With the recent change to the C&T rules, fencers are now required to have padding on the backs of their hands, fingers, and down to 1″ below the wrist when fighting with single-handed weapons. This requirement can be met in a number of ways – such as buying a pair of padded gloves. However, many of us already own simple leather gloves that we used in the past or if we’re looking to get started in C&T; that we used for fighting under the heavy rapier rules. So a cheaper method is to add padding to the gloves that you already own. This method will work for most styles of gloves, but I based my pattern off of my gloves from Darkwood Armory. You may need to adjust the pattern or trim the padding to fit your gloves if they vary significantly from Darkwoods. Also, if your gloves fit your hand too tightly, there may not be room for the padding and your hand, so this method may not work for you.
In order to do this, I’ve used 1/4″ neoprene foam sheeting that I bought on Amazon. One roll will be enough padding for several pairs of gloves, so an entire Shire or Canton could chip in and make a work day out of adding padding if they liked. You can find this here: Neoprene Sheeting on Amazon.
The process is fairly simple:
- Cut out the inserts with a pair of scissors. I have created patterns for these inserts. The “Large” pattern should fit a medium or larger glove. The “Small” pattern is for smaller gloves. The patterns are available here and can be printed on standard printer paper:
- Put it inside the glove so that it covers the back of your hand. Getting it into the finger tips may be difficult and you may need to trim the padding (especially the fingers) a bit to more closely match your gloves.
- Put the padding into the other glove
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