box, and never store it damp or folded tight, because the rings will print rust rings into each other. Hang them or lay them loose. The leather wants a light feed of neatsfoot or a leather balm once or twice a year, and it should be kept away from direct heat. Our notes on steel care cover oils and rust removal in more detail.

Forged in Memphis

Every piece we sell is made in our own shop in Memphis, Tennessee. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue and rebadged. The rings are wound and closed here, the leather is cut and stitched here, and the engraving is cut here. That is also why the lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings is real. There is no end date on it and you do not need to keep a receipt.

A note on handmade variation

These are hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Ring closures, the exact tone of the leather, the way the burnish takes at the edges and the precise profile of the cuff all vary a little, because every pair is worked by hand from natural materials. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the mail riveted or butted?

Butted. The rings are closed end to end by hand and not riveted through. That is correct for display, costume and light living history, and it is not suitable for full contact combat.

Can I wear these for full contact reenactment?

No. Hand protection for full contact needs riveted mail over an armoured glove, and it needs to be approved by whichever society you fight under. Please do not use these for bouting.

Will they fit over a padded glove?

Yes, and that is how they are meant to be worn. The palm is cut generous specifically so a thin padded or leather glove fits underneath without the rings biting.

Will they rust?

Mild steel mail will rust if you leave it wet or store it sealed. Wipe them down, keep oil on them, and store them hanging or loose and they will stay bright for years.

Can I get runes cut into the cuff?

Yes. Use the rune converter above and tell us whether you want the line on the strap plate or across the outer cuff. Your engraving replaces the knotwork already shown.

How long before they ship?

Processing is one to two weeks because each pair is closed by hand. Shipping inside the United States is free, and returns are accepted within seven days.

What is in the box

• One matched pair of chainmail mittens, left and right
• Leather cuffs with steel roller buckles already fitted
• Engraved knotwork strap plates
• Light protective oil coat applied before packing
• Care and storage card
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

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