My name is Iulian, and I’ve been doing HEMA since 2022. I wanted to share with you my thoughts on the HF Armory Black Knight gloves. After an awful experience with my previous SPES Heavy Gloves, I tried to find a replacement for them. I tried to research and find the best model on the market that will get my money’s worth. Since my last pair broke after a few months, I looked far and wide for reviews of Heavy Gloves and after a few hours I stumbled upon a video for the HF gloves with only praises for this model.
After a few months fighting with them, I can say that that review was spot on and they are a must buy. Here are my conclusions:
Weight and size
The combined weight of these gloves is about 770-800 grams(so around 380 grams each), making them very light and nimble in the hands. Coming from the SPES Heavy(1.1kg combined weight) they were a relief, I couldn’t even feel them in my hand. For the size, I have ordered size S since this size was perfect for my hands and they felt amazing from the first time I tried them on. The gloves have a small profile, due to this they perform great in combat, the small profile really helps especially during “Absetzen” or any move that has the glove near the cross guard and accidental hits that manage to go through the cross guard rarely occur.
Protection
The plastic that is used for the plates is a thick one, the gloves can withstand heavy hits and throughout my sparring sessions, I rarely felt any hit to my hands. The only noticeable mark is a small dent on my right arm, received after a heavy blow that I have barely felt. From a design point of view the design is very ingenious, every plastic plate is locked in place by very sturdy rivets, every plate is overlapped and when you close your hand in order to grab a sword, you are protected from every side. The only downside with the design is that when you extend your hand there is a gap about 3cm wide between the inner glove and and the big plate that protects your knuckles and if you are unlucky a sword tip might find its way in that gap, keep in mind that this is very unlikely to happen but not impossible.
Mobility
These gloves are extremely mobile, the overlapping plates help a lot with this. The only downside, since a few things had to be sacrificed for mobility, is that the cuff of the glove is short in order to move your wrist in every direction, leaving a few centimeters after the wrists exposed. The cuff protects the wrist almost all around, although on the inside of the glove there is no plastic plate covering the wrist, the inner glove protects that part well. If you have good arm protectors or a gambeson that goes almost to the wrist you don’t need to worry but if you have a gambeson or arm protectors that leave this gap open, keep in mind that this might be a vulnerable zone. In my experience I didn’t receive any hits there with these gloves on.
Thumb
This likely victim of most heavy gloves is protected like in a tank, I felt no hit on the thumb yet and the plastic and the rivets hold on like champs. The mobility of the thumb is amazing, since the inner part of the thumb is not made of plastic, only the glove is reinforced with thick fabric that gives you a perfect form for a thumb grip. As mentioned earlier the plastic plates overlap and you can move your finger freely.
Inner Glove
The inside is lined with a textile glove that has on the palm a layer of leather for extra grip and protection. The only downside with the inner gloves is that they are dyed and if you have sweaty hands the black dye will be paint your hands after a sparring session.
Price and delivery
The cost for these gloves is 210 euros plus shipping and taxes so you might end up paying around 250-270 Euros. In my opinion the price is decent, this is about the standard price for this type of gloves. As for delivery, I spoke with someone from HF via email and they were one of the best customer service representatives that I had the pleasure to talk to. The S size gloves were not in stock at that moment so the making of the gloves took around 3 months and the delivery took only 2 weeks. If they have the gloves in stock, the delivery will be quick and without issues, as the gloves were delivered via post. The process was quick and easy.
Quick summary
Pros:
+ Protection
+ Mobility
+ Low profile/small size
+ Weight
+ Delivery Time
Cons:
– Production Time
– Cuff dimension
– Inner glove dyeing
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