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![\"Viking](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i16.photobucket.com\/albums\/b27\/larskval\/P1010121.jpg?w=474\")
<\/p>\nI finished my combat mitten project on Sunday. This is what they look like.
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Actually, I thought they were done when I took the picture, but then I decided to tighten up the stitching. All the stitching that looks like dotted lines in the picture is now solid lines. Tight seams! Redundancy! Those are my watchwords. I may end up a quivering, broken casualty, but I want the paramedics to say as they wheel me away, \u201cHey, this guy\u2019s mittens are really put together!\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of live steel guys use gloves instead of mittens, and I think gloves do actually look better. But mittens allow you to have your fingers unseparated as you grasp your weapon grip, and that\u2019s not a trivial advantage. This past year I used welder\u2019s gloves, which looked great with their gauntlet cuffs, but separated my fingers. So my new mittens are equipped with gauntlet cuffs (added by me), which also help to protect my wrists (wrist injuries are one of the most common in our sport).<\/p>\n
The original moose hide mittens were a Christmas gift from my brother Baal.<\/p>\n
Some guys use mittens covered with mail for live steel, but I\u2019ve heard that that\u2019s actually not the best system. The little rings sometimes drive themselves into the glove and break your fingers. I prefer heavy leather myself, and it\u2019s lighter.<\/p>\n
We have no record, literary or archaeological, of the Vikings using combat gloves of any kind, although we know the Normans were using mailed mittens not too long after. It\u2019s hard to imagine doing this kind of fighting with no hand protection, though. Judging from the experience of live steel fighters today, you\u2019d have to expect all the experienced Vikings to be missing a finger or two, if they fought without protection. And you can only sacrifice so many of those suckers before you\u2019ve (literally) lost your grip.
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I finished my combat mitten project on Sunday. This is what they look like. Actually, I thought they were done when I took the picture, but then I decided to tighten up the stitching. All the stitching that looks like dotted lines in the picture is now solid lines. Tight seams! Redundancy! Those are my … Continue reading I got mittens for Christmas!<\/span>