Two long-awaited HEMA glove projects woke up from a short slumber. While waiting for ProGauntlets has become a running gag in the community, lately they have become active enough that plenty of people see it coming soon.

And while people at one time were not confident for Thokk’s WeaponMaster Gauntlets, maker Dario Alberto Magnani just updated.

No need to focus on why both potentially finger-saving protective products are waving at the same time – it is a small market. Both announcements are positive news, although neither tells us when we will see the final product.

Just before Longpoint CrossGuard, the guys behind ProGauntlet announced an exclusive partnership with US shop Purpleheart along with some details on the latest Beta version of the glove.

Turns out that while Beta 2 impressed people quite a bit, that version of the glove has problems with mechanical jamming of the fingers and it was too complex.

The result was something that even with additional development couldn’t pass the high standard we have set at the beginning of this project. That standard has always been not to sell a product until we know it can do the things we promise.

And the aim of the ProGauntlet is to have its parts easily replaceable. This may have been achieved by Beta3, the one they brought to Longpoint (Photo by Rebecca Glass). So after that they will be working on developing the inner glove, refining and perhaps showing us the product. When? No idea.

They are also doing hand measurement testing, so they hopefully can offer multiple sizes. People who have handled both this and the previous versions say there are really obvious improvements.

The Thokks WMG – we have not just a full image, but also some details on the materials.

The default option will be a short cuff, an add-on – if we want a longer one. The wrist is protected by an overlapping armonica structure, perhaps similar to the Sparring Gloves, but – at least, so the maker says – they won’t have any openings and no additional wristband. The inside of the palm has silicone on it, because otherwise it seems to be too slippery, which I am not a fan of.

Soon, we will know more about the insides of the gauntlet. While I am not sure if this will truly be a good longsword glove (it just looks so thin), even with add-ons, I have a feeling that it will be much better than Red Dragons for one-handed weapons and perhaps fix that problem, which is worse than longsword – where SPES Heavies and SGs are still the most popular, and for a reason.

There’s some big news you really didn’t see coming, my friends.

– promises Thokk

Either way, whether it will be the long-brew ProGauntlet, or the ultra-special-mega-new-age-materials WMG, or some other Thokk product we are hearing about, these two might be at least partially dethroned soon.